Scottish Premiership: Dundee United 2 (Keresztes 58, Sapsford 61) Celtic 1 (Maeda 13)
Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic nightmare intensified as Dundee United’s second-half comeback consigned the Hoops to a fourth consecutive defeat for the first time since 1978.
Two goals in three minutes from Krisztian Keresztes and Zac Sapsford saw United claim their first win in eight Premiership games as they beat the champions 2-1 at Tannadice.
Daizen Maeda had opened the scoring early on and Celtic could have had the game out of sight in the first quarter of an hour as they missed a series of chances.
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But United turned the game on its head in the second half and some of the visiting fans turned their anger towards Nancy during the latter stages, as well as chief executive Michael Nicholson following the resignation of chairman Peter Lawwell.
They also chanted for Martin O’Neill, who won seven out of eight games in interim charge before the Frenchman’s arrival from Columbus Crew sparked a dramatic collapse in form.
Nancy made three changes as he tweaked his approach to get Maeda wider and further up the pitch on the left to support striker Johnny Kenny.
Liam Scales was on the bench as Kieran Tierney dropped into the back three. Midfielder Paulo Bernardo made his third start of the season and Luke McCowan lined up at left wing-back but drifted inside whenever Celtic had the ball.
United lined up with Sapsford, Max Watters and Amar Fatah going up against Celtic’s back three but they initially struggled to get the ball to them as Celtic terrorised the home defence, and Bert Esselink on the right side of United’s back three in particular.
Maeda created early half-chances for Yang Hyun-jun and Kenny after getting in behind down the left wing and Reo Hatate’s first-time pass inside Esselink put Kenny through but Dave Richards saved well.
The opener came from the same source in the 13th minute as Maeda turned Esselink inside and out before drilling into the far corner.
Kenny passed up more good chances as Celtic threatened to run away with the game. The Irishman got past Keresztes with ease but got the ball caught up in his feet as he ran into the penalty area, and soon missed from inside the six-yard box following Maeda’s low cross.
United continued to look vulnerable but began to get the ball in dangerous areas without threatening Kasper Schmeichel. Watters took a fresh-air swing from their best first-half chance.
Home manager Jim Goodwin brought on Vicko Sevelj for Esselink at half-time and United turned the tables with some sustained pressure.
They found their range after some off-target efforts when Sapsford and Ross Graham forced saves from Schmeichel and United levelled in the 58th minute. Keresztes slotted home from 12 yards after Celtic failed to deal with Will Ferry’s high cross.
Watters missed a decent chance before United completed the turnaround after 61 minutes when Sapsford collected the ball with his back to goal following a corner and curled a glorious strike into the far corner from 18 yards.
United had chances to extend the lead through Ryan Strain and Fatah and limited the visitors to two clear-cut chances to level.
They both fell to substitute Shin Yamada, who was making his first appearance since October. The summer signing volleyed well over and then shot wide from 18 yards.
