Beleaguered Dundee provided the shock of the Scottish Premiership season so far by beating Celtic at home for the first time in 37 years to leave Brendan Rodgers’ side five points off top spot.
After Celtic fans’ protest against the board delayed the start of the play as the pitch had to be cleared of balls, travelling supporters were only further angered by another flat showing.
Dundee enjoyed a fast start which was capped off by Clark Robertson’s goal with an angled header from a corner which flew past Kasper Schmeichel.
The hosts’ defending was heroic, and their threat on the counter started to grow. It was from that threat the second goal came.
Cameron Congreve turned Liam Scales inside and out before firing in a low cross that deflected off Cameron Carter-Vickers and in.
The door seemed to open for the visitors after the break when Matthew MacDermid pointed to the spot after Paul Digby seemingly blocked a Reo Hatate shot with his arm. Replays showed that, in fact, he’d been struck in the face and the referee soon ruled it out.
Although Celtic ramped up the pressure, Dundee held firm for a famous win – just their second in the league this season. It boosts them up to ninth, and relieves the pressure Steven Pressley had been under.
The same cannot be said for Rodgers and Celtic. They are five points off Hearts after eight games, and they travel to Tynecastle next week.
A loss would see them eight points behind, something unthinkable just a few weeks ago.
Analysis: Celtic rebuffed time and again by Dundee’s dogged determination
Pressley said pre-match that if Dundee’s performance was right, the result would take care of itself.
Little did we know that the oft-harangued head coach was, in fact, peering into a crystal ball.
The 1-1 draw with Rangers in August was mentioned as the high watermark of Dundee’s season. A repeat of that would be needed, Pressley acknowledged. Perhaps a little more, even.
That’s exactly what they got. While Celtic had 22 shots, Jon McCracken only had to make two saves.
That was down to the level of performance from the 10 men in front of them, who defended from back to front – and looked completely transformed from the side that lost convincingly to Aberdeen just a fortnight ago.
If you’d told any Dundee fans that weekend that they’d beat Celtic two weeks’ later – for the first time in 46 meetings – they’d have laughed at you.
But Pressley masterminded the perfect plan, and his players executed it to a tee. Ethan Hamilton in midfield was particularly impressive and he, along with all of his teammates, deserves huge plaudits.
The possession stats showed Celtic’s dominance, but also Dundee’s resolve
But what about Celtic? What went wrong on such a dismal day in Dundee?
Their attacking threat was there, but it was blunt and lifeless. Iheanacho passed up a number of opportunities, and he wasn’t the only guilty party.
Of those 22 shots, just three were on target. There were 48 touches in the opposition box and 118 entries into the final third.
But there was no confidence that they could make the breakthrough, no belief that they could break down Dundee’s low block.
Yes, you’d expect Celtic to have more firepower from the bench than young Johnny Kenny, and there have to be questions about that.
But questions must also be asked of the players who produced such a flat performance against a side that many people tipped for relegation.
