Celtic leave it late to beat Dundee United and close gap on Rangers

Celtic can go top of the Scottish Premiership with a win over Rangers on Wednesday night after Liel Abada's last-gasp strike gave them a 1-0 win against Dundee United at Parkhead.

The champions had slipped up with a 3-3 draw against Ross County at Dingwall earlier in the day to go five points clear but Ange Postecoglous's side spent most of the afternoon being frustrated by the disciplined visitors.

With seconds remaining of the 90 minutes and the Hoops down to 10 men after stand-in skipper Nir Bitton was sent off in the 81st minute by referee Euan Anderson for picking up his second yellow card, winger Abada fired in a dramatic winner.

The triumph took Celtic to within two points of Rangers ahead of the Old Firm game and a fixture which is traditionally tense and hard-fought has an extra layer of intrigue added.

FULL MATCH DETAILS

For such a key match, Postecoglou had to choose from a depleted squad with captain Callum McGregor, Yosuke Ideguchi, Kyogo Furuhashi, David Turnbull and Albian Ajeti all out injured while Tom Rogic and Daizen Maeda were away on international duty.

Among those returning to the starting line-up were Republic of Ireland defender Liam Scales, while Anthony Ralston and Abada were also recalled.

United boss Tam Courts rang the changes with Adrian Sporle, Nicky Clark, 19-year-old Archie Meekison, Ilmari Niskanen and 18-year-old Lewis Neilson all handed a start.

Before kick-off Postecoglou and McGregor laid a wreath on the pitch in tribute to former Celtic title-winning manager Wim Jansen, who recently died, before a minute's applause.

United caused some early concerns and in the seventh minute Sporle came close with a drive from inside the box which Hoops keeper Joe Hart was pleased to see whizz past his far