ITALIAN striker Paolo Di Canio provided the golden touch on his comeback to keep Celtic's title dreams alive with victory at Aberdeen last night.

The former AC Milan player, sporting a pair of golden boots, scored the winner seven minutes from time to narrow Rangers' lead at the top of the Premier Division to 14 points while Celtic have three games in hand.

And it was the man who returned from a two-game suspension who kept those dreams alive with a moment of magical skill just when it looked as though Aberdeen would hold out for a precious point.

A Tosh McKinlay through-ball caught the home defence square and Di Canio showed sublime skill to take full advantage by dazzling Nicky Walker with flashing footwork.

The Italian lifted the ball delicately over Walker's head and casually rolled it into the net to give Celtic full reward from a night in which their play was characterised by perspiration rather than inspiration.

The end result was vindication for manager Tommy Burns, who decided to leave disenchanted Dutchman Pierre Van Hooydonk on the bench for the full 90 minutes even though the result was in the balance until late on.

Celtic threatened to self-destruct after Billy Dodds had given the home side the lead with his 19th goal of the season in the 14th minute of a frenetic encounter.

A Stephen Glass corner from the right saw Dodds move off his marker and send an acrobatic header beyond the reach of Stuart Kerr.

The young Celtic goalkeeper suffered a crisis of confidence for a short period thereafter and Dodds should have had a hat-trick within the first half hour.

He twice shot wide of the target - with only the goalkeeper to beat and Aberdeen once again paid the penalty as all their good early work was undone.

Celtic were uninspiring inn their efforts to draw level but four minutes from the interval a terrific run and cross from Morten Weighorst set up the chance for Jorge Cadete to head home his 11th goal of the season. That was the Portuguese marksman's first since scoring in mid-September against Dunfermline but it came at the right time for Celtic who took charge after the break.

They laid siege to the home goal with Weighorst particularly dangerous but defender Alan Stubbs was the only one to seriously test Walker with a long-range effort that the Aberdeen goalkeeper pushed past the post.

It was then that Di Canio took charge leaving former Celtic player Roy Aitken to contemplate the fact that his side have taken a miserly one point from the last seven league meetings between the two clubs.