The Dee went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat against Celtic in Glasgow tonight. Daizen Maeda’s early goal gave the defending champions all three points. Dundee defended well and stayed competitive throughout. The outcome was always in doubt until the final whistle, which the home players were happier to hear than the Dark Blues.
There were two changes to Dundee’s starting eleven. Imari Samuels and Fin Robertson came in for Ryan Astley and Tony Yogane, who were both named as substitutes.
Celtic started on the front foot, pushing the Dark Blues back and winning a series of corners. The Dundee defence handled Celtic’s attacking well at first but were opened up by a superb quick pass by Reo Hatate in the 11th minute. Yang ran through to shoot but Jon McCracken saved well only for Daizen MAEDA to head the loose ball home. The Celtic striker also caught Luke Graham’s head but came off worse and had to leave the pitch to have a cut patched up.
Dundee were under almost relentless Celtic pressure for the rest of the first half. The Dark Blues defended well against some inventive Celtic attacking, but struggled to hold the ball coming forward and managed only rare attacks. From one of these Clark Robertson sent Imari Samuels away with a lovely pass but Joe Westley was crowded out in front of goal when he tried to control the cross.
Celtic came closest to scoring again before half time after 33 minutes. The ball broke for Marcelo Sarrachi to run in from the left and shoot. McCracken saved but with the ball bobbling horribly in front of an open goal it was Imari Samuels who was first to react and he cleared.
Each team lost a defender late in the half. First Sarrachi was replaced by Kieran Tierney. Clark Robertson then pulled up clutching his thigh after making a pass and Ryan Astley came on in his place.
At the end of the first half Dundee gave Celtic a scare when Simon Murray got the better of Liam Scales and shot against the crossbar. Kasper Schmeichel saved from Cameron Congreve’s follow up, but the referee awarded Celtic a free kick. It seemed a dubious decision that might have been overturned by VAR if Murray’s shot had gone in.
Dundee had a narrow escape at the start of the second half. A fast passing Celtic attack sent Luke McCowan in to shoot. McCracken saved again and Maeda turned the loose ball wide under pressure from Luke Graham.
McCracken excelled once more when he saved superbly from Hatate after Celtic’s slickest attack of the match gave the Japanese midfielder a chance from 15 yards.
As the game approached the hour mark Dundee made three substitutions, sending on Billy Koumetio, Callum Jones and Ash Hay for Cameron Congreve, Yan Dhanda and Simon Murray.
The Dee started to play quicker and more purposeful long balls out of defence to take advantage of Hay’s pace. This gave the Celtic defence a few uncomfortable moments. A long pass from Ethan Hamilton sent Hay clear down the right and Kasper Schmeichel saved the shot with a foot.
Dundee’s final change was to send Tony Yogane on for Westley. After withstanding Celtic pressure for over an hour Dundee made a strenuous attempt to save the game in the final quarter.
As the game became more stretched and open it seemed possible that Dundee might take a point. It wasn’t to be, however. The Dark Blues were able to get forward frequently but they couldn’t create any more chances from open play. Deep in injury time Graham headed wide from a Jones free kick when he might have done better.
The Dark Blues have a poor record at Celtic Park. In the last two seasons they have lost 7-1 and 6-0. Each time the defence fell apart and Celtic finished the Dee off ruthlessly. Tonight was different. The team stayed strong, organised and resilient after Dundee fell behind. Dark Blue hope vanished only when Luke Graham headed wide with 60 seconds to play. This was not the game that the Celtic support expected, or wanted, to see.
In the bad recent run up until Saturday Dundee have struggled when they fell behind and never looked like saving the game. Celtic are still probably the best team in Scotland and they deserved their win tonight. However, they had to work hard and were never in a position to coast to victory. It was telling that all three bookings tonight were for Celtic players in the final 20 minutes when Dundee stepped up their game and pushed for an equaliser. A defeat is never a good outcome, but there was plenty to admire in the Dark Blues’ performance at Celtic Park.
Celtic 4-3-3
Schmeichel
Donovan (Ralston 81), Trusty, Scales, Saracchi (Tierney 44)
Engels, McGregor, Hatate (Nygren 81)
McCowan (Bernardo 81), Maeda, Yang (Tounekti 58)
Unused subs: Sinisalo (gk), Kenny, Murray, Balikwisha.
Goal: Maeda (11).
Booked: McCowan (foul on Samuels), McGregor (foul on Yogane), Nygren (foul on McCracken).
Dundee 4-1-4-1
Jon McCracken
Drey Wright, Clark Robertson (Ryan Astley 40), Luke Graham, Imari Samuels
Ethan Hamilton
Cameron Congreve (Billy Koumetio 58), Yan Dhanda (Callum Jones 58), Joe Westley (Tony Yogane 74), Fin Robertson
Simon Murray (c) (Ash Hay 58)
Unused substitutes: Kieran O’Hara (gk), Paul Digby, Emile Acquah, Ethan Ingram.
Booked: none.
Attendance: to be announced.
Referee: Duncan Nicolson. Assistants: David McGeachie, Alastair Taylor. VAR: Andrew Dallas. Assistant VAR: Peter Stuart.
Report: James Christie.
