Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's last-gasp goal earned Celtic a Scottish Cup replay with Aberdeen after a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie.
Late strike earns Bhoys Parkhead replay
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's last-gasp goal earned Celtic a Scottish Cup replay with Aberdeen after a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen looked to be heading into the semi-finals after Jeffrey De Visscher fired them in front on 79 minutes, but Vennegoor of Hesselink popped up with the equaliser in the closing seconds to keep the holders in the cup and force a replay at Parkhead.
Aberdeen thought they had broken the deadlock after just three minutes when Lee Miller converted Chris Maguire's cross only for the offside flag to cut short his celebrations.
Scott McDonald had the ball in the net for Celtic on 20 minutes from an Aiden McGeady cross, but hs effort was also ruled out for offside.
Dons keeper Derel Soutar denied Celtic the opener on 23 minutes when he touched McDonald's shot onto the post and from the rebound he pushed out Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's close-range header.
Celtic were inches away from breaking the deadlock five minutes before the break when Hesselink headed Darren O'Dea's cross off the inside of the post and McDonald could just not get on the end of the rebound.
The visitors wasted another great chance to score on 54 minutes when Vennegoor of Hesselink played Shunsuke Nakamura in on goal, but Soutar produced a fine save to deny the Japanese international.
Celtic laid siege on the Aberdeen goal and Soutar was again called into the action to beat away a fierce shot from Evander Sno.
Aberdeen came close to scoring on the hour mark when Zander Diamond saw his header cleared off the line by Andreas Hinkel.
The home side continued to grow in confidence and Sone Aluko forced Artur Boruc into a flying save on 74 minutes with a fierce shot from the edge of the box.
Aberdeen broke the deadlock 11 minutes from time when De Visscher played a neat one-two on the edge of the box to go clear on goal and he coolly slotted the ball under Boruc.
Paul Hartley hit the post from 35 yards out two minutes later as Celtic looked to hit back.
Boruc kept Celtic in the contest when he produced a brilliant save to keep out Scott Severin shot and Miller headed the crossbar as Aberdeen pushed for a second clinching goal.
Aberdeen were made to rue those misses when in stoppage time Vennegoor of Hesselink stabbed home Georgios Samaras's cross from close-range to secure a draw with almost the last kick of the game.
