Larsson strikes late to reprieve O'Neill's Celtic

Henrik Larsson rescued Celtic from defeat yesterday with a late goal but a 1-1 draw at Aberdeen meant the end of the Premier League leaders' perfect record.

Henrik Larsson rescued Celtic from defeat yesterday with a late goal but a 1-1 draw at Aberdeen meant the end of the Premier League leaders' perfect record.

Martin O'Neill's side had won their opening eight leagues games, but it took Larsson's 82nd-minute equaliser at Pittodrie to prevent defeat yesterday. Celtic, who finished with 10 men after Bobby Petta was sent off for two bookings, lead Hibernian by two points.

For Aberdeen's manager Ebbe Skovdahl the result was a huge improvement on his charges' displays against Celtic last season, in which the Dons conceded 23 goals over four league encounters. They even looked as if they might inflict a defeat upon the leaders after a spirited first-half performance.

Robbie Winters fired Aberdeen into the lead in first-half injury time, when he took a pass from Eoin Jess and coolly clipped his shot over the Celtic goalkeeper Jonathan Gould. But the visitors equalised when Larsson pounced with a header into the roof of the net in the 82nd minute.

Rangers closed the gap on Celtic to three points with a comfortable 3-0 win over the bottom club Dundee United at Ibrox last night. Their manager, Dick Advocaat, rested several of his battle-weary players and gave Marco Negri his first start since April 1998.

United wasted some early opportunities, notably from Craig Easton, who took one touch too many when presented with a perfect sight of goal. But Rangers opened the scoring after 32 minutes when Andrei Kanchelskis's mis-hit shot hit Bert Konterman and rebounded straight to the Russian international, who drove the ball in off a defender.

A typically venomous Jörg Albertz free-kick doubled Rangers' advantage 10 minutes later and the visitors' hopes effectively evaporated just before the break when Easton was sent off for a brutal tackle on Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

It was Van Bronckhorst himself who made sure of victory in the 73rd minute when he advanced unchecked from the half-way line before driving home from 25 yards.

Hearts moved into fifth place with a fine 3-0 win over Motherwell at Tynecastle thanks to two goals from their new striker Gordon Durie. The visitors had the defender Ange Ouefio sent off after eight minutes for bringing down Andy Kirk in the box but Colin Cameron missed the ensuing penalty.

Durie scored in the 12th minute with a header from Gary Naysmith's cross. Kirk made it 2-0 after 27 minutes with a tap-in and Durie sealed the win in the 58th minute with a diving header from a corner.