Stokes sparkles for Celtic but Izaguirre is seriously injured

Aberdeen 0 Celtic 1

Celtic's Kris Commons and Aberdeen's Isaac Osbourne (left) battle for the ball at Pittodrie Stadium yesterday (PA )

Celtic manager Neil Lennon felt his team overplayed in the final third before Anthony Stokes earned them victory at Aberdeen yesterday.

Lennon said: "We made it nervous for ourselves because we had so many chances and our decision-making on the final bit was poor. We worked the ball great, kept getting in between their midfield and back four, and then we tried to walk the ball in the net.

"It's a bad habit to have and we have to get out of it. I said at half-time we needed to be patient, we would take 1-0 and that happened to be the case. But I felt our play deserved better, overall we were very, very good."

Lennon, who lost left-back Emilio Izaguirre to a broken leg in the first half, added: "I didn't think we toiled, we were just wasteful in the final third."

Celtic struggled to create a clear opening before right winger Kris Commons dispossessed Richard Foster and set up Stokes to sweep home the only goal from 10 yards in the 74th minute.

Lennon started with a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Stokes on the left and Ki Sung-yueng and Joe Ledley supporting centre-forward Gary Hooper. Ki, in particular, found a lot of space in front of Aberdeen's back four but the Dons frustrated the visitors before Foster lost the ball in his own half.