Gordon Strachan spent the whole summer pondering the question of how to create genuine hunger among a group of players who had just won a third consecutive title for Celtic. The answer has been to simply starve them of the spotlight they crave.

Scott McDonald and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink provided 51 goals last season but watched their places in the Scottish champions’ forward line handed to Georgios Samaras and Shaun Maloney, as Strachan sought to expand his options in every area of the pitch.

The new pairing have contributed 11 goals already – nine of them for Samaras – and McDonald in particular was left to brood on the bench in recent weeks after debate grew about his waistline. He had scored just once, while Vennegoor of Hesselink was experiencing a famine. The duo could not have chosen a better time to return to the goals standard.

Celtic looked to be on the verge of a mugging from their former player, Charlie Mulgrew, who conjured up a sublime second-half double in Saturday’s thrilling Clydesdale Bank Premier League encounter until McDonald came off the bench to restore parity at 2-2, before Vennegoor of Hesselink backheeled the 90th-minute winner into the net to complete a remarkable comeback.

The fact that both men profited from crosses from another substitute keen to make a point, Aiden McGeady, only underlined the value of Strachan’s rotation policy, which has left those who may have thought their service record warranted them the status of “untouchables” realising there is now no such thing at Celtic. Strachan stole the gung-ho philosophy normally the trademark of his counterpart, Jimmy Calderwood, and sacrificed both Maloney and Marc Crosas for McGeady and McDonald. He switched to 4-3-3 and was rewarded when McDonald headed in at the back post in the 78th minute and then provided the ultimate payoff when Vennegoor of Hesselink inscribed his second goal upon the occasion.

Strachan has been keen to dispel speculation that he punished McGeady after last month’s 4-2 defeat by Rangers, stating that it was the quality of his other players that was keeping McGeady, and everyone else, on the bench. Yet, he could not wait to bestow some words of praise upon last season’s player of the year.

“When Aiden came on he was fantastic,” Strachan said. “People go on about his skill but what pleased me was the way he won a tackle to drive on and cross for our last goal. That was a turning point. Both substitutes gave us a great spur when they came on. They lifted the game at the right time and we are lucky to be able to bring on guys like that.

“I think everybody enjoyed the game that apart from the coaching staff on both sides. I really do feel sorry for Jimmy Calderwood as Aberdeen were terrific. It’s a bit embarrassing when you see a team that’s put so much work in getting beaten.”

Aberdeen have actually won three times at Celtic Park in the past four years, including last season’s Scottish Cup victory, and Calderwood has honed a counter-attacking game plan that routinely sees his team absorb intense pressure before emerging from their shell with ruthless intent.

Celtic should have been out of sight but failed to add to the raking 14th-minute shot that broke Vennegoor of Hesselink’s duck. Mulgrew almost came back to haunt Strachan, who sold the left-back to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2006. The Scotland under21 player finished off a wonderful 56th-minute move by volleying in a cross from Jared Hodgkiss and then curled a 28-yard free kick beyond Artur Boruc six minutes later. “The last thing I said in the team talk was, ‘Watch out for Charlie’s free kicks,’ ” Strachan said.

That lit the green touch paper. McGeady delivered the perfect cross for McDonald to feed on for the equaliser and then won a crunching challenge with Mulgrew and whipped in another cross to the near post that was seized on by Vennegoor of Hesselink. Aberdeen still had time to rescue a point and Darren Mackie ought to have done so when he raced clear and clipped his shot past Boruc, only to see it it roll wide of the empty goal.

“When Darren ran through it felt like slow motion,” Stuart Duff, the Aberdeen midfield player, said. “When he got his shot away I was sure it would go in.

“We are bitterly disappointed because we felt we put enough work into the game to get a point at least. Full credit to Celtic for coming back but we sat back too much when we went in front. We have to give our fans a win to make up for this and prove it’s not just at Celtic Park that we can rise to the challenge.”

Celtic (4-4-2): A Boruc 7 M Wilson 8 G Loovens 5 S McManus 7 L Naylor 6 S Nakamura 8 S Brown 7 M Crosas 7 S Maloney 6 J Vennegoor 9 G Samaras 8Substitutes A McGeady 8 (for Maloney, 60min), S McDonald (for Crosas, 71), P Hartley (for Samaras, 90). Not used M Brown, M Donati, D O’Dea, P Caddis.

Aberdeen (4-4-2): J Langfield 7 J Hodgkiss 8 Z Diamond 6 L Mair 6 R Foster 7 D Young 7 M Kerr 7 S Severin 5 S Duff 7 L Mille 7 D Mackie 6 Substitutes C Mulgrew 8 (for Severin, 26min), T Wright (for Miller, 86), S Aluko (for Hodgkiss, 90). Not used B Rossu, G McDonald, C Maguire, S Smith.