Celtic is in a title race. Aberdeen were excellent in yesterday’s second half.

Yesterday, I wrote about the Ibrox club and Celtic’s need to move beyond domestic challenges, but it’s amusing that this season, it looks like we’re getting a real push domestically – and not from them. That Aberdeen result yesterday was superb; they’re right on our heels.

Yes, we demolished them in the League Cup semifinal and showed the massive gulf between our clubs. But they’ve proven exactly what I’d hoped – that they’re sticking with it and are more than capable of handling the rest of the competition.

I was a bit worried that our victory over them might have thrown them completely off course. It would’ve been easy for their players to drop their heads and lose that momentum. We stopped their momentum, no doubt about that. You don’t lose by six goals and just brush it off as if nothing happened; when we lost 7-1 in Dortmund, it certainly didn’t just disappear from our minds.

But you can’t let these things stand in your way.

You have to stay focused on the positives that got you into a good position to start with. And good managers know how to keep their teams on task and moving forward. I’m delighted that Jimmy Thelin at Aberdeen is one of those managers.

Aberdeen rode their luck a little yesterday. Dundee missed a first-half penalty, which might have changed the course of the game. But Aberdeen’s second-half performance was superb.

They were aggressive, adventurous, and harassed their opponents all over the pitch, and they fully deserved their 4-1 win. It was brilliant seeing them return to their duties and win so comprehensively. Once again, they’ve confirmed themselves as genuine challengers to us, and challengers they will be. Good.

So, it looks like we’re going to get pushed after all, and that’s no bad thing, especially as it comes without any of the toxicity certain other rivals bring.

Going into today’s game, we know what we need to do. Whatever happens at Ibrox will happen; that’s no longer our biggest concern. Their club is miles off the pace and out of the race. Aberdeen is 12 points ahead of them, even with the Ibrox side having a game in hand. That tells you exactly where the real test is coming from this season.

Congratulations to Aberdeen and to Jimmy Thelin on a fantastic performance and a solid recovery after the rout at Hampden.

To have a title challenger showing real guts is more than we expected at the start of the season. And the fact that it’s not the club from across the city, but one from up north finally waking from a long sleep? That’s pretty nice. Not just from our perspective, but for Scottish football as a whole.