SPL Sunday November 10th

Dundee United 0

Celtic 2

0:1 Hartson (12); 0:2 Sutton (87)

Att:10,664

MIB: John Underhill

Celtic: Douglas; Valgaeren, Balde Laursen; Sylla (Agathe 68), Lennon, Thompson, Sutton, Guppy; Larsson, Hartson (Lambert 82)

Another trip to Clootie city , this time to see the Arabs , resurgent under new manager Paul Hegarty, actually make a match of it. Celtic travelled minus a petulant Petrov, left behind over his contract whinging to the press, as in stepped Neil Lennon.

Having annihilated the sheepies the week before, if the same fate was expected for their Tayside brethren, it was not to be. Both sides missed early chances before Hartson met a Guppy cross after 13 mins to put Celtic one up. Thompson and Larsson then squandered chances to make it two, though MIB Underhill was in fine form and must have been the only man in the stadium not to see Larsson bungled down in the box. Unsurprisingly no penalty was given as the sound of cackling from Ibrox reached the Tay. The Hoops, however, were sufficiently dominant to finish the half one up.

The second 45 was a more tense affair as Celtic , with minds clearly on the ensuing match against the Beast Souness XI, slackened off and allowed the Arabs to come back into the game. United got physical, though Underhill mysteriously dished out the yellow cards to anyone in Celtic colours for having the audacity to complain about being clogged.

It took until the 87th minute before Sutton pooped on the Arabs chances of grabbing a point, by heading in number two. This eventually settled the nerves of the travelling support who were reaching for the Valium as Utd missed several sitters or allowed Rab D to redeem what looked like a certain goal situation.

Celtic need Blackburn out of the system badly!