DUNDEE UTD 2 CELTIC 0
CELTIC’S title hopes are hanging by a thread after they suffered their first back-to-back defeats at Tannadice in THIRTY-FIVE years.
Martin O’Neill watched in misery as his misfiring Hoops flopped in alarming fashion once again against a side struggling to get into the top six.
The shockingly under-par champions have now lost EIGHT league games this season – four under the wretched Wilfried Nancy and two apiece under the management of Brendan Rodgers and O’Neill – and clearly that is not championship-winning form.
No-one will concede defeat until it is mathematically impossible, but Celtic now sit in third place with seven games to go and the odds are heavily stacked on them making up five points on leaders Hearts who also have a superior goal difference.
ENDGAME…Martin O’Neill can’t hide his disappointment at Tannadice.
In truth, this was a lamentable showing from the Parkhead men who have won thirteen of the last 14 crowns.
The chance of a fourteenth in 15 is now remote.
This was a Celtic side devoid of imagination, sloppy with their passing throughout and, sad to say, outfought by their opponents who looked more up for the contest than the visitors.
And, as we have known right from day one in this bewildering campaign, the lack of firepower is coming back to bite the team big style.
The two most significant moments of a hard-fought, no-holds-barred opening half were just four minutes apart.
Kieran Tierney blew the opportunity to give the Hoops the lead in the 13th minute and only moments later Viljami Sinisalo provided a superb flying save to prevent the hosts gaining the advantage.
Celtic’s World Cup-bound defender was presented with a glorious opportunity when a Benjamin Nygren left-wing corner-kick was deflected in his direction.
The visiting fans were ready to proclaim a goal until Tierney blazed the ball wildly off target from seven yards when it looked as though he must score.
And the miss almost proved costly when United came within a fingertip of making Martin O’Neill’s men pay a heavy price for their left-back’s lack of accuracy on this occasion.
Will Ferry was left unguarded when a right-wing cross was touched back in his direction.
The defender, who spent most of the afternoon thundering up and down the left wing unhindered by Yang Hyun-jun, first-timed a vicious angled drive towards Sinisalo’s left-hand corner.
The Finn, however, produced a wonderful reflex save as he took off athletically to push the effort to safety.
TAKE OFF…Kelechi Iheanacho fires in a left-foot drive that is saved by Dundee United keeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer at Tannadice.
The recalled Kelechi Iheanacho, making his first appearance this year, tried hard to get involved, but it was obvious the pace of the game was leaving him in its slipstream.
However, the former Manchester City and Leicester City hitman almost snatched the opener just after the half-hour mark when he timed his run to perfection to get onto a ball from Reo Hatate, but his whiplash left-foot drive was beaten away by the alert Ashley Maynard-Brewer.
Hatate and McGregor were doing their utmost to take control of the middle of the park, but, frustratingly, too many moves broke down at Nygren who looked strangely off-colour in this confrontation.
Amazingly, the Swede remained on the pitch until 15 minutes from time before being hooked.
Even more astonishingly, the shocking Yang remained on the pitch right until the end. It would be fair to say this was not the South Korean’s finest hour-and-a-half in a green and white jersey.
He would be fortunate to get nil in any 10-out-of-10 man markings.
YELL OF DESPAIR…Martin O’Neill attempts to cajole his struggling Celts.
The opening goal arrived six minutes after the turnaround and it was no surprise that Ferry was left totally unguarded at the far post to punish the Hoops after McGregor had been guilty of a lazy pass to Hatate.
It was intercepted as United surged forward and the ball was worked to the right before it flashed across the penalty area.
With Yang once again nowhere to be seen, Ferry accepted the pass and hit his shot into the ground and the bounce deceived the helpless Sinisalo on its way into the net.
The gamble of bringing back McGregor, after two games out through injury, and the rarely-seen Iheanacho ended in the 57th minute when O’Neill sent on Sebastian Tounekti and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as their replacements.
Six minutes later, Colby Donovan limped off with Luke McCowan taking over.
Only moments later, McCowan and Yang combined to set up Hatate on the edge of the box. He clipped a ball into the box and Maynard-Brewer fumbled the effort onto his right-hand post, it bounced down on the line and defied gravity by spinning away from goal and a relieved keeper scooped it up.
OUT OF LUCK…Daizen Maeda is denied by Ashley Maynard-Brewer,
It was an incredible piece of good fortune for the home side and they capitalised only two minutes later by claiming a second goal.
Hatate was barged to the ground in the middle of the park as United once again snapped onto a loose pass. They surged forward and the visitors couldn’t defend the first ball and it broke to Emmanuel Agyei on the edge of the box.
He walloped in a first-timer than took a nick off Liam Scales right heel to once again flummox Sinisalo.
With the clock ticking down, the ineffective Nygren and the toiling Hatate made way for James Forrest and Junior Adamu in the 75th minute.
There were six minutes of stoppage-time added on, but this was one of those days where Celtic would have struggled to score a goal in an extra six hours.
Alas, this could transpire to be a pivotal weekend in the pursuit of the title.
TEAM: Sinisalo; Donovan (sub: McCowan 63), Arthur, Scales, Tierney; Nygren (sub: Adamu 75), McGregor (sub: Oxlade-Chamberlain 57), Hatate (sub: Forrest 75); Yang, Iheanacho (sub: Tounekti 57), Maeda.
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