A solitary strike from Olivier Ntcham stretched Celtic’s unbeaten domestic record to 59 games, but it was a relatively flat afternoon at Celtic Park as Dundee made Brendan Rodgers' side sweat.
With players rested and the squad rotated given the volume of games approaching, there were substantial changes from the team who drew with Hibs in the club’s last domestic outing.
Goalkeeper Dorus de Vries made a rare appearance but it was the Dutchman who found himself front and centre as he kept Celtic's lead in tact with two outstanding second half saves as Dundee threatened to take something from the game.
De Vries had a strong block from Paul McGowan from close range before being forced into a fingertip save from Roarie Deacon shortly after Celtic had taken the lead.The Dundee man will still be cursing himself for failign to find the target after finding himself at close range against the Hoops stopper.
Ntcham had found a way through the stalemate with a swirling effort from the edge of the box just after the hour mark but despite finding the opener, Celtic couldn’t add to their tally.
There was game time for Eboue Kouassi and Cristian Gamboa, the latter of whom was involved in a clash of heads in the second period for which he required treatment.
Dundee, like Neil Lennon’s Hibs, tried to have a go at Celtic and contained them in chunks of the game.
Callum McGregor had two good chances in the opening stages that were saved by Dundee stopper Scott Bain, while Leigh Griffiths, straight through shortly after the re-start ought to have done better other than fire his effort directly towards the Dens Park keeper.
Patrick Roberts, the catalyst for most of Celtic’s attacks, had a chance to go just wide of the target too.
While it wasn’t a game that ever really seemed to ignite, Celtic will be satisfied to take the points and look towards Wednesday night’s game against a Bayern Munich side who beat Freiburg 5-0 yesterday afternoon.
Dundee will feel aggrieved that they left this one with nothing to show other than a pat on the back for making a decent fist of it.
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