It is incredibly rare for a goalkeeper who has conceded two goals in the course of a defeat to be named a team’s man of the match.
However, few, if any, Dundee fans who were at Celtic Park on Saturday would disagree Rab Douglas was deserving of that accolade.
The veteran once again rolled back the years to produce a stunning one-man show of defiance that kept the scoreline at a respectable level.
It was another vintage performance but it is possibly wrong to state that like a fine wine Douglas is improving with age. After all, he has previously won SPL championship medals, appeared in a Uefa Cup final and has represented his country 19 times.
There is no disputing, though, that the 40-year-old continues to be a star act for the Dark Blues as they look to find their feet in the Premier League.
There was little he could do about both Celtic goals either side of half-time but his stunning stop from an earlier Scott Brown penalty did give the travelling support hope that it just might have been their day.
It was not to be though, and Douglas insists the Dundee players now have to pick themselves up.
The former Hoops star said: ”I had hoped my penalty save might have spurred us on but the timing of both goals killed us. If we could have got to half-time level it might have been a different game. However, we have to remember we were playing the champions in their own back yard.
”Theirs was a spot-kick you have to accept that but having made the save we had hoped to get to 0-0 at half-time. Bobby Geddes (Dundee goalkeeping coach) does some homework on previous penalties and then I just decide which way to go.
”It was a decent, well-struck penalty and I’m not sure how I managed to get it over the bar. I am happy with that and I am pleased to come back here and do reasonably well but the timing of the goals killed us.
”The second in particular, I felt we could have put a bit more pressure on the ball. These are the kind of mistakes we have to cut out and start learning the harsh lessons.
”But these are the sort of games you can write off to a certain extent as long as you don’t get a tanking.”
The omens as Dundee ran out at Celtic Park were not good for Barry Smith’s side. His counterpart Neil Lennon had berated his players following last week’s league loss to St Johnstone, insisting they had a duty to concentrate on the bread and butter duties of SPL business as well as the more glamorous European ties.
A big response was expected from the players, although the home fans showed where their focus remained with just 41,073 inside Parkhead 12,000 down on Wednesday night’s Champions League draw against Benfica.
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Prior to kick-off it was revealed that another player had been added to Dundee’s long absentee list with Neil McGregor sitting in the stands after suffering a knee injury against Motherwell last week.
Midfielder Iain Davidson who went on to produce a five-star performance was pressed into service as a centre-half alongside young Kyle Benedictus.
Dundee started strongly and had an early claim for a penalty when Emilio Izaguirre appeared to trip the marauding Gary Irvine but referee John Beaton waved the appeals away.
Fifteen minutes in, the Dark Blues should have capitalised on their bright opening when Ryan Conroy crossed from the left towards Steven Milne, who in turn headed down to Colin Nish.
The big striker’s tame effort was saved by Fraser Forster with the ball breaking out to John Baird, but with the goal at his mercy he blazed over from 12 yards.
Douglas then had to look lively twice in the space of two minutes to deny Charlie Mulgrew at a free-kick and then to save from James Forrest following a slip by Matt Lockwood.
In the 37th minute Celtic’s 20-year-old Tunisian striker Lassad was stopped in his tracks by a wild challenge by Benedictus with Beaton pointing to the spot.
Surprisingly, Benedictus, who had been booked earlier, escaped further punishment as Hoops skipper Scott Brown stepped up to take the penalty.
Douglas looked to have dived too early but he stuck up an arm to make anoutstanding save with a strong hand.
However he had no chance as Celtic opened the scoring just two minutes before the break.
Brown made up for his earlier miss to split the Dundee defence with a pass to Gary Hooper, who skillfully skipped past Davidson before rifling the ball into the back of the net.
Dundee almost went further behind two minutes after half-time when Irvine chested the ball back towards goal but it bypassed Douglas and hit a post before the keeper managed to snuff out the danger.
That only temporarily delayed the arrival of the second goal on 49 minutes when Izaguirre rolled a ball back to Victor Wanyama lurking just outside the Dundee penalty area, and the big Kenyan carefully drilled a shot past the despairing Douglas and into the bottom corner.
That put an end to any Dundee hopes of securing their first win at Celtic Park since May 13 2001 and after that it was one-way traffic with the visitors pinned back.
Douglas came to the rescue with a succession of stops including two out of the top drawer to save Lassad and Kelvin Wilson headers.
Dundee boss Smith said that although disappointed with the result, he was pleased his players did not throw in the towel.
He said: ”I thought we started the game fairly well, were positive and created a couple of chances.”