Victory over Celtic another feather in cap of Scotland favourite Levein

Published on Sunday 22 November 2009 23:18

DUNDEE United manager Craig Levein has challenged his players to prove they can stay the course in the SPL title race after they ended a decade-long wait for victory over Celtic yesterday.

The dramatic 2-1 triumph at Tannadice, sealed by Darren Dods' last-minute goal, was United's first against Celtic since 1999 and prompted gleeful celebrations among their supporters who greeted the final whistle with chants of: 'We're going to win the league.'

United are now just three points behind SPL leaders Rangers, whom they face in a rescheduled fixture at Tannadice next month, and Levein has no intention of trying to play down their prospects of mounting a credible and sustained championship challenge.

It remains to be seen whether Levein himself will be sticking around for the challenge ahead as he continues to be regarded as the front runner for the vacant Scotland manager's position. He again declined to answer questions on that subject yesterday.

But he was more than happy to talk up United's prospects of maintaining their current lofty status and also to respond to Celtic manager Tony Mowbray's claim that his team had been hard done to in losing the match.

Mowbray, whose team now trail Rangers by a point with a game more played, also stated there had been a "gulf in class" in Celtic's favour against United.

"We weren't that much better than them," smiled Levein when Mowbray's comment was relayed to him. "Tony is entitled to his view of the game the same as I am. I actually didn't think we played very well today, but in answer to his claim, how many saves did our goalkeeper Nicky Weaver have to make?

"I've played against Celtic in the past when we have been absolutely battered, our keeper has had to make wonder saves and we have been 3-0 down at half-time. Then, I would have said there was a gulf in class. But not today.

"I feel we have been steadily improving against the Old Firm. We have managed to beat Rangers a few times and had been very unlucky against Celtic. The players have grown in confidence and are not frightened of anyone.

"It doesn't mean we are going to win every week – far from it. We need to play better than we did today in the future to take points from the Old Firm.

"I don't know if the players can challenge for the title. But I'm certainly not going to go into the dressing room and tell them they can't.

"I don't want to dampen anyone's enthusiasm. That's not my job. I've got a group of players who are going along quite nicely now and the last thing they need is a tug on the reins from me. So I'll just let them canter along and see what happens."

Celtic have now won just two of their last ten matches in all competitions, a run which has seen them knocked out of the Co-operative Insurance Cup and on the verge of elimination from the Europa League.

But while the Celtic supporters voiced their disapproval yesterday, Mowbray remained defiant. "I felt there was a huge gulf in quality and class between the teams today, yet United scored from two set-plays," he said.

"I don't think we got what we deserved from the game. But if you do not defend set-plays well enough at the death, goals are what the game is all about. Generally, for about 85 minutes, I thought it was one-way traffic and we dominated the match.

"They have some huge, physical boys which is why we changed things today. Instead of man-marking, we went to part-zonal marking.

"We didn't have the physicality to mark their six foot four, six foot five players. So you try and put your strongest headerers in the best part and most dangerous part of the pitch, and in theory it works but in practice it didn't."

Mowbray added: "I judge my team on performance level and I felt that this one, for the bigger picture, shows me that with just a little bit of quality added, this team can go on and be successful for a long time.

"After 12 games, I am not too interested in the league position. Of course we want to be top, as that helps confidence, but we are all just trying to accrue points at the moment. Are we still in there? Of course we are and everyone knows that."

Mowbray also defended Marc-Antoine Fortune, his most expensive signing, after the 3.8million striker was substituted yesterday with 32 minutes of the match remaining following another less-than-impressive performance.

"Marco was out for ten weeks and injuries knock confidence," said Mowbray.

"He needs to get himself back up to speed and I have every confidence he'll be fine when he gets up and running."