On Celtic's previous visit to Tannadice, an away win was overshadowed by serious controversy involving the match officials. This time the Celtic camp even admitted to a debt of gratitude to the referee. Given the spats between the club and officialdom this season, that was a notable moment.
The meeting of these two teams in October will be forever infamous after a penalty was awarded to Celtic and the decision reversed, with the circumstances the subject of a lie by match officials.
Four months on and, notwithstanding a sticky period in the middle of the second half, Neil Lennon's men were fully worth their victory.
There was only a tinge of post-match debate about a refereeing matter. Celtic's full-back Mark Wilson did not receive the second yellow card that a tackle on Craig Conway merited. "I was fortunate," Wilson said. "It was a bad tackle and I thank the referee for not giving me a second yellow. I was pretty lucky." Lennon agreed: "He could quite easily have been sent off," said Celtic's manager. "He was probably fortunate to stay on the pitch."
Wilson's fortune is significant. News emanated that his fellow Celtic right-back Cha Du-ri could miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury, meaning Lennon would have had a major problem in that position for next weekend's Old Firm derby if Wilson had been suspended.
As if to emphasise an apparent general sense of goodwill, the Dundee United manager, Peter Houston, simply claimed football is littered with too many red cards and that Celtic deserved their win.
That success was all but secure by the interval. Anthony Stokes and Wilson, both with the aid of meaningful deflections, gave Celtic a two-goal lead. Only desperate defending thwarted attempts by Stokes and Joe Ledley to claim a third.
United rallied after the break, with David Goodwillie handing them a lifeline from close range after Conway's free-kick was poorly defended. However, the centre-half Daniel Majstorovic steadied Celtic nerves with a fine diving header from Charlie Mulgrew's set play.
Freddie Ljungberg was handed a 10-minute cameo by Lennon and Gary Hooper comically fell over the ball when two yards from the United goal. That episode proved irrelevant, with Celtic five points ahead of Rangers ? who hold two games in hand ? before the old adversaries meet at Parkhead next Sunday.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/13/dundee-united-celtic-match-report
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