Celtic 2
Dundee 0
League (Premier League)

Match Report

Fabian Caballero's first half penalty miss, and the argument with Nacho Novo over who was taking the spot kick which preceded it, were the main talking points after Celtic had ended a horrible week for the Parkhead club by taking the points against Dundee.

It has to be said that the 32nd minute miss came at a vital time, as Martin O'Neill pointed out post match "Dundee could, a probably should, have been ahead" said the home boss and he wasn't wrong.

Steve Lovell and Nacho Novo's pace was causing real first half problems for the home team, Lovell was clear of the defence twice and Novo once but only once was Rab' Douglas forced into action in these breakaways, diving bravely to save at Lovell's feet.

The misses proved costly when the Hoops scored just six minutes after Fabian's gaffe. Hartson's strike was of superb quality, the Welshman sending a wonderful overhead kick into the net from eight yards from a corner awarded after a fantastic Speroni save had denied Hartson's header.

The home side went two up nine minutes into a second period, which never lived up to the excitement or quality of that first forty-five minutes, at least, from a Dark Blue perspective. The goal came from a simple move, Hartson held the ball up, fed it wide and when Agathe's cross reached the back post Larsson rose to head home,

Celtic don't tend to throw away two goal leads at home and the crowd sensed that the goal signalled game over. The atmosphere around the time of the penalty had been as lively as it gets for a non-Old Firm game at Celtic Park, but it dipped so much after Larsson's goal that it was possible to hear the players shout to each other at times, incredible in a stadium which boasted an official attendance of over 56,000, although the crowd did look much less than that figure.

Dundee did come close through an unlikely source with ten minutes to go as Lovell's sprint down the left and low cross led to Laursen turning the ball past his own keeper and off the post before Douglas pounced on the rebound, and at the other end Speroni pulled off a good double save from Sutton and Lambert, but all the real excitement had all been in the first forty five minutes. Jonay Hernandez came close in the final minute from a free kick but by that time it was clearly not Dundee's day.

Match report written by Dundee Matchday Programme