Adam Rooney was left wondering what might have been had he displayed more ruthlessness against Celtic but Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes says the forward should not be too hard on himself.
The Irishman went close with two efforts that flew just over the Celtic crossbar before passing up a gilt-edged opportunity to open the scoring 10 minutes before the break.
Jonny Hayes picked out the unmarked Rooney with a great delivery but the Dons top scorer headed wide when he looked likely to score.
The Dons were to rue that miss, with Celtic’s in-form forward Leigh Griffiths heading home a Kieran Tierney cross just before half-time before converting a penalty early in the second half.
James Forrest netted a third to put the result beyond doubt before Rooney netted a late consolation goal, heading home a Hayes free kick, to bring his tally to eight goals for the season.
Ultimately, it was a convincing 3-1 win for Ronny Deila’s Celtic but the game could have had an entirely different complexion had Rooney burst the net in the first half.
But McInnes says the 27-year-old, who scored 28 times last season, deserves credit for refusing to dwell on the miss.
He said: “I am not going to criticise Adam. He was in a position to score a goal. He is where he should be time and time again.
“The service was decent and he got his goal from his hardest chance to score. That is what Adam Rooney does. He is someone I would rather have playing for me than against me.
“He backs himself to score and he was determined to add to his goal that he scored against Motherwell the previous week.
“He is someone we are fortunate to have and I think it would be harsh to be too critical of him.”
The Dons will be hoping Andrew Considine recovers from a head knock suffered during the first half against Celtic in time to face Dundee United this weekend.
The defender had made a promising start to the match before being withdrawn after 23 minutes after a collision with Hoops player Dedryck Boyata.
The Aberdeen manager said: “It was not ideal. We have had to deal with a lot of injuries recently. We had a couple of late call-offs in the last couple of weeks, with Andy missing last week’s game Motherwell and Ryan Jack missed the Ross County fixture through illness.
“Disruptions caused by players coming off in the first half is never something you want.
“We were fortunate we had Paul Quinn, an experienced player, to slot in there. He did his job fine. Mark Reynolds going into left back wasn’t ideal and we had to adjust slightly. I thought Andy was doing well in the game but it was clear he had to come off.”