Celtic 4 Dundee United 1: match report
Read a full match report of the Scottish Premier League game between Celtic and Dundee United at Parkhead on Sunday, May 1 2011.
Cool, calm and collected: Celtic were ruthless in front of goal Photo: ACTION IMAGES
By Roddy Forsyth, at Parkhead 6:00PM BST 01 May 2011
Next time Celtic play at home it will be against Motherwell on the final day of this tumultuous SPL season.
Between times they have three road trips to negotiate, beginning with their outing against Caley Thistle at Inverness on Wednesday, followed by fixtures at Rugby Park and Tynecastle.
If they can extract maximum reward from those games they will take the field against Motherwell - whom they meet again in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park on May 21 - as champions elect.
In front of their own crowd against Dundee United, Neil Lennon's players responded in emphatic style to Rangers' pyrotechnics at Fir Park 24 hours previously.
United split five goals with Rangers to emerge with an improbable victory at Ibrox on April 2, but although this game produced the same scoring total, the flow was almost wholly in one direction and swept Celtic on towards the prize of a championship in Lennon's tyro season as a manager.
As at Fir Park, the favourites were only one goal ahead at the interval and looked as though they would need another to steer them through the jitters which are always at hand when a campaign remains undecided at this stage of the proceedings.
In this case it was Beram Kayal's drive, executed with the precision of a marksman shooting through a keyhole, which saw Celtic into their comfort zone.
United's sole consolation was that none of their players could reproach themselves, which was far from the case at the opening goal - Morgaro Gomis was in a position to push United into Celtic territory but chose to pass back to Garry Kenneth, who inexplicably gifted the ball straight to Anthony Stokes under no pressure whatsoever.
The Irishman strode into the penalty area and, although United closed down his angles, Kenneth's error had allowed Hooper to bound into empty space, where he accepted the invitation to tap in from point-blank range.
Peter Houston's response was to replace Danny Swanson and Prince Buaben with Jon Daly and Johnny Russell and United almost reduced the deficit immediately, which would have added intrigue to the contest.
However, having skipped past a couple of opponents effortlessly, Russell saw his shot ping back from the base of the upright and Celtic were soon able to engage cruise gear, aided by a scrappy clearance by Paul Dixon which was snapped up by Kris Commons for a low drive beyond Dusan Pernis.
The Tannadice side did find the net in stoppage time when David Goodwillie fed Russell for a strike that resembled Celtic's opener.
Even then, though, United contrived to inflict self-harm by allowing Darryl Murphy all the time and space he required to amble across their penalty area and shoot past Pernis.
Houston, as one might expect, was riled by his side's deficiencies, which had not been allowed for in his vision of how the afternoon might develop.
"We didn't turn up in the first half," said the United manager. "All the things we spoke about were forgotten. We told the players that the worst that could happen was that they could lose, but that all the pressure was on Celtic - yet our ball players just couldn't keep the ball.
"We looked more nervous than Celtic and I don't know why - we didn't hold it up in attack and defensively we allowed crosses in from both flanks. Three of the goals we lost were entirely of our own making.
"At the first one, Gomis had the ball on the half-way line when we were attacking, but he turned back and gives it to Kenneth, who was sloppy and slack. All of a sudden we're chasing the game.
"Defensively we were very poor. At Celtic's last goal Darryl Murphy picks it up on the half-way line, surrounded by four tangerine jerseys. With all due respect, Darryl's not the quickest player in the world but he dictates to our four players and gets away to score a goal - poor, poor, poor."
Lennon, of course, was highly satisfied by the day's work.
"In these circumstances the crowd can get a bit antsy and that can leak on to the pitch, but it's just the fans' desperation to be successful," said the Celtic manager.
"We understand that and the players worked hard to get ahead in the game. There was a wee dry spell after half time, so the second goal was very important and the bonus was that it was a wonder goal. Darryl responded brilliantly and nobody deserves a goal more than he does for all the work he's put in.
"We had big performances from our big players and you can see that they're enjoying their football. We made life very difficult for Dundee United and at times going forward we were irresistible, although I thought we could have been just a touch more clinical - but 4-1 was a great result and sets us up very nicely for Wednesday night."
Celtic games have been the context of many a debatable refereeing decision this season and this time Iain Brines was the target for Houston, who was greatly agitated by the fact that Kayal escaped punishment for a lunging challenge on Craig Conway, while Daly was cautioned for an identical foul on Charlie Mulgrew.
After bombarding the fourth official's eardrum, Houston pursued Brines up the tunnel at full time to demand an explanation.
"He told me that on another day, Kayal might have had a yellow card. What's the difference between this day and another day? We'll ask the SFA to explain that one, all right."
Match details:
Celtic (4-4-2): Forster; Wilson, Majstorovic, Mulgrew, Izaguirre; Forrest, Kayal, Brown, Commons; Hooper, Stokes.
Subs: Zaluska, Rogne, Samaras, Maloney, McCourt, Murphy.
Dundee United (4-5-1): Pernis; Dillon, Kenneth, Severin, Dixon; Swanson, Buaben, S Robertson, Gomis, Conway; Goodwillie.
Subs: Banks (g), Daly, D Robertson, Douglas, Watson, J Russell, Armstrong.
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