Ronny Deila a happy man as he receives early Celtic birthday present
Sunday 20 September 2015 18:35, UK
Celtic manager Ronny Deila was understandably in a cheerful mood following his side's 6-0 demolition of Dundee on the eve of his birthday.
Goals from Tom Rogic and Leigh Griffiths gave the champions a 2-0 half-time lead which should have been more.
Left-back Emilio Izaguirre scored twice in six second-half minutes before missing a penalty for his hat-trick and then skipper Scott Brown and substitute Nadir Ciftci added late goals.
Izaguirre blasted his spot-kick high over the crossbar and Deila, who celebrates his 40th birthday on Monday, joked: "I haven't seen many worse penalties in my life.
"There was too much pressure, he had to wait a few seconds and I think he was thinking too much.
"We could have scored much more and that is a good thing when you win 6-0."
Deila was pleased with Ciftci's first goal for the club, adding: "It has taken some time. But he was out through suspension and that made it hard for him.
"We know what kind of qualities he has, he worked really hard today and he got rewarded with a goal.
"Hopefully this is the first of many. We know he has a lot to give to the team."
Celtic remain five points behind leaders Aberdeen, who won 3-1 at Hearts earlier in the day but Deila is relaxed with only eight games played.
He said: "It is too early to talk about the league but you have to put in good performance and win games. In the end we will see who is the best team."
Dundee manager Paul Hartley admitted that his side should be embarrassed by the result and gave credit only to 'keeper Scott Bain, who kept the score beneath double figures.
The former Celtic midfielder said: "It was a poor performance. It was unacceptable. It was a really bad day that we had.
"We had one performer and that was the goalkeeper. If it wasn't for him it could have been more.
"We had 10 players off it and I think the players know that because they have been good for the majority of the season.
"We have got to regroup again, be embarrassed by the performance, that's for sure, because it wasn't acceptable."
