Celtic thrash Dundee with emphatic Premiership victory after rampant first-half at Parkhead

Celtic have eased past Dundee with a dominant 7-1 victory at Parkhead in the Premiership on Wednesday night.

The champions returned to form in emphatic style in a breathless first-half as they put Tony Docherty’s side to the sword in the east-end of Glasgow.

Brendan Rodgers’ side were 6-0 up at the break with six different goal-scorers as Cameron Carter-Vickers, Adam Idah, Matt O’Riley, Daizen Maeda, Greg Taylor and Callum McGregor all got on the scoresheet.

They weren’t done there and teenage midfielder Daniel Kelly struck his first goal to make it a magnificent seven on the hour mark.

Mikey Mellon got a late consolation at the end but it wouldn’t have changed much for the visiting fans who had endure a miserable night on the pitch and off it, with rain battering down on the stadium for the the majority of the match.

The Hoops remain two points behind Rangers at the top of the Premiership after the Ibrox side won at Kilmarnock, but the goal-difference was drastically cut with the seven goals.

Carter-Vickers eased any pre-match nerves when he put the home side ahead with a header on the seventh minute after beating the defender to O’Riley’s cross into the box from a free-kick.

Idah then doubled the lead ten minutes later when he continued his heroics from Fir Park on Sunday to head home a cross from Alistair Johnston and score his fifth goal since joining on loan at the start of the month and give the Hoops a 2-0 lead.

And it was 3-0 soon after and this time it was O’Riley with a header when he connected with a deep cross from Greg Taylor midway through the first-half.

The goals just kept coming and they were well and truly out of sight when Maeda made it 4-0 on the half-hour mark.

The Japan forward turned his defender before curling the ball past Trevor Carson to all-but secure the three-points for the champions who were also looking to cut into Rangers’ goal-difference advantage.

O’Riley came close to adding to the score with what would have been a sure goal of the season contender when his volley crashed off the crossbar.

But it was 5-0 just minutes later when Taylor got in on the action in what was a relentless first-half display.

And the captain put the icing on the cake of an unbelievable first-half when he slotted home following a one-two with Taylor inside the box to make it 6-0.

That would be McGregor’s last bit of action in the game as he was replaced by Kelly for the second-half.

Dundee made three changes at the break with Mulligan, Donnelly and Sylla brought in the place of McGhee, Shaughnessy and Boateng for the second 45 that was now all about damage limitation for Docherty’s men.

Brendan Rodgers then made further changes to his side with Kyogo, Stephen Welsh and Anthony Ralston replacing Idah, Carter-Vickers and Taylor.

They made it 7-0 with just under half an hour remaining when Kelly curled a shot into Carson’s top corner.

Things continued to go from bad to worse for Dundee when Finlay Robertson was sent off for a second bookable offence with 15 minutes on the clock.

Luis Palma nearly made it eight but his long-range effort clipped the top of the cross-bar.

Mellon got his goal at the end when he turned a shot past Joe Hart to give the visitors a consolation goal.

It’s Hearts at Tynecastle up next for Celtic on Sunday as the title-race begins to really heat up going in to the last ten games.

Dundee will host Kilmarnock on Saturday as they look to bounce back from a difficult night in Glasgow and get their top-six ambitions back on track.