Joe Hart antics underline Celtic tension as James Forrest heroics pique interest of Tartan Army

As the month when the honours are handed out hoves into view, his side are well placed to ensure the manager won’t be left with egg on his face.

There is a lot of football still to be played, but with four league games left Celtic ensured they kept their noses in front at the top of the Premiership thanks to the evergreen James Forrest's double against Dundee.

Of course, May is not always when garlands are presented - this game fell on the anniversary of Dundee's sole Scottish league title win on 28 April 1962. The Up Wi' the Bonnets club song, name-checking the heroes of that afternoon v St Johnstone and played before every home match, held a special resonance. The central character here was a modern day great. Sadly for Dundee, he was wearing hoops.

Forrest, 32, is making a timely return to prominence.

Steve Clarke cannot fail to have had his attention piqued by such performances as Scotland’s injuries worries mount prior to Euro 2024. All the veteran winger can do is keep doing what he’s started doing, though he might argue that he could have been doing this a lot sooner had he been given more of a chance. He was the difference here in only his first league start since November.

A win over Dundee might not be considered a statement result, especially in view of Celtic’s record at Dens Park. But they were stretched at times by the Luke McCowan-inspired hosts and were relieved to hear the final whistle.

It is not often in recent times that Celtic have been forced to waste time in this stadium, where they are now unbeaten in 35 games stretching back to 1988. However, this is what they were doing in the final moments as Joe Hart played the fool with the Celtic fans in the Bob Shankly Stand behind him.

The goalkeeper twice very deliberately waited for the supporters to return a ball when there was already one sitting in his six-yard box. After the second of these occasions referee John Beaton brandished a yellow card in his face.

His antics underlined the tension and the fine margins as Celtic seek to hold Rangers at bay. Two 2-1 wins for both title rivals means it’s as you were at the top.

“You play for us and we’ll sing for you,” promised the away fans at the end via a large banner. They were certainly true to their word – they barely let up throughout the 90 minutes. But whether the players were always deserving of this strength of support is a moot point. Still, at this stage of the season no one is getting too hung up about performances on what was a dry - yes, really - pitch.

The underfoot conditions were of little consequence for Forrest's first goal, volleyed into the corner of the net in a flash after Kyogo Furuhashi's instinctive lay-off at the edge of the box. Another opportunist finish from Forrest after he robbed Antonio Portales earned Celtic some breathing space after 67 minutes, with the visitors hitting the post shortly afterwards through Reo Hatate.

A 0-3 scoreline at that stage would have been incredibly harsh on Dundee. The hosts reduced the deficit to just one after Portales made up for his earlier error with a hooked shot at a corner that wrong-footed Hart after hitting Celtic substitute Adam Idah.