Aberdeen 2-1 Celtic

Paul Quinn celebrates his late winner for 10-man Aberdeen

Ten-man Aberdeen maintained their winning start to the season, coming from behind to defeat Celtic.

Paul Quinn touched in a Niall McGinn free-kick on 86 minutes as the Dons leapfrogged the champions to reach the top of the Premiership.

Leigh Griffiths had given the visitors the lead with a penalty.

Adam Rooney levelled with a spot-kick of his own and the hosts showed great spirit to snatch victory following the dismissal of Jonny Hayes.

Aberdeen, who lost all four matches against Celtic last season, have now made their best start to a league campaign with six consecutive victories.

Derek McInnes's side had battled gamely to establish parity but a home win looked unlikely following the harsh red card shown to Hayes, who had been the game's outstanding performer.

Aberdeen lost Jonny Hayes (right) to a red card in the second half

The lively winger appeared to reach the ball first as he slid in on Mikael Lustig and the Celtic defender's reaction certainly indicated he thought there was no malice intended.

However, the Dons did enjoy some fortune when Andrew Considine escaped with a booking for conceding the first-half penalty converted by Griffiths.

The left-back was caught out by a super long diagonal pass from Charlie Mulgrew, getting on the wrong side of Griffiths and tugging the striker as he shaped to shoot.

An eventful game for Considine opened with a woeful back-pass that nearly gifted Tom Rogic a goal, while in stoppage-time he denied Griffiths with a clearance off the line.

Prior to his ninth goal of the season, a free-kick from Griffiths rattled the crossbar following a large deflection off Graeme Shinnie.

Aberdeen really should have been level before the break when a lovely delivery from Hayes found McLean unattended right in front of goal six yards out but somehow the midfielder failed to make contact with his attempted header.

Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths celebrates his ninth goal of the season

Early in the second half there were loud cries for an Aberdeen penalty as Mulgrew stopped a Shay Logan cross with his arm but the home fans did not have long to wait for the second spot-kick of the game.

Dedryk Boyata was punished for a clumsy challenge on Shinnie near the byeline when there was little apparent danger and Rooney drilled in the equaliser.

The foul count was growing as the rain tumbled down and Aberdeen were reduced to 10 men on 72 minutes.

James Forrest fizzed a shot across goal and a Mulgrew free-kick was saved by Danny Ward as the visitors tried to press home their advantage in personnel.

But defender Quinn would prove the match-winner as he was allowed to prod in a dipping delivery from McGinn, with the Celtic defence all at sea in a congested penalty box.