THE clamour would not subside until long after the final whistle, Celtic's ecstatic supporters acclaiming a third successive Scottish Premier League championship with an intensity that is reserved for those occasions on which the main victims are the fiercest rivals, Rangers.
On a night when either of the Old Firm sides could have taken the title, it was Gordon Strachan's players who held their nerve, claiming their seventh successive victory on a goal from Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, a run that brought them from a seemin
gly impossible position seven weeks before.
It was the 38th and final match of a long campaign in which a refusal to succumb to the tension would be the prime prerequisite. Dundee United, as their manager Craig Levein promised, were constant irritants, the unarguable contention that they did not deserve to lose the match submerged in the elation of the party makers.
Any notion that Celtic would canter to victory because United would offer little resistance would be exposed as preposterous the moment the home side created the first scoring chance as early as the sixth minute. They would spend much of the rest of the time firming up that first impression of a team intent on denying their visitors the privilege of raising the flag over their territory.
Celtic's commitment to victory, of course, could safely be taken for granted, and, having allied their determination to some neat and inventive football, they were themselves prevented from establishing a potentially decisive advantage by some exceptional goalkeeping from Lukasz Zaluska.
Zaluska's friend and compatriot at the other end of the field, Artur Boruc, probably had to fight the temptation to applaud as he completed two saves in a short time from Aiden McGeady and Barry Robson, the latter especially impressive.
McGeady's opportunity arose from a sweeping, penetrative counter-thrust, spearheaded by Scott McDonald when he took possession and pushed into the United half. Flanked by Shunsuke Nakamura and McGeady, with only Darren Dods defending the United goal, the little striker supplied the Japanese midfielder.
Nakamura held the ball for a moment, ensuring a clear path for his perfectly-measured pass to McGeady on the left side of the area. The Ireland midfielder should have converted what was a golden opportunity, but hit the left-foot shot shoulder-high and close enough to the goalkeeper to allow Zaluska to make the save.
There was, however, no fault to be found with the effort from Robson that followed, on this occasion Zaluska's work exemplary. Nakamura executed a couple of pirouettes past Danny Grainger on the left before delivering his cross to Robson, whose header from eight yards was hurtling into Zaluska's top left corner before the goalkeeper took off to push the ball wide of its target.
Considering the tension of the occasion, both sides produced some attractive football, even if United's forward movement was not as frequent. They did, however, show themselves to be dangerously capable on the break, never more so than when Willo Flood played Mark de Vries into the heart of the visitors' defence with an incisive ball. De Vries side-stepped Gary Caldwell to make his own space, but, from around the penalty area, curled the drive wide of Boruc's left-hand post.
Predictably, the match revolved around the midfield, where a relentlessly engrossing contest took place between Robson and Paul Hartley and the United trio, Danny Swanson, Mark Kerr and Flood. Craig Levein had chosen to outnumber Strachan's midfield quartet with a 4-5-1 formation which, including Noel Hunt and Swanson, was perfectly fluid, capable of becoming a 4-3-3 the instant the opportunity arose.
To the constant anxiety of the Celtic supporters, it was United who spent long periods early in the second half making threatening gestures in the direction of Boruc. Curiously, the home team's aggressiveness, and the visitors' relative passiveness, seemed to be triggered by the latter's squandering another excellent chance in the first minute.
McGeady's slipped pass to Vennegoor of Hesselink took the towering striker clear of his markers, but he sent a left foot drive straight against the legs of Zaluska, with McGeady failing to control the ball as it rebounded to his feet.
Until the Dutchman's intervention 26 minutes later, the most fulfilling moment of the visiting fans' night would be the news that Aberdeen had taken the lead at Pittodrie. This arrived in the middle of something of a crisis, like word reaching a besieged town that relief was at the gates.
United's piercing runs had been typified by the ball from Swanson that sent de Vries scampering down the right, before cutting inside the toiling Lee Naylor and hitting his shot from the right just wide. But Swanson's own effort soon after, again from a difficult angle on the right, was properly menacing, forcing Boruc into a leaping save.
Having failed to make much of an impact from outfield play, it was hardly surprising that Celtic once again should take the lead with a set piece. It was as orthodox as it is possible to be, the outstanding Hartley's corner kick from the left headed cleanly over the line from six yards by Vennegoor of Hesselink.
That would be enough to ignite the celebrations, but the intensity of the party would deepen considerably when the confirmation was received of Aberdeen's second goal. It would have been possible for the uninformed observer to have been persuaded, despite the visual evidence, that all three goals had been scored by men in green and white hoops.
The full article contains 936 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
