Celtic 5 Dundee 0:A Joe Ledley double helped Celtic secure a convincing win over bottom side Dundee at Celtic Park which took them another step closer towards retaining their Premier League title.
The stand-in skipper opened the scoring in the 13th minute and James Forrest notched the second from the spot four minutes after the interval when Dundee substitute Matt Lockwood, only on for the start of the second half as replacement for Brian Easton, was shown a red card for denying Gary Hooper a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Dylan McGeouch, Ledley and Hooper then added goals to further deflate the relegation-bound visitors, whose new interim boss John Brown watched from the directors’ box.
15 points adrift
Dundee remain 15 points adrift of St Mirren at the foot of the table with their fate almost inevitable, although there may still be trouble looming in the wake of Brown’s appointment. Disgruntled fans had walked out of a meeting with the Dundee board at Dens Park yesterday after it was confirmed the 51-year-old would be taking over following the shock sacking of Barry Smith last week.
Celtic: Forster, Ambrose (Wanyama 42), Rogne, Wilson, Izaguirre (Rogic 65), McGeouch, Kayal, Ledley, Forrest (Miku 70), Stokes, Hooper. Subs Not Used: Zaluska, Samaras, Nouioui, McCourt. Booked: Rogne. Dundee: Douglas, Irvine, Benedictus, Gallagher, Easton (Lockwood 46), Riley (Morgan 78), McAlister, Davidson, Conroy, Harkins (McBride 68), John Baird. Subs Not Used: Alex Baird, Milne, Grassi, Nish. Sent Off: Lockwood (49). Booked: Irvine. Attendance: 39,959 Referee: Kevin Clancy (Scotland).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)