How Celtic missed this Scott Sinclair. The big game hunter of the first season who popped up with vital late goals when Brendan Rodgers and his team needed them most.
The Englishman claimed his first hat-trick in green and white since April 2017 to edge a game of seven goals - five of them in the last 14 minutes - and two Aberdeen penalties. When Willie Collum gives spot kicks there's a higher than average chance at least one of them will be iffy.
Ramming the second home with eight minutes to play Sam Cosgrove looked likely to eke out a valuable Aberdeen point with eight minutes to play. Yet days like this remind everyone why Celtic paid a record fee of £9million for Odsonne Edouard. Make no mistake, he was the difference in the end.
The game delicately poised at 2-2 with five minutes to play the Frenchman scored a goal of sublime quality before showing strength and purpose to tee up Sinclair's third and Celtic's fourth with just seconds to play.
After the Betfred Cup Final internet footage emerged of Aberdeen supporters directing racist abuse in Sinclair's direction. Reminiscent of the player he once was in Celtic colours the Englishman ran to the home support and cross his arms in a gesture of defiance.
Give Aberdeen their due. They were pretty defiant themselves. The end to this game required an abacus rather than a scoreboard.
Lewis Ferguson's injury time strike was too late to seal a point in the end.
Despite some ropey defending, Celtic clung on to secure only their fourth away win in 10 attempts, their sixth in a row in Scotland's north east. Next comes Ibrox and Rangers on Saturday.
With Edouard kept in reserve until the last 20 minutes midfielder Ryan Christie deputised up front. And his delighful ball in behind the Aberdeen defence was the catalyst for Celtic's opening goal in just five minutes.
Callum McGregor drove towards goal, a low centre provoking a poor attempt at a clearance from defender Dominic Ball. Presented with an easy chance eight yards out Scott Sinclair slotted high the net with his right foot. Once again Celtic were ahead at Pittodrie.
After losing the Betfred Cup Final to Scotland's champions Aberdeen staged a strong recovery, winning five of their six matches since.Yet the Parkhead side arrived in the Granite City seeking a fifth successive win. Aberdeen had lost nine of their past 10 league matches against the champions and, after a mere five minutes, feared history might repeat itself.
Aberdeen's response was to employ a high press to pressure Celtic's defenders in possession in their own 18-yard area. By and large it worked. Forced into errors and mistakes attempts by the visitors the more casual and calm Celtic tried to look passing the ball from their own area the more it had the opposite effect.
Eventually an unforced error eventually led to the penalty kick from which the home team found a foothold in the game after 23 minutes.
Dedryck Boyata and Mikael Lustig returned to Celtic's starting defender after injury. In the first of two key away games against their two closest title rivals, however, Kieran Tierney missed out again and in Emilio Izaguirre, Dons winger Nialll McGinn had an obvious target to go at.
There was no real danger to Celtic when the Northern Ireland international made it to the byeline and slung over a cross in 22 minutes. The weakness of Izaguirre's game was always been a tendency to be caught out of position and when he arrived late to the scene the Honduran cleaned out his opponent despite the fact the ball was already gone. It was a clear and needless penalty to concede, Stevie May sweeping the spot kick high into the net from 12 yards.
For once Celtic could have no complaints over a Willie Collum penalty call. They had more reason to dispute a dangerous, careless tackle on Ryan Christie from McGinn on the edge of the Dons penalty area. The winger was booked; television replays showed it could easily have been a red.
Either way Pittodrie had a game on its hands. Despite moments of unease when keeper Craig Gordon tried to pass the ball from the back - Scott Bain is beginning to look the safer bet for the kind of game Brendan Rodgers wants to play - Celtic tried their best to remain calm.
The team in green and white could have taken the lead with a swift move in 32 minutes when Scott McKenna's slack, sclaffed defensive pass was cut out in the Dons area by Scott Sinclair. Feeding Ryan Christie for a first time low shot, Joe Lewis spread himself to block with his legs. Panic over.
Nevertheless, the first half ended finely poised. Too evenly poised for Celtic's manager, who wisely removed Izaguirre from the fray - putting former Dons winger Jonny Hayes on at left back instead.
The second half was a cagey affair. Celtic continued with long spells of possession, gambling on a repeat of the 2017 Scottish Cup Final when Aberdeen chased, harried and eventually ran out of steam. The home team were content to absorb the possession, most of which took the form of harmless passing from side to side.
Restricted to scraps on the break Aberdeen screamed for a second penalty when Scott Wright cut across the path of Scott Brown. This time Willie Collum dismissed the claim.
With 20 minutes to play Callum McGregor left the fray to be replaced by Edouard. Christie forced Joe Lewis to push a 25 yard free kick round the post.
Yet Celtic needed an out ball. Someone to hold the ball up and bring supporting teammates into the play.
Edouard came through in the end. With 15 minutes to play the Frenchman played a superb pass behind the Aberdeen defence, James Forrest nipping round the blind side of Andrew Considine to throw an inviting ball over for the lurking Sinclair.
The winger needed no second invitation calmly nicking into the space and slotting the ball past Lewis from 10 yards out.
Aberdeen weren't done yet. The penalty which brought the score back to 2-2 was soft, no question. Yet images showed Mikael Lustig extending an arm into the back of Dons captain Graeme Shinnie. With six goals and four games entering this Cosgrove was never likely to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Edouard killed Aberdeen in the end, barging through the home defence to run onto a Forrest ball and dink a sublime finish into the net despite some despairing defending. The striker's strength was critical to the fourth four minutes later, a cut-back from the byeline slotted into the net by Sinclair after Forrest miscued.
For Aberdeen Ferguson's low finish from a Connor McLennan corner was too little, too late.