Celtic 1
Dundee Utd 0
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Until this match we had lost only once away from home in the League. Celtic having defeated us 1-0 back in October. Whilst Parkhead remained the only ground on which we had lost, Celtic repeated the scoreline of the earlier meeting and double our tally of defeats away from Tannadice.

The match wasn't typical of normal clashes between Celtic and ourselves with a strangely subdued atmosphere, which perhaps found its way onto the field of play. We created the first scoring chance when Kevin Gallacher set Alan Irvine away and the winger outpaced Rogan and crossed but Mixu Paatelainen's header bounced harmlessly into Bonner's arms. Mixu broke clear of two Celtic defenders only to shoot past after we won the chase for a high ball from Dave Bowman. In between these chances Billy Thomson had made a fine save from a Paul McStay shot hit on the turn.

Celtic did get the ball in the net in the 23rd minute but it was disallowed. Mark McGhee had found himself in space and lobbed Billy Thomson, who just managed to get a hand to his shot. The ball bounded towards goal and Walker applied the finishing touch only to be pulled up for off side to the great relief of the United support. This brought Celtic into action with the first spell of sustained pressure but without much real threat to Billy Thomson until a minute before half-time. McStay played the ball out to Stark on the right and his long ball across goal was stabbed home by Mark McGhee who was lurking at the far post.

We began the second half much more aggressively and might well have equalised five minutes after the break. Jim Mclnally and Kevin Gallacher combined to put Mixu Paatelainen clear on the left hand side, but his shot crept past the far post. Harry Curran then had a shot deflected for a corner and a Paul Hegarty shot was too high as we chased the equaliser. Undoubtedly our best chance came in the 61st minute when a clever shimmy by Harry Curran left him in space and Mixu Paatelainen was only a fraction too late to get a touch to Harry's inviting cross.

Celtic came back more into the game towards the end trying to hit us on the break, and perhaps the midweek efforts at Ibrox took its toll in the later stages when we rarely looked like pegging back Celtic's lead.