Dundee 1-2 Celtic: Super-sub Iheanacho keeps Celtic title hopes alive | OneFootball

Celtic scored late on to take all three points against Dundee at Dens Park, keeping the pressure on rivals Rangers and Hearts as the Scottish Premiership title race heats up.

Celtic took the lead early on through Yang Hyun-Jun, as both he and Benjamin Nygren were on hand to convert the rebound following an effort from Tomáš Čvančara.

The chances came and went for Celtic, and it looked as though they would be made to pay after Simon Murray scored a second-half penalty to level the game.

Substitute Kelechi Iheanacho came up with the goods for the Celts, scoring a crucial goal to cut the gap between the top three to just three points.

As it happened

The first opportunity of the afternoon fell to the visitors. Daizen Maeda did well down the left-hand side before firing a low cross across the face of the Dundee penalty area, but no one was there to tap home for Celtic.

But just a couple of minutes later, they did get the early goal they were desperate for. Kieran Tierney’s cross from the left was taken down well by Tomáš Čvančara, whose effort was saved by Jon McCracken. The ball then fell to Yang Hyun-Jun who lifted the ball over the Dundee goalkeeper, before a combination of himself and Benjamin Nygren bundled it over the line to put Celtic ahead at Dens Park.

Celtic came very close to a second after 20 minutes, but again no one could get on the end of a lovely low ball into the box, this time from Nygren.

The Celtic pressure continued to build, with Nygren again at the heart of it. The Swede found himself in space before sliding a perfectly weighted pass in behind to Maeda, but the forward couldn’t get a clean strike away and it was a comfortable save for the Dundee shot-stopper.

Another huge chance fell to the visitors on the half-hour mark, as Čvančara found himself clean through on goal after Maeda won the ball back high up the pitch, but his effort came back off the woodwork and Dundee were able to clear.

The second half began in similar fashion as the first, with Čvančara again being put through one-on-one against the goalkeeper, but the Czech striker took a really poor second touch which allowed McCracken to come out and make the block.

After a much better start to the second half from Dundee, they were awarded a penalty when Ryan Astley’s goal-bound effort struck the arm of Colby Donovan. Up stepped Dundee captain Simon Murray who calmly placed the ball into the bottom corner, levelling the contest after 57 minutes. This making it eight games in a row without a clean sheet for Celtic, their worst run since 2006.

Dundee continued to pile the pressure onto Celtic after their goal and nearly took the lead after Finlay Robertson got a flick on Yan Dhanda’s cross but it wasn’t enough to redirect it goalwards.

After regaining control in the game, Celtic found a huge goal to go back in front and it was substitute Kelechi Iheanacho who came up with the moment. Marcelo Saracchi whipped a ball in from the left, Iheanacho took the ball in before firing home from close range.

Things went from bad to worse for the hosts after Ryan Astley was shown a straight red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity after he bundled Yang over as he ran through on goal.

Celtic managed to hold on and get over the line to gain a crucial three points against Dundee. With Hearts slipping up in the earlier kick-off, the gap between the top three now sits at three points, making it all to play for in the final six games of this breathtaking Scottish Premiership title race.