Celtic 5-0 Dundee
- Published
Leigh Griffiths and Scott Brown score in first half
Kris Commons makes it three with penalty kick
James Forrest and Nir Bitton add further goals
Celtic 11 points clear of second-placed Aberdeen
Celtic are one game away from being crowned Scottish Premiership champions after an emphatic victory over Dundee.
Leigh Griffiths headed Celtic in front before Scott Brown made it two in a one-sided first half.
Kris Commons' penalty and a James Forrest low drive were followed by a superb long-range strike by Nir Bitton.
The win means Celtic could be champions on Saturday evening should closest challengers Aberdeen fail to beat Dundee United at Tannadice.
Should the Dons win, then Celtic can wrap the title up when they travel to Pittodrie next weekend to face Derek McInnes' men.
Dundee rarely got out of their half as Celtic endeavoured to give their Norwegian boss his first league title as soon as possible. Brown and Griffiths both sliced wide within a minute of each other in a sustained period of pressure.
It was route-one football that should have opened the scoring when Commons played a long ball to the feet of Griffiths.
His lay-off to Gary Mackay-Steven presented a shooting opportunity for the former Dundee United man, but he elected to pass to Stefan Johansen whose untidy left-foot shot was always rising.
A lot of Dundee's problems were self inflicted, with possession often squandered all too often inside their own half. Yet goalkeeper Scott Bain had got to the half-hour mark without a save to make.
Johansen tumbled to the turf inside the box after a high foot from Kevin Thomson only for referee Bobby Madden to wave play on, but the poor defending would be punished soon enough.
Emilio Izaguirre was given too much time to cross from the left hand side, picking out Griffiths who rose above Thomas Konrad and headed past Bain.
That seemed to open the floodgates and after a passing move where every Celtic player was involved at least once, Brown found space in the middle to drill the ball into the corner.
The job seemed done by half-time, and the second period started at a pace that befitted a training match.
It could have been 3-0 though when Brown knocked the ball into the net after Bain failed to deal with a high ball, but he was let off the hook when the referee ruled Commons had fouled the goalkeeper.
However, there was no sympathy moments later when Stephen McGinn bundled over Darnell Fisher in the box, and Commons scored from the penalty spot.
Substitute Forrest soon made it four when his pace was too much for the Dundee backline and he drilled a low shot from the right.
And Bitton made it five with a 25-yard strike that nestled into the top corner, a shot that goalkeeper Bain could only watch fire past him.
- Published1 May 2015