That wasn’t a statement victory from Celtic. Far from it, but we’re still in this title race

With the clock ticking down at Dens Park yesterday, I asked myself was this the day Celtic would be put out of their misery?

That’s the sort of feeling you get while watching Celtic at the moment.

But somehow, they manage to confound you and get the job done.

When I saw the starting line up for yesterday, and the continued adherence to this diabolical 4-3-3 – dead on it’s feet – formation, I feared the worst.

I thought we might be in for a similar afternoon to our previous visit to the City of Discovery.

But in the first half we were aggressive and we continuously built solid attacks from the back.

If it wasn’t for Tomáš Čvančara’s wastefulness, we could have been out of sight by half time.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was quiet but efficient in midfield beside Callum McGregor, and he once again showed that there is a quality player in there.

I really believe if he gets a decent pre-season under his belt, we have an excellent midfield option for next season.

Whether he chooses to add another year on at Celtic remains to be seen.

I sincerely hope he does.

In a better, more effective system than we currently deploy, he could be devastating for us.

If we somehow manage to win this title, and then the Scottish Cup, he may get the appetite to stay for another year.

Yes, we were all looking for a statement victory yesterday from Celtic, but that certainly wasn’t it.

It could have been if we had taken our chances in that first half, but we didn’t.

When we conceded the second half penalty to Dundee, I have to admit, I got that sinking feeling.

They were working their way right back into the game, and had the momentum when they got that spot kick.

The fear that creeps in then is where is a goal going to come from for Celtic?

Because we have nobody prolific outside of Benjamin Nygren, that question is always going to be there.

Enter Kelechi Iheanacho.

A player plagued by injuries, and a lack of fitness, but by no means short on skill.

There is a player in there.

We’ve seen flashes of it all throughout the season, but he has completely lacked any consistency.

Yesterday, in the 82nd minute, when we needed something special – some inspiration – he got his chance and took it with aplomb.

What had looked like the end prior to that, brought us back to life and reignited our title challenge.

We started the day with this pretty much out of our hands.

We ended it with it very much back in our hands.

The simple fact is that if we continue to win our games, and we beat the Ibrox side and Hearts at Celtic Park, then we will win this title.

Something that looked forlorn at the outset of this weekend.

If Kelechi Iheanacho can remain fit for the last 6 games, that increases our chances.

He now joins Johnny Kenny as the joint top striker at the club on 4 goals.

He has 3 in the Scottish Premiership, and 1 in the Europa League.

In a pool of poor striking options, he is now what appears to be our best available option.

We’re back in this title race, but at times in that second half, we didn’t look like a side who really wanted this title.

Our football was slow and pedestrian.

It completely lacked any urgency.

Liam Scales looked like he wanted to give up possession in dangerous areas every time he had the ball.

If we’re going to win the title with this eye scratching style of football, there’s going to be a lot of frayed nerves by the end of this season.

Either one of two things is going to happen.

It will all suddenly click in the remaining 6 games, and we’ll romp to the title.

Or we’ll continue grinding out results, resulting in the fanbase having a lot of bald spots and missing fingernails.

I really hope its the former.

Yesterday put us right back in it.

But it didn’t put the confidence right back in me that we can do this, and do it in style.

Maybe that starts against St. Mirren next weekend?

Who knows?

If Motherwell do a job at Tynecastle next Saturday, we could be joint top with Hearts by 17.00.

Then the Ibrox side have to travel to John McGlynn’s Falkirk, with the pressure on them to get a result there on Sunday.

If things go in our favour next weekend, we could be in a very strong position going into the split.

Then we await the fixtures for the 5 remaining games.

It all might just fall into place the way we want it to.

Here’s hoping…

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