Celtic made Rangers wait for the SPL title on Sunday as the Bhoys defeated ten-man Dundee United 2-0 at Tannadice.
Diomansy Kamara and Robbie Keane - with a penalty - got the Celtic goals as they ensured second place in the SPL, all in the knowledge that victory for Rangers at Hibernian later in the day would ensure that the title stays at Ibrox and that duly transpired. United, who had substitute Jennison Myrie-Williams sent off for two yellow cards, will finish third.
The Tangerines could still mathematically catch Celtic and finish in second spot as the game kicked off and they scared their visitors early on as Danny Swanson bombed forward and played in David Goodwillie, who held off Bhoys goalkeeper Artur Boruc, turned and saw a shot brush off the near post before it rolled to safety.
Glenn Loovens then had to clear an angled shot from the highly-rated Gary Kenneth off his line, clearing it from the path of oncoming forward Jon Daly in the process.
Darren Dods sent a 25-yard belting effort just wide as the home side continued to have more of the ball, yet they were caught on the hop on the half-hour mark as Neil Lennon’s side went in front.
Marc-Antoine Fortune collected the ball and ably split the Taysiders’ defence with a beautiful pass that on-loan Fulham man Kamara ran onto and steadied himself before curling the ball beyond the advancing Dusan Pernis and into the United net.
Fortune then headed a second chance wide before the Bhoys lost Thomas Rogne – who had been performing ever so solidly at the back – to the recurrence of his hamstring injury and Darren O’Dea was brought on.
Kamara could have had a second just before half-time but he side-footed wide when latching onto a cross from Aiden McGeady. Still his side held the advantage after a tense first 45 minutes.
After the restart, Keane volleyed over as he ran onto a set-up from Republic of Ireland team-mate McGeady, but there was also action at the other end as Goodwillie collected a Daly knock down and saw a low effort come back off the post.
Celtic lost another defender as Loovens’ hamstring went, with Mark Wilson replacing him, while United replaced Swanson with Myrie-Williams, who was quickly booked for a foul on McGeady.
He was then shown a second yellow with 13 minutes to play when he fouled Landry Nguemo and referee Iain Brines showed no mercy.
The United players were most aggrieved by that decision and the remainder of the 90 minutes was somewhat ill-tempered, added to by the fact that Celtic were awarded a penalty at the death when Pernis brought down McGeady.
Keane stepped up to keep his great scoring run in Scotland going but Celtic’s chase at the top of the table realistically ended long ago.