After everything - after upturns and downturns of form, compelling top of the table clashes and fighting talk - this was the weekend that the Scottish Premiership title race was finally settled. It's over.

With just five matches left to play of the 2015/16 season Aberdeen have an eight point gap to make up on leaders Celtic. Ronny Deila's side might well drop points in that time, but against top half opposition the Dons have given themselves too much to do.

Even with Celtic somewhat distracted by their participation in the Scottish Cup - with Sunday's clash against Rangers arguably their biggest game of the season so far - Deila's players can now relax in the knowledge that they have a cushion that would soften any further stumbles between now and the end of May.

The Hoops have left the door open before, not least with last week's goalless draw against Dundee, but Aberdeen have allowed it to slam shut again. And this time it has closed for good. Derek McInnes' side won't push through it, at least not this season.

The existential issue for Aberdeen revolves around their progression beyond this point. McInnes' side have given themselves a platform, but they did that last season too, and whilst progress has been made this term it has been somewhat incremental.

Aberdeen's mental capacity for a genuine title fight has been questioned before - and with good reason - but Friday's defeat at Tynecastle to third place Hearts didn't constitute a bottle job. It did highlight that the Dons simply aren't good enough to win the title, though.

"The game was actually a reference to where we are in the league," McInnes candidly said after the defeat to Hearts.

"We put ourselves in a position to go and win it and crank it up, and we didn't. And we haven't done that in the league either.

"This was a real opportunity to put pressure on Celtic and show we are a team intent on challenging all the way. Although it's not mathematically impossible, we have gifted Celtic a less-pressured game.

"I would never say it's gone because that's a stupid thing to say, and I wouldn't expect my players to give it up. But it's an even bigger advantage to Celtic now. It's going to take a dramatic collapse from Celtic now."

They are still the best of the rest, despite their loss to Hearts on Friday night. The problem is that Celtic, for all their problems this season, are still quite a bit better than the rest. The Hoops' title win this season will most likely be a comfortable one after all.