No panic as Griffiths sends Dundee out

Ronny Deila revealed that he and his players were sent out onto the

street at 2.30am after a fire alarm went off in their city centre hotel

but Celtic shrugged off the lack of sleep to reach the quarter final of

the Scottish Cup by defeating Dundee in the early kick-off.

Griffiths, on his return to Dens Park, scored with an emphatic header

after six minutes, just as he did last week against Rangers. Then

Stefan Johansen's 47th minute finish sealed the fifth round tie for the

visitors.

"The alarm call was a nightmare," said Griffiths. "It's just one of

those things that happen in hotels but the boys responded well by

winning 2-0. "I think there was a wedding downstairs because when we

came out there were people with kilts and suits on.

"There were a few folk who'd had a bit much to drink, they were trying

to take 'selfies' and stuff. I was just keeping out the road up the

back because I was too tired to talk to anyone and couldn't wait to get

back to my bed. "

Deila was philosophical about the hotel incident. "I don't know if the

fire alarm was deliberate but we were laughing," said the Celtic

manager. "We were on the street for 15 minutes and it didn't help. But

it was OK, it didn't put the players off too much. You have to be

prepared for anything.

"Dundee were on a good run without loss so they had a lot of confidence

but I think we out-ran then and outplayed them. We're playing at a high

tempo and getting victories. You saw it in the match as well. It's 11

players really committed to the job they're doing. They're having fun

on the pitch and they love chasing together."

Paul Hartley won the Scottish Cup twice as a player - with Hearts and

Celtic - but was deeply disappointed that Dundee could not come close

to repeating their elimination of Aberdeen here in the last round.

"I am not going to play things up, we just didn't do well enough," said

the Dundee manager. "We had a young keeper, Scott Bain, who kept the

score down. I told the players at half-time to get through the first 20

minutes of the second half without conceding but we did not do that. If

you are going to go out of the Scottish Cup, you should go out with a

fight and we did not."

Hartley's side gave Celtic a torrid time on their last visit to Dens

Park, last August, when James McPake put the hosts in front with a

thunderous header before Griffiths equalised for a 1-1 draw.

However, they were chasing this contest after just six minutes when

Griffiths tormented his old team once more A confident passing move saw

the ball arrive at Mikael Lustig on the touchline and the right back

whipped in a fine cross for Griffiths to get in front of McPake and

plant an angled glancing header into the far corner of the net beyond

Bain's dive.

Celtic could have been further ahead just four minutes later when a

sublime pass from Kris Commons released Johansen, who was only denied

by McPake's vigilant tackle.

Dundee were unable to contain Celtic's movement and were spectators as

the Deila's side constructed real pressure, which saw Bain save Scott

Brown's shot and then the Dundee goalkeeper rescued his side in the

23rd minute when Celtic's counter-attack cut the hosts open, with

Johansen setting up James Forrest for the winger to advance upon Bain

who parried Forrest's right foot shot and watched with gratitude as

McPake beat Griffiths to the rebound.

Dundee barely laid a glove on their opponents but eventually created a

threat from a corner cleared by Virgil van Dijk into the path of

Kostadin Gadzhalov, whose right foot volley flew just wide of the post.

However, Bain's campaign of resistance continued soon after when

another fine cross from Johansen was helped on by Commons to Griffiths

and the striker's scooped effort was pawed clear by Bain.

Another sumptuous move in the 33rd minute saw Johansen leave Stephen

McGinn in his wake before a deft ball across the edge of the box was

cleverly dummied by Griffiths for Commons to finish it off, but he

dragged a shot wide.

Hartley had to alter his game plan when Stewart succumbed to a back

injury. The loss of Dundee's top scorer for nominal right-back Paul

McGinn, hardly seemed like a fair exchange.

Bain still had time to contribute another fine save before the

interval, to deny Johansen after he had pounced on a mistake from

McPake . That was almost eclipsed by Craig Gordon at the other end,

when Paul McGowan's shot took a wicked deflection, but the half

finished with Griffiths volleying just over the bar.

However, just two minutes into the second half, Johansen doubled

Celtic's lead. A fine Nir Bitton ball was met by the elusive Griffiths,

whose firm header was kept out by the agile Bain, but the rebound was

pounced upon by Johansen to net his sixth goal of the season.

After that, Celtic were in cruise control, although Deila's side - led

by Scott Brown - continued to work so hard to deny Dundee any hint of

space. They should have scored more but Bain touched an audacious

Johansen effort with the outside of his boot, onto the bar.

And all of this, achieved without new signings Stuart Armstrong and

Gary Mackay-Steven. The pair are cup tied, which was perhaps merciful

for the Dens Park support who watched both scored here with Dundee

United.