O’Neill denies dropping Petrov

Dundee United 0 Celtic 2

Petrov was, though, conspicuously left out of the 16 after comments made by him in a newspaper. He was reported to have said he would not sign a new contract and would be forced to leave the club for better money.

It was bad timing with just days to go before the second part of the UEFA Cup ''Battle of Britain'' with Blackburn Rovers on Thursday night. But the Celtic boss was not too concerned with the comments but more angry with him going behind his back to do an interview. ''He will be right in contention for a place in the side Thursday night. But at least John Hartson again sparkled and helped Celtic get the points to take into Thursday's UEFA Cup showdown at Ewood Park. Chris Sutton also hit the net late on after moving forward from a midfield role as Celtic stay a point behind Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers.

''I am pleased with that,'' added O'Neill. ''We knew it was going to be a difficult game because they always are here despite the scorelines in recent occasions.

''We played well for parts in the game and were sloppy for other parts, but we have won the match. ''But I thought the commitment and passion throughout the team was the best for a long time." DUNDEE UTD: Gallacher, McCunnie, Lauchlan, McCraken, Wilson, Easton, Miller, McIntyre, Paterson (Smart 72), Lilley, Thompson.

CELTIC: Douglas, Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen, Sylla (Agathe 69), Sutton, Lennon, Thompson, Guppy, Larsson, Hartson (Lambert 83).

Referee: J Underhill (Scotland).