If ever there were a chance of an upset at Celtic Park it was this afternoon, but Dundee went down to a 2-0 defeat.
Visitors Dundee were afforded two glorious opportunities to shock the home support inside the first 45 minutes, the first when Steven Lovell was superbly released clear on goal and then when Fabian Caballero was allowed to place the ball on the penalty spot.
However, both openings were scorned and Jim DuffyÂ’s side were left to rue their inept finishing as Celtic ran out fairly comfortable winners.
The match started brightly, with Henrik Larsson and Nacho Novo exchanging chances at opposite ends before Larsson sent his glancing header wide in the 13th minute, after an excellent Stilian Petrov corner from the left.
Then just a minute later, Dundee goalkeeper Julian Speroni was alert enough to deal with a freak pass from Zurab Khizanishvili which threatened to find the wrong net.
Petrov had a clever long-range effort punched clear by Speroni in the 17th minute shortly before Dundee missed their first gilt edged chance.
Caballero played a delightful ball through to Lovell, but despite being clear on goal he failed to finish, with Robert Douglas somehow managing to block his low effort.
In the 31st minute, the home support were brought to their feet when referee McDonald controversially pointed to the penalty spot after a seemingly innocuous challenge from Bobo Balde on Lovell as the ball headed out of play.
After a brief argument between the Dundee players, Caballero stepped up only to send a weak effort into Douglas' hands.
Six minutes later, Celtic were ahead, but only after Speroni had spectacularly turned a John Hartson header over the bar. It was Hartson who found the net with a great overhead kick from the resulting corner.
After the break it took Celtic all of nine minutes to increase their lead, Larsson rising at the far post to head in Didier Agathe cross from the right.
From there on in Celtic dominated. Alan Thompson went close on a couple of occasions as did Paul Lambert.
Dundee almost pulled one back with ten minutes remaining when Ulrik Laursen turned the ball on to his own post after a Caballero cross from the left.