Stand-in captain Charlie Mulgrew came to the rescue of Celtic against Aberdeen at Parkhead on Sunday when his winning goal kept his side 10 points behind leaders Rangers at the top of the SPL. The goal was warmly welcomed by manager Neil Lennon who had seen his team's early lead, from midfielder Ki Sung-yueng, wiped out by defender Ryan Jack who levelled for Aberdeen on the hour mark. It was down to Mulgrew to settle the home nerves as he drove high into the net from close range in the 72nd minute to restore the lead and confirm himself as a key part of Lennon's side. Mulgrew was also on hand last week when he levelled in last week's 3-3 draw at Kilmarnock - albeit it after gifting Killie a goal - and set up Joe Ledley for the equaliser in the 1-1 Europa League draw against Rennes in France on Thursday night. The Celtic manager acknowledged the upturn in Mulgrew's career. Lennon said: "Charlie scored with his right foot so he has had a good week. He scored last week and set the goal up in midweek and scored again today. He has been really consistent for us this season and I am delighted for him - I think it is the first time he has captained a winning Celtic team. He made a mistake last week and corrected it with the third goal. He has played brilliantly for the majority of the season and came up for the winner today. His improvement since he came back here has been huge. It is a credit to him that he went away down south to forge his career and didn't give up on it and now he is captaining Celtic which is a great achievement for him." Immediately after Ki's opener, the injured Glenn Loovens was replaced by the man he had recently replaced in the side, Daniel Majstorovic. Lennon bemoaned yet more injury woe, a recurring theme of the season. He said: "We lost Glenn through a hamstring injury so we have to wait and see the extent of that tomorrow. It could be a reoccurrence of the injury he had, we are not sure but he was feeling it and he will have a scan. We lost Mo Bangura yesterday, he has a swollen knee and he is going for a scan tomorrow as well so we don't know how long, if any length of time at all, he will be out for. We are up against it but I am really pleased with the players, especially the ones who played against Rennes on Thursday." Aberdeen shot themselves in the foot as they tried to get another equaliser as Jack was sent off with 10 minutes of the game left after picking up the second of his two yellow cards. The Dons defender, already booked for over-celebrating at his goal, was shown a second yellow by referee Stevie O'Reilly for a foul on Gary Hooper. Manager Craig Brown was "aggrieved" with the decision. He said: "I don't want to change the laws because we had a man sent off but to be cautioned for over-celebrating was harsh. A word in his ear might have done it. The fourth official said he was warned not to go off but he wasn't in the crowd so I think it was a bit harsh. The second one - there were other fouls in the game equally bad which didn't result in a caution so I feel a little aggrieved but I never criticise the officials. I am not blaming the ordering-off for losing the game but it made it a mountain to climb, man short, away from home against a team fighting to stay in SPL contention." Nevertheless, the former Scotland manager claims his side deserved to pick up something from their endeavours. Brown said: "I always preface everything I say by saying I am biased, but I did think we had an opportunity not to lose, in fact, to win the game. Again we are going up the road disappointed but I have to give credit to Celtic because when it went to 1-1, they upped their game. It was a soft second goal to concede, both goals were soft."
Source: FOOTYMAD
