Aberdeen were unable to inflicting a first domestic defeat of the season on Scottish Premiership champions Celtic as the Hoops recorded a 3-1 victory at Pittodrie.
Celtic raced into an early lead with Dedryck Boyata, Stuart Armstrong and Leigh Griffiths all taking advantage of some shaky Aberdeen defending with only 11 minutes played.
Jonny Hayes pulled one back for the Dons a minute later in an action-packed start to the encounter.
It was the first time Aberdeen had lost three successive matches at Pittodrie since October 2008, having enjoyed a formidable record on their own turf for the majority of the campaign.
Victory took Celtic to the 100 point mark – 30 points ahead of the second-place Dons – and kept their hopes of completing the season without a single domestic defeat on track.
The Dons made two changes from the team that defeated Hearts 2-1 with Jayden Stockley given the nod to lead the line in place of top scorer Adam Rooney, while Anthony O’Connor replaced the injured Peter Pawlett.
Derek McInnes named four teenagers on the bench, including 16-year-old Dean Campbell, a pupil at Hazlehead Academy.
Aberdeen had won all seven of their Premiership matches played on a Friday but had gone 55 league games without a clean sheet against Celtic, who named their strongest possible team with Leigh Griffiths leading the line.
It was a disastrous start for the Dons as they fell behind with only three minutes on the clock when a Leigh Griffitths corner was nodded home by defender Boyata.
It went from bad to worse as Celtic doubled their advantage with only eight minutes gone when Stuart Armstrong slotted home after Callum McGregor’s low drive was blocked by Shay Logan.
The Reds were reeling and fell further behind after only 11 minutes when a long range drive from Griffiths squirmed through Joe Lewis and into the net in a moment to forget for the usually reliable Dons number one.
Aberdeen, to their credit, mustered an immediate response and pulled one back with an exquisite strike from Hayes from the edge of the area.
And they really should have made it 3-2 when Jayden Stockley headed wide from a tantalising Kenny McLean cross with the goal gaping.
The Dons felt mightily aggrieved four minutes after the break when Graeme Shinnie went down following a reckless challenge from Celtic goalkeeper Gordon but referee Steven McLean opted against pointing to the spot.
With 62 minutes gone and the Dons dominating play, McInnes made his first change by bringing on Rooney for Stockley in a bid to get the goal that would set up a rousing finale.
The hosts had a great chance to score the crucial next goal with just over 20 minutes to go but McLean’s composure deserted him as he blasted over with only Gordon to beat.
Celtic were inches away from a fourth – and their 100th of the campaign – when Scott Sinclair curled just wide with McGinn going close at the other end with a powerful effort.
Campbell became the youngest player to feature for the Aberdeen first team at the age of 16 years one month and 23 days when he replaced McGinn in injury time.