Celtic 2 Dundee Utd 2: Levein draws little comfort from stunning fightback at Parkhead

IN FOOTBALL, progress is not measured in miles, but in perceptions. A prime example would be Craig Levein's obvious disappointment that Dundee United should have remained unbeaten in four matches against the Old Firm this season. The dissatisfaction does not derive from not having lost, but from the fact that the series has not yielded at least one victory, all four having been drawn.

Furthermore, Levein told his players before the match that he thought they would win on this latest visit to Celtic Park. Not that they could, but that they would. And not in the way that a manager ritually encourages his team through trite propaganda, but in the way that a student of form chooses to have a bet.

In the 13 years between the high days of Jim McLean in 1993 – it was in his final season as manager that United last won at Parkhead – and Levein's arrival in 2006, how many incumbents at Tannadice would have been able to approach meetings with the Glasgow giants convinced that they would leave with three points? Levein rationalised the events of this season with unshakeable credibility.

"If you look back at the four games, you'll see why I'm a little disappointed," he said. "Against Rangers at Ibrox, we led until injury time. In the match against them at Tannadice, we came from behind to lead again and lost a late equaliser. Our home match against Celtic was a 1-1 draw that could have gone either way, and here we have come from behind again and could just as easily have gone on to win the match.

"I realise that might sound a bit much, because Celtic were so much on top and had so many chances in the first half that we could have been out of it by half-time. Until the second half, we just didn't press them as we should have and Celtic found space too easily. I didn't have to shout and bawl at half-time, it was just a case of picking up their effort and defending as well as we can."

Gordon Strachan will have taken no joy from seeing his comments of the day before the game prove to be prophetic. He had recognised United's advances under Levein by claiming that a fixture generally dominated by Celtic through the years of the Tannadice club's struggles had once again become one of the tightest and most intriguing on the schedule. This was underpinned by the statistic that Levein's side had drawn three of their previous four meetings with the champions.

But those home supporters who had seen their team take the lead with the first of Georgios Samaras's two goals could not have imagined that they would be so tortured during the second 45 minutes. That prospect seemed to become even more remote when Samaras completed his double and extended Celtic's advantage in the 58th minute. To anyone paying proper attention, however, it would be clear that United were already in the ascendancy, revitalised, and that Celtic's second goal had been scored against the run of play. If there was a possibility that the visitors would be deflated by the shock of falling two behind, the theory was not allowed enough time to be tested. United halved the deficit less than two minutes later.

Both managers could (but, understandably would not) direct culpability for the loss of the goals at their respective centre-halves, Strachan at Stephen McManus and Levein at Lee Wilkie. The United defender began the epidemic of sluggishness at the opening goal.

Wilkie clearly had the ball under control out on Celtic's left after Barry Robson had played it forward, but seemed to go into a reverie as Scott Brown came in behind him and simply took it away. He rolled the ball back to Samaras and the tall Greek slid it right-footed away to the right of Lukasz Zaluska from about 14 yards. If there was an element of the bizarre about it, the goal was still the least the home side deserved. Brown, Robson and Samaras had all failed to exploit excellent opportunities, while Scott Robertson's wide shot was United's only scoring attempt during the entire first half.

Wilkie would be missing when Samaras scored the second, a free header from six yards from Shunsuke Nakamura's free kick on the left into the heart of the towering defender's designated area. United's refusal to capitulate immediately was visual testimony to the kind of spirit with which Levein has imbued his team and to the inspiration of the ubiquitous Willo Flood. But it was McManus's reckless and irresponsible lunge at Morgaro Gomis on the very edge of the area that gave the visitors their chance to come back. Paul Dixon made a marvellous job of the conversion, curling his left-foot shot high to the left of Artur Boruc with the kind of technique seemingly copyrighted by Nakamura himself.

McManus would then appear as dilatory as Wilkie had been at the first goal when Jon Daly headed the ball forward, allowing the substitute, Warren Feeney, to steal between himself and the advancing Boruc to stab the ball past the goalkeeper from close range. As with Celtic before the interval, however, it was the least United deserved from a second half in which they were emphatically the better side.

"We knew it would be a hard game," said Strachan, "but we played well and had a few chances in the first half, although our regret would be not taking them. But, having gone ahead, all we had to do was play sensible football. We didn't do that. The secret is also to pass the ball well and, in the second half, we didn't do that, either."

Man of the Match: Willo Flood (Dundee Utd)

Craig Levein will surely be hoping to make Flood's loan period from Cardiff a permanent move. The midfielder was an inspired and inspiring figure during United's resurgence, by some way the most influential player on the field.