United left Glasgow defeated as Celtic came out 3-0 winners at Parkhead today. By Joe James
First half
Despite off the park tension between both clubs over the past few weeks and most recently following the Scottish Cup replay three days earlier it was a fairly low-key start to proceedings from both sides and nothing much of note happened until the 16th minute in which former Arab favourite Gary Mackay-Steven opened the scoring. The wide midfielder received the ball around 25 yards from goal before cutting onto his left foot and lashing a shot into the bottom corner of Rado Cierzniak’s goal.
Following Celtic’s opener, the subdued atmosphere around Parkhead was a similar reflection to that on the pitch with Celtic looking in control of the possession and dictating the tempo in midfield.
The home side did however double their lead after the half hour mark, Mackay-Steven played a decisive pass into John Guidetti whose curling left footed shot dipped just underneath the crossbar.
Mackay-Steven continued to have a massive influence on the home sides attacking moves and should perhaps have doubled his tally a few minutes later when Stefan Johansen’s shot was brilliantly saved by Cierzniak before falling to the former United man, who scuffed an acute angled shot off the post.
United created their first real opportunity of the half when Nadir Ciftci’s driving run deep into the Celtic half saw the striker slicing a shot from distance just wide.
Celtic added a third with only seconds remaining of the half, Mackay-Steven again at the forefront won a freekick on the edge of the box, the resulting set-piece cleverly worked to Jason Denayer who effortlessly back-heeled the well engineered freekick into the back of the net.
Second half
Chances were by and large pretty limited throughout the second half, however, United did have a golden opportunity to pull one back when a defensive ricochet resulted in a one-one-one between Ciftci and Craig Gordon, only a last ditch sliding tackle preventing the United striker from scoring his eleventh Premiership goal of the season.
Moments later, United again pressurised the Celtic defence when Ryan Dow's stinging shot from distance was palmed to safety from the suddenly busy Celtic keeper, Gordon.
Evidence of the depth Ronny Deila has at his disposal was shown when substitutes Liam Henderson and Kris Commons combined to create a nicely engineered move. Henderson danced past Ryan McGowan before squaring the ball inside to Commons whose shot rose just above the target with the fulltime whistle following.
Celtic 3 United 0
Man of the match: In his first start since returning from injury, John Souttar had a solid game defensively and his bravery and composure whilst in possession of the ball was vital in allowing United to not give the ball away as cheaply as previous weeks.
United: Cierzniak, Dixon, Souttar, Fojut, McGowan, Paton, Butcher (’46 Dow), Rankin, Telfer (’78 Muirhead), Spittal (’78 Anier), Ciftci.
Unused subs: Zwick, Erskine, Connolly, Spark.
Celtic: Gordon, Ambrose, Van Dijk, Deneyer, Izaguirre, Bitton, Brown, Armstrong (’75 Henderson), Johansen, Mackay-Steven(‘6 9 Commons), Guidetti (’69 Scepovic).
Unused subs: Zaluska, Griffifths, Fisher, Forrest.
Referee: Kevin Clancy
First half
Despite off the park tension between both clubs over the past few weeks and most recently following the Scottish Cup replay three days earlier it was a fairly low-key start to proceedings from both sides and nothing much of note happened until the 16th minute in which former Arab favourite Gary Mackay-Steven opened the scoring. The wide midfielder received the ball around 25 yards from goal before cutting onto his left foot and lashing a shot into the bottom corner of Rado Cierzniak’s goal.
Following Celtic’s opener, the subdued atmosphere around Parkhead was a similar reflection to that on the pitch with Celtic looking in control of the possession and dictating the tempo in midfield.
The home side did however double their lead after the half hour mark, Mackay-Steven played a decisive pass into John Guidetti whose curling left footed shot dipped just underneath the crossbar.
Mackay-Steven continued to have a massive influence on the home sides attacking moves and should perhaps have doubled his tally a few minutes later when Stefan Johansen’s shot was brilliantly saved by Cierzniak before falling to the former United man, who scuffed an acute angled shot off the post.
United created their first real opportunity of the half when Nadir Ciftci’s driving run deep into the Celtic half saw the striker slicing a shot from distance just wide.
Celtic added a third with only seconds remaining of the half, Mackay-Steven again at the forefront won a freekick on the edge of the box, the resulting set-piece cleverly worked to Jason Denayer who effortlessly back-heeled the well engineered freekick into the back of the net.
Second half
Chances were by and large pretty limited throughout the second half, however, United did have a golden opportunity to pull one back when a defensive ricochet resulted in a one-one-one between Ciftci and Craig Gordon, only a last ditch sliding tackle preventing the United striker from scoring his eleventh Premiership goal of the season.
Moments later, United again pressurised the Celtic defence when Ryan Dow's stinging shot from distance was palmed to safety from the suddenly busy Celtic keeper, Gordon.
Evidence of the depth Ronny Deila has at his disposal was shown when substitutes Liam Henderson and Kris Commons combined to create a nicely engineered move. Henderson danced past Ryan McGowan before squaring the ball inside to Commons whose shot rose just above the target with the fulltime whistle following.
Celtic 3 United 0
Man of the match: In his first start since returning from injury, John Souttar had a solid game defensively and his bravery and composure whilst in possession of the ball was vital in allowing United to not give the ball away as cheaply as previous weeks.
United: Cierzniak, Dixon, Souttar, Fojut, McGowan, Paton, Butcher (’46 Dow), Rankin, Telfer (’78 Muirhead), Spittal (’78 Anier), Ciftci.
Unused subs: Zwick, Erskine, Connolly, Spark.
Celtic: Gordon, Ambrose, Van Dijk, Deneyer, Izaguirre, Bitton, Brown, Armstrong (’75 Henderson), Johansen, Mackay-Steven(‘6 9 Commons), Guidetti (’69 Scepovic).
Unused subs: Zaluska, Griffifths, Fisher, Forrest.
Referee: Kevin Clancy