Celtic's title drive accelerates as Swedes hit target
Dundee 0 Celtic 3
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Your support makes all the difference.Celtic show no signs of shortening their stride as they move towards the finishing line in the Scottish Premier League, ruthlessly seeing off Dundee's challenge at Dens Park yesterday to restore their 13-point lead over Rangers.
With just nine games left, the chances of Martin O'Neill's team failing to collect their second successive title are as likely as Henrik Larsson failing to find the net again. He scored for the 29th time of the season despite barely playing for 40 minutes. More worryingly for Sven Goran Eriksson, Celtic's other Swede, Johan Mjallby – who scored in a notable victory over England in 1998 – headed another here to subdue Dundee.
"It was a convincing win," agreed O'Neill later, whose taut features are beginning to relax. The Celtic manager later revealed that Larsson's hamstring injury, which had the prolific striker urgently withdrawn, does not appear serious.
England would welcome that as much as Rangers, but Celtic underlined that they are far from a one-trick pony. Larsson's 20th-minute goal came from the unselfish Paul Lambert, whose burst into the box allowed him to gather John Hartson's reverse pass and round the goalkeeper Julien Speroni before allowing the Swede to finish off the move.
Temuri Ketsbaia came close to an equaliser after a fine solo run but was denied by Robert Douglas, and Dundee soon found the gulf too great to bridge after Mjallby doubled the lead in the 43rd minute. Speroni appeared to be fouled by Bobo Balde as they went for Lubomir Moravcik's cross and, though the ball was cleared, Mjallby headed in Didier Agathe's cross.
Dundee looked like a side lacking in leadership – manager Ivano Bonetti was in Italy getting married – and it was Hartson who had the last word, with a deft chip for his 18th goal of the season.
Goals: Larsson (20) 0-1; Mjallby (43) 0-2; Hartson (76) 0-3.
Dundee (4-4-2): Speroni; Mackay (Artero, h-t), Fan Zhiyi, Del Rio, Smith; Romano, Rae, Ketsbaia, Beghetto; Caballero (Kemas, 56), Milne (Sara 73). Substitutes not used: Langfield (gk), Robertson.
Celtic (3-5-2): Douglas; Balde, Sutton, Mjallby; Agathe (Smith, 78), Lambert (Guppy, 72), Lennon, Petrov, Thompson; Larsson (Moravcik 38), Hartson. Substitutes not used: Gould (gk), Crainey.
Referee: M McCurry.
Bookings: Dundee: Romano, Beghetto, Ketsbaia. Celtic: Thompson.
Man of the match: Lambert.
Attendance: 10,642.
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