Ntcham nicks a winner as Dundee make Celts struggle to stay Invincible
A classic “squiggler” from Olivier Ntcham ensured Celtic will seek European glory this week bolstered by yet another domestic victory.
In all fairness, though, they needed some fine saves from Dorus de Vries not only to protect the win but also their remarkable unbeaten domestic run, now stretched to 59 games.
The 36-year-old Dutchman was one of raft of changes made by the home team with Wednesday night’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich in mind.
Of the players who could reasonably be expected to feature in the Allianz Arena, half a dozen were missing.
International travellers Craig Gordon, Mikael Lustig and Tom Rogic were rested.
Scott Brown, Jozo Simunovic and Stuart Armstrong all got a little more time to get over recent injuries.
James Forrest was given a seat on the substitutes’ bench for the day.
Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers has made something of an art form out of introducing fringe players into his side with only a slight loss of swagger but here they were given a really good run for their money by bright and bold Dundee.
Not that Celtic’s more surprising call-ups – Cristian Gamboa of Costa Rica and the Ivorian Eboue Kouassi – didn’t catch the eye.
The former, making his first appearance of the season, impressed with his quick, busy wing play, long-range passing and willingness to have a shot on goal.
Kouassi’s contribution was less flashy, but he provided a muscular presence in the centre of midfield somewhat reminiscent of Tottenham’s Victor Wanyama, who starred at Celtic Park from 2011-13 before heading south.
He was, however, guilty of giving the ball away at times and with Olivier Ntcham doing likewise, Dundee were given a fair bit of encouragement which they gratefully accepted to push forward again and again.
Playing three at the back gave them the scope to have two up front in the shape of AJ Leitch-Smith and Roarie Deacon up front and between them they kept the Celtic back-line honest.
Celtic had a few of their big names on show and of them Patrick Roberts looked particularly in the mood, driving past defenders for fun.
It was Ntcham who made the difference, steadying himself when teed up outside the box before unleashing a dipping, swerving right-foot shot which only stopped moving when it hit the corner of the net.
From there it was another fringe man who shone with de Vries producing three fine stops to deny Paul McGowan, Deacon and Faissal El-Bakhtaoui in succession and Dundee an equaliser.
“Sometimes you get an opportunity to show what you’ve got and I had a few good saves today,” said de Vries.
“I hope I made the most of my chance today.
“When you come in, you know about the unbeaten run. So it’s a pressure game.
“It doesn’t matter how you cut it down, there’s pressure.
“And you want to show the best of your ability.”
Dundee’s best opportunity, manager Neil McCann argued, should have come from the spot.
“I thought we should have had a penalty. I don’t care if it is accidental,” he said.
“Jack Hendry went into the Celtic box, won a header and got cleaned out by Gamboa.
“Anywhere on the pitch that is a free kick so why not in the box?
“That is what angers managers. He has been cleaned out and it should have been a penalty.
“The linesman told me he felt it wasn’t won cleanly, that it was a 50-50 header.
“Well, my big centre-back in there has got a lovely wee medal to take away from Celtic Park with the opening of his eye.”