Win fails to hide Celtic shortcomings

Celtic sit level with Rangers this morning. Martin O'Neill knows already that this is the comparison he and the Celtic faithful will face every Monday morning between now and next May, and after both of the Glasgow giants recorded slightly unconvincing 2-1 victories on this first weekend, it is a case of so far so good for the O'Neill Celtic era.

Or maybe so far, so reasonable. As Chris Sutton was to say afterwards: "We were fairly resolute." That, however, is an improvement on last season when Celtic were rarely resolute. Sutton was smiling, though, having delivered the 68th minute winner after Celtic had wobbled familiarly when David McCracken had equalised Henrik Larsson's first-half opener. Sutton, even on his debut, knew that resolution has not been a Celtic characteristic for some time.

His co-debutant, Joos Valgaeren, signed last week for £3.8 million sterling from Roda, supplied some of the defensive steel, although all judgments must be suspended until this new Celtic meet opposition of more serious calibre than Dundee United.

Nevertheless, they still had to be beaten and O'Neill was "delighted" that the nervousness which he admitted to in a touchline interview pre-kick-off was not immediately evident in his new players, a couple of clumsy Jackie McNamara touches aside.

No, Celtic's all too visible flaws were more to do with their lack of ability. Their support will have recognised this from last season and any thinking that Celtic's early dominance here was a sign of a successful revolution since O'Neill's arrival would be premature.

United manager, Paul Sturrock's obvious instruction was to pack the back, harry in midfield and hope upfront. It worked for about five minutes, until Larsson turned in the United area with such ease that he might have been in shock when it came time to shoot - the ball went straight into the grasp of Alan Combe.

The sight of his colleagues conceding so much territory so early may well have perturbed Combe, and his anxiety was justified in the ninth minute when he rather unconvincingly pushed a Larsson free-kick onto a post. Combe was then fortunate that Valgaeren aimed his six-yard header directly at the keeper. At least Combe did not stumble.

Jonathan Gould was to, although in the first half he was a virtual spectator. As the half wore on Eyal Berkovic began to establish some rapport with Sutton, and the former Chelsea striker overcame some poor control to gradually make a hint of an impression on a game that was frantic and yet somehow slow and predictable.

Sutton's first significant contribution in Scotland came with a feisty run at the United defence that ended with Larsson curling in a loose ball from the edge of the box. It was a typically cool and attractive finish from the Swede.

In the dream Celtic script, that was meant to be the prelude to a goal avalanche. Indeed the halftime reception accorded was of heroic proportions. Then came Gould. The interval was over for only four minutes when Neil Heaney, a summer signing from mighty Darlington, floated in a free-kick from the United left. There were plenty of Celtic jerseys to deal with the centre but Gould decided to leave his line anyway. He appeared to stub his toe in the turf in doing so, fell forward, disconcerted his defenders and left McCracken, an 18 year-old sponsored by the "Springfield Arabs", to score the first goal of his young career with a simple nod of his head.

The vocal Celtic following, so supportive previously, now started to shout "pish" frequently at their own team. Berkovic, in particular, came in for abuse and was soon withdrawn by O'Neill.

Celtic had lost their sense of direction and would have been off the road altogether had Steven Thompson placed his unchallenged 65th-minute header either side of Gould.

Instead the threat seemed to reawaken Celtic, and within three minutes Sutton had his debut goal and Celtic had their victory. It was effective as opposed to pretty, Sutton bundling in Stephane Mahe's shot-cum-cross from two yards after Combe had done well to parry McNamara's fierce volley.

From Tannadice, the O'Neill roadshow now moves to Paradise next Saturday and Motherwell.

Dundee Utd: Combe, McCracken, De Vos, Aljofree, Heaney (Venetis 71), Hannah, Buchan, Easton (McConalogue 84), Paterson, Mathie (Hamilton 78), Thompson. Subs Not Used: Onstad, McQuillan. Booked: Heaney, Hannah, Thompson, Buchan. Goal: McCracken 49.

Celtic: Gould, Stubbs, Valgaeren, Boyd, Mahe, McNamara, Lambert, Berkovic (Johnson 64), Petrov, Larsson, Sutton. Subs Not Used: Kerr, Petta, Tebily, Burchill. Booked: Valgaeren. Goals: Larsson 37, Sutton 66.

Referee: Hugh Dallas (Scotland).