Celtic overcome local difficulty

They were roaring at halftime and they were roaring at full time. In between, there was a little local difficulty but as the decibel count from the Celtic hordes rose it was the signal that the Celtic Martin O'Neill era had begun satisfactorily and successfully on Tayside yesterday.

A 2-1 victory over Dundee United is hardly the stuff of legend but as O'Neill was to prove with his over-achieving Leicester City side, a win is a win is a win.

Three points keeps Celtic level with Rangers over the first hurdle and for O'Neill there was also the pleasure of seeing Chris Sutton, the man he paid Chelsea £6 million for to replace Mark Viduka, scoring the winning goal with just over 20 minute s to go, David McCracken having equalised Henrik Larsson's 37th minute strike.

"I'm very, very pleased," said O'Neill afterwards, the adrenaline still pumping through him. "We played some lovely stuff in the first half and deserved to be in front. After their equaliser there was a bit of tiredness creeping in but we showed a lot of determination. We did brilliantly, we defended as stoutly as we could."

O'Neill went on to praise the desire of his new defender Joos Valgaeren and it was those descriptions - desire and determination - which will have impressed the Celtic fans most. They are not used to such qualities in hooped shirts.

Sutton, who scored only one league goal for Chelsea following his £10 million move from Blackburn Rovers last summer, was as relieved as his manager. "I thought we deserved it in the end," he said. "I might have had a few doubts about myself after last season but I've scored in training." He laughed at that.

"I'm pleased to have scored but the most important thing is Celtic getting the three points," Sutton added, before rousing the Parkhead audience with: "The main thing is to win the league and put Rangers in their place."

To that end Celtic are expected to unveil Mark Bosnich today, signed on-loan from Manchester United for the season. The way Jonathan Gould flapped yesterday, Bosnich cannot come soon enough.