It was a case of Dundee United déjà vu as Celtic emerged 2-0 winners at Tannadice on Sunday.
Liam Fox’s charges held the Hoops at half-time, albeit that required a fine showing from Mark Birighitti between the sticks and a cancelled penalty following a VAR check.
However, Celtic scored twice in the space of five minutes after the break — echoes of the three-minute double-salvo endured against Rangers in the Tangerines’ last Premiership home game.
Once again, plenty of hard work undone in the blink of an eye.
United remain level with three other sides on 20 points at the foot of the table.
Key moments
Celtic exploded out of the blocks, with Jota skipping through the United midfield and teeing up Kyogo. However, the Japanese internationalist lashed wide.
At the other end, Steven Fletcher sent a looping header onto the roof of Joe Hart’s net.
That would be as close as the hosts came in the first period.
Birighitti pulled off two superb saves as the Hoops turned the screw.
The Aussie got a strong hand on a fizzing low drive by Jota, before a point-blank stop to thwart Kyogo following a terrific Alistair Johnston through-ball.
When Birighitti was beaten, Craig Sibbald made a stunning block from an Aaron Mooy shot — just as he seemed destined to fire home after a looping cross had struck the United post.
There was yet more VAR drama on the stroke of half-time when referee Don Robertson adjudged Birighitti to have cleaned out Kyogo as he punched a high ball to safety.
However, he was urged to consult the monitor by Euan Anderson in Baillieston.
NO PENALTY! The goalkeeper gets the ball first and then the man pic.twitter.com/JsVHCz11py
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 29, 2023
Robertson subsequently decided that Birighitti had committed no offence and the teams went in at 0-0.
But, just as happened in United’s last home league match against Rangers, the Tangerines saw the contest slip away in a matter of minutes.
When the Light Blues visited, the goals came in the 54th and 57th minutes. On Sunday, it was 51 and 56.
Jota broke the deadlock when Birighitti was caught under a deep, looping Mooy delivery, allowing the Portuguese winger to nod home at the back post.
The visitors doubled their lead from the penalty spot when Kieran Freeman was penalised for handball following another VAR check. Mooy did the honours from 12 yards.
Star man: Craig Sibbald
There are fewer more onerous challenges in Scottish football than attempting to shackle Celtic’s all-action midfield.
Sibbald embraced the challenge manfully.
He snapped into challenges, produced a wonderful goal-saving block in the first period and made the joint-most interceptions (three) of every player on the pitch.
Edwards, Fletcher and Birighitti — notwithstanding his costly error — had decent enough afternoons.
Player ratings
Dundee United (3-4-2-1): Birighitti 6; Smith 6, Edwards 7; McMann 6; Freeman 6, Levitt 6 (Djoum 73, 3), Sibbald 7, Behich 6; Harkes 5 (McGrath 60, 4), Middleton 6 (Pawlett 73, 3); Fletcher 6 (MacLeod 73, 3).
Subs not used: Newman, Mulgrew, Graham, Niskanen, Cudjoe.
Manager under the microscope
Fox’s continued selection of Ian Harkes ahead of Jamie McGrath is illustrative of how impressive the American has been since the post-World Cup restart.
The United head coach unsurprisingly brought Edwards, Scott McMann and Glenn Middleton back into the starting line-up after they were rested against University of Stirling.
Tony Watt — targeted by KV Oostende, as revealed by Courier Sport — was not named in the squad.
Fox was unable to turn the tide once Celtic got in the ascendancy — in truth, their opener felt inevitable — and he looked to the bench as the game went on.
However, McGrath, Rory MacLeod, Arnaud Djoum and Peter Pawlett were unable to spark the unlikeliest of comebacks.
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