Dundee 3 Celtic 3: Agony for Dundee as they come so close to their first Dens Park victory over Celtic since 1988... only to be denied by late penalty
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In the city of discovery, Celtic came perilously close to stumbling upon an unwanted piece of history. For the first time in over three decades, since the days when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, they very nearly suffered defeat at Dens Park. Quite how that came to be, only they will know. Leading 2-1 shortly after half-time, Brendan Rodgers’ side suffered a bizarre collapse which few would have seen coming.
Having only lost eight league goals all season as they made the trip to Tayside, Celtic conspired to concede another three in the space of little more than 45 minutes. After Oluwaseun Adewumi had pulled the hosts level shortly before the break, an own goal from Cameron Carter-Vickers and a header from Aaron Donnelly threatened a famous win for Dundee.
It looked set to be a ruinous second half for the champions, who had been awful for the remainder of the match after Yang Hjun-jun had put them 2-1 ahead shortly after the break. Former Dundee midfielder Luke McCowan gave Celtic the lead with a fine finish.
In a pulsating match, Dundee's Aaron Donnelly gave his side the lead with 12 minutes left. Celtic flirted with disaster, only to be rescued right at the death when substitute Arne Engels thumped home a penalty after Mo Sylla had been penalised for handball.
It extended their lead at the top of the table to 16 points, but, despite the late drama, this was not a night of celebration for Celtic. Not really. Auston Trusty had a torrid night up against Simon Murray and the Dundee front line, and there was a fragility to Celtic’s defence which has so rarely been witnessed this season.