Aberdeen 2 (Hayes 31, Church 41) Celtic 1 (Griffiths 93)

It has been the season of Ronny Deila’s nightmares.

The ghosts of the summer came to revisit Celtic this week at Hampden and again last night at Pittodrie as the issues which have haunted the club put the frighteners up them entirely.

The question that will be asked now is whether the demons that have stalked them ultimately lead to an exorcism.

A leaky defence, a team with a nervous disposition and a catastrophic tendency to ball-watch at critical junctures of games have poured iced water on Celtic’s pretensions of matching the achievements of the club’s illustrious past.

Celtic’s dismissal from the League Cup on Sunday ensured that last night’s game was about more than just 90 minutes. There was significant weight lay on Celtic inside Pittodrie and under it, they folded.

It is not just that Aberdeen won what was a proverbial six-pointer. Rather than Celtic moving 9 points clear at the top of the table, they have been pegged back to a nervy three but it is bigger than just the mere statistical observations which are drawn from the encounter.

And the biggest problem for Deila is that it is not a result which can be taken in isolation.

Against Sunday’s meek display at Hampden, against a backdrop of a woeful European campaign and against a catalogue of performances when Celtic have lacked any considerable defensive backbone, it is another significant black mark against him.

His issue is that there are so few ticks he can point to in major games when he got it right.

The Norwegian speaks often of small margins and the little things that lead to big results, but this is a campaign in which the chasm between where Celtic are and where Celtic would like to be has yawned wider than ever.

Time and time again this season – Malmo, Molde, Fenerbahce to name but three – Celtic have lost goals due to static defending. On last night’s evidence there have been no lessons from these defeats absorbed into the psyche of this team.

Ironically, it all started so promisingly for Celtic; another complaint against this team who can start a game with the edge required but who don’t seem capable of sustaining it.

It was Deila’s side who had the best of the opening half hour against what was a subdued Dons team with Gary Mackay-Steven and Leigh Griffiths both carving decent chances.

But the problem, as has been the issue so often for Celtic this season, was the manner in which they could not respond after quickly finding themselves on the back foot.

Johnny Hayes opened the scoring for the Pittodrie side with a rasping effort just after the half-hour mark and within 10 minutes it got even worse when debutant Simon Church rattled Celtic with a second.

It knocked the stuffing entirely out of Deila’s men.

By that point Pittodrie was rocking, the Dons support lording it over their Glasgow opponents.

Scott Brown, who did not shy back from giving Erik Sviatchenko an earful for his part in the opening goal, had been a dominant and typically energetic force in the middle of the park but even he could not stem Celtic's tendency to gift the ball away.

Colin Kazim-Richards was introduced to the fray at the break as Celtic desperately sought a foot-hold back into a game in which they had lost their way entirely. The controversial signing managed to find his way into Steven McLean’s book.

The forward got on the end of one high ball in an attempt to play in Griffiths, but in truth it was a rare moment in which Celtic managed to get themselves out of their own half.

Griffiths had a header sail just wide of the post after Brown had knocked the ball across the six-yard box but at the other end of the park there was a jittery edge about Celtic every time Aberdeen came forward.

One Niall McGinn effort that looked to be heading wide was palmed out for a corner before Gordon stuck a hand to claw it round the post, fearful of taking any chances.

The keeper had been called upon shortly beforehand to make two saves at his near post, one right on the line after Graeme Shinnie had fired in a shot.

With just over 12 minutes to go, Scott Allan was brought into the team to inject some life into Celtic, but by then Aberdeen were determined to hang on for their fourth win in two years over the Parkhead side.

Griffiths pulled a consolation back with the final kick of the ball but it was too little, too late.

What comes next remains to be seen.