Douglas gets a big hand from Neil Lennon

By Tom English
Published on 23/09/2012 01:27

You know what kind of day it was when you hear Neil Lennon reserve his greatest praise for a member of the opposition.

If it wasn’t for Rab Douglas, Celtic could have had won by four or five.

“Rab was in inspired form,” said Lennon of his old team-mate. “He made some great saves. It was a brilliant save from the penalty. Scott [Brown] hit it well but he’s got a big hand. It took two quality goals to beat him.”

The Celtic manager pointed to the flatness of the day and he was right. “It was a bit like after the Lord Mayor’s show,” he said in the wake of the fever pitch of Champions League football last Wednesday night.

“I can understand that. It was a good performance. A good tempo. We scored two good goals and after that it was one-way traffic. I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t score more goals. That’s a concern. I’m not concerned about us creating chances but I’d like to see us putting a few more away.”

In fairness to Barry Smith, the Dundee manager, he didn’t make a great deal of a penalty claim early in the first half. “Gary Irvine was possibly tripped going into the box,” he said. “He thought he was clipped.” Smith, though, wasn’t bemoaning the decision. He knew the reality of what went down yesterday.

“We had a chance early in the game and you’ve got to take those chances. They don’t come often. We started well and were nice and positive but the goals came at bad times. It was a real uphill struggle then.

“At 2-0 it would have been easy to buckle. I’m pleased they stuck at it. They refused to lie down.”