Sead Haksabanovic got his first goals for Celtic but admitted that he is not satisfied because they have taken so long to come.
The winger’s first-half brace looked sufficient to send Celtic on their way to the points before the game had a late twist in it.
“It’s always good to score goals. It’s my first and second for Celtic but hopefully I can get more because I’m not happy,” he said. “When you come to a new team it’s always good to get your first goal. I wouldn’t say I had become frustrated. I had been staying after training working on things that I knew would me out. I just needed to be patient and hope that when my chances came I would score.”
Despite having to watch the late drama play out from the dugout, Haksabanovic was as enthusiastic as the supporters inside the ground.
“It was amazing,” he smiled. “I was a bit nervous but then once we got the goal from Kyogo I was so calm and then Liel scored another. Of course it as frustrating because when you have scored you hope that has helped the team win. United scored late in the game but we showed again what we are capable of.”
United manager Liam Fox was sick at the manner in which a huge point slipped from United’s grasp.
There was a courage about the Tannadice side as they hung on in the game with Glenn Middleton forcing Greg Taylor into a goal-line clearance and Ryan Edwards clipping the post before Dylan Levitt levelled the game in the 87th minute.
United face Killie on Wednesday night and while Fox will look to use the positives from yesterday’s encounter he admitted in the immediate aftermath that the result was too raw to feel anything other than frustration.
“It’s tough to take,” he said, “I am more frustrated for the players than anything else, they put so much into the game. To get back level with a couple of minutes to play, we all know how difficult it is to take anything from Celtic Park, so to get ourselves in a position to do that and then to switch off from a set piece...
“The fourth goal is irrelevant, it’s the third that kills us. It’s not good enough from us that late in the game. We know there’s going to be an onslaught.
“We worked on that during the week, which makes it even more frustrating. I understand when you make subs that there’s an element of change to the set ups that we do but we need people to take responsibility and step up in these moments.”
He also concurred with Ange Postecoglou that the VAR process, in the Scottish game so far for only three weeks, needs to improve.
“I wasn’t best pleased with it last week but this week it has probably worked in our favour getting the penalty,” he said. “From my point of view, I prefer they take a bit longer to get the right decision but it does disrupt the flow of the game. You can’t enjoy a goal because you are waiting to find out if it’s going to be chopped off or not. The process has to get better and slicker.
“It’s a delay of whether you can celebrate a goal. It’s a process that definitely needs to get slicker.”
Alison McConnell
