That was Adam Rooney's 19th goal of the season and it has to go down as one of his best. The Aberdeen striker caught that shot perfectly. It was past goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams in a flash.

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland at the Caledonian Stadium

"Inverness CT looked fairly sharp in the opening stages but that's clinical from Aberdeen. A superb run and weight of pass from Storie which Rooney was never going to miss. Aberdeen on their way... again."

Former Inverness CT skipper Graeme Shinnie powers in from the left and has a crack at goal. Owain Fon Williams pushes it up on to the crossbar and over. To the astonishment of everyone in the ground, a goalkick is given.

Scott Brown is busy again, coming through a crowd of players to beat away a deep, dipping free-kick from Greg Tansey and Niall McGinn completes the clearance.

Aberdeen, in their white away tops tonight, concede the first corner kick as a Miles Storey cross is deflected behind. The delivery from Greg Tansey is a low skidder and it ends up in the arms of goalkeeper Scott Brown.

At last. A peep of the whistle from referee Willie Collum and we're off...

A bit of delay as one of the goals needs the net retied. There's been a power outage at the stadium too, which knocked out the radio commentary. That's back up and running now, thankfully.

The teams are in the tunnel just as the BBC Radio Scotland coverage drops off air... A crack team of boffins are on the case, so hopefully it won't be too long until normal service is resumed.

Greg Tansey was on target in that Boxing Day draw and was the subject of a deadline day offer from Pittodrie.

Dons boss Derek McInnes expressed surprise that a £200,000 bid had not triggered a release for the 27-year-old, while Inverness said they had simply persuaded him to stay.

The midfielder has kept his own counsel on the subject. He can do his talking on the pitch tonight.

Image source, SNS

After the stellar heights of last season, it's been a bit of a struggle for Inverness. However, John Hughes' side are just three points behind sixth-placed St Johnstone.

Injuries have disrupted a small squad and they have been blunt in front of goal on too many occasions.

We need to remember Caley Thistle are playing tonight as well. And the home side have done rather well against Aberdeen this season, taking four points from six so far.

Aberdeen's opening eight-game winning streak came to a halt in the Highlands in late September, with Inverness prevailing 2-1, while the Dons needed a late penalty to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw at Pittodrie on Boxing Day.

They are the only top flight side Aberdeen haven't beaten this term.

Image source, SNS

"It's all about us. We're at home, we're a good footballing side and a thorn in their side.

"We're every bit as good as Aberdeen and I think they know that. We've come up with a plan that we think will cause them problems." 

"It's become a 13-game season for us and we want to win as many of them as possible. Pressure is nothing but a sideshow and we just deal with the game in hand."

Aberdeen make a couple of changes to the side that beat St Johnstone 4-3, with Craig Storie and Niall McGinn, replacing Peter Pawlett and Cammie Smith.

Three alterations for the hosts, Jordan Roberts, Lewis Horner and Liam Polworth in for David Raven, Danny Williams and Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo.

Raven has a foot injury and Williams has had a death in the family.

Celtic lead Aberdeen by three points and by a significant goal difference margin after 25 games.

When you look back to last year, it was a similar story. Indeed, the Dons are just one point better off at this stage than they were in season 2014-15, while Celtic are a mere two points worse off.

How did that one end? Celtic clinched their fourth successive title by a 17-point margin.

Maybe we should listen to Ronny after all. But where's the fun in that?

Never mind what the media think or the careful words of Derek McInnes, there must be plenty of Dons fans who believe. Aberdeen have been well backed all season and there won't be too many empty seats in the away end tonight, despite the freezing temperature.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is also reluctant to discuss a title challenge.

"I think you all want it but nobody really believes it," he said in his media conference after this month's 2-1 win over Celtic at Pittodrie. 

"You ask everybody that's involved in football in Scotland and nobody would put money on Aberdeen winning the league."

A quick look at the bookmakers' odds would back that up. You won't get rich putting a bet on Celtic.

Image source, SNS

Inverness CT: Fon Williams, Tremarco, Warren, Draper, Roberts, Devine, Tansey, Horner, Polworth, Vigurs, Storey. Subs: Esson, Williams, Wedderburn, Hughes, Mutumbo, Brown.

Aberdeen: Brown, Logan, Shinnie, Taylor, Reynolds, Storie, McLean, Hayes, McGinn, Rooney, Church. Subs: Collin, Considine, Robson, Flood, Pawlett, Ross, Smith.

"We can start talking about a title race in April," said Celtic boss Ronny Deila on Saturday.

Sorry Ronny, we can't keep shtum until then.

Aberdeen will draw level on points with the Premiership leaders if they win at Caley Thistle tonight, so the cork is well and truly out of the bottle on that topic.