Tuesday 5 April 2016 23:45, UK
Celtic boss Ronny Deila insists his side remain well positioned to claim their fifth successive Premiership crown despite another slip-up against Dundee.
The reigning champions were hoping to stretch their lead at the summit to seven points but they were held to a 0-0 draw at Dens Park.
The stalemate means Deila's side have a five-point lead over Aberdeen with six games to play.
They must, though, take on Derek McInnes' side one final time but the Parkhead manager is refusing to panic after missing another opportunity to stretch away from the Pittodrie challengers.
Deila said: "We're still in a good position. We have to make ourselves ready for Motherwell on Saturday and work really hard to get the three points there.
"It's always disappointing to lose points but there are a lot of games left and we just have to keep on going. Of course we have the key in our hands. Everything is up to ourselves."
Celtic started brightly but failed to make the most effective use of on-loan Manchester City forward Patrick Roberts, who scored two fine goals against Hearts on Saturday.
They hit the post just before the break when Stefan Johansen's strike bounced off Leigh Griffiths but they looked anxious the longer the match went and also had goalkeeper Craig Gordon to thank for a couple of timely interventions.
Griffiths has hit 35 goals for his side this season but, on a night when his touch was as wayward as his finishing, he drew a blank for the third game running.
His manager, however, expects him to come good, saying: "We know he can score goals and he will do that in the rest of the season, I'm sure of that."
But the Celtic faithful will be worried by the failure to shake off Aberdeen, and Deila can empathise with their frustration.
"It's a little bit disappointing," said the Norwegian, who confirmed Erik Sviatchenko will have a thigh injury scanned on Wednesday after limping off midway through the second half.
"We should have created more clear-cut chances," he said. "The last pass and the effectiveness when we first had the ball was not good enough.
"Defensively we played quite well. They had a couple of chances but we had a good goalkeeper in Craig.
"We maybe could have got the ball to Patrick more but, having said that, there was one player marking him all the time. We should have exploited the space he was creating for us, though.
"Football is about emotions and, when you don't get the victory, the fans get irritated and sad - that's something I understand."
The point gained helps keep Dundee in the top six and they know victory at Hamilton this weekend will likely be enough to confirm their place in the top half after the split.
Boss Paul Hartley - who revealed striker Kane Hemmings was forced off at half-time with a dead leg - said: "I thought it was an excellent team performance. We limited Celtic to a few chances and created a few ourselves.
"Our organisation, work-rate and team spirit was tremendous. The whole team were excellent from start to finish.
"It's a great point and it's all to play for on Saturday. It's a massive game for us in terms of our aspirations to make the top six. It will be an exciting last game before the split."
