Celtic were well below their Champions League best of midweek but had enough left in the tank to see off Dundee.
The home side were much better than at Inverness last weekend, and changing to three at the back nullified a Brendan Rodgers side that has been a goal-scoring machine so far this season.
But they weren’t able to keep out impressive Parkhead captain Scott Brown for his 47th minute winner.
It didn’t take long for the pattern of play to take shape, with Celtic on the front foot and Dundee the back.
On eight minutes Brown strode forward after picking up the ball in defence and then released Scott Sinclair, whose curling shot was well saved by Scott Bain.
Tom Rogic was the next man to advance through Dundee’s midfield but Cammy Kerr wasn’t about to let him get any further unchallenged and a crude foul earned him an early yellow card.
Kerr made a tackle on Erik Sviatchenko in the box seconds later that had the Celtic players appealing for a penalty but referee Andrew Dallas waved play on.
Bain was unconvincing in dealing with a cross from the right and only managed to help the ball towards Sinclair. The former Manchester City man couldn’t get it under control quickly enough and by the time he got a shot away it was blocked.
Danny Williams followed him into the book for bringing down James Forrest near the box. Rogic took the free-kick but Bain saved quite comfortably.
For all Celtic’s territorial superiority Dundee were doing a decent job of limiting their chances.
And just before the break the Dark Blues threatened themselves when Faissal El Bakhtaoui crossed for Yordi Teijsse, who headed past the post from a tight angle.
Then Dundee’s good first half work was nearly undone in stoppage time when Kieran Tierney hit the byeline and his cut back found Moussa Dembele. The midweek hero forced a decent save out of Bain.
A gameplan that had worked well for the first 45 minutes only took two of the second period to be undone, with Brown starting and finishing a move for Celtic’s opener.
There was a bit of a lull after that and the next half-decent opportunity wasn’t until the 64th minute when Dembele couldn’t get a good connection on a Forrest cross to the back post.
Both sides made changes a few seconds later, with Leigh Griffiths and Craig Wighton coming on.
Celtic showed no great urgency to go hunting for more goals and Dundee didn’t seriously threaten an equaliser, with the game drifting to its 1-0 conclusion.
Dundee – Bain, Holt, O’Dea, Low (Ross 81), Williams (Loy 84), O’Hara, McGowan, Teijsse, El Bakhtaoui (Wighton 65), Kerr, Gomis. Subs not used – Mitchell, Vincent, Etxabeguren, Quigley.
Celtic – Gordon, Lustig, Simunovic, Sviatchenko, Tierney, Forrest (Roberts 74), Brown, Bitton, Sinclair (Armstrong 85), Rogic (Griffiths 65), Demeble. Subs not used – De Vries, Gamboa, Toure, McGregor.
Referee – Andrew Dallas.
Attendance – 8,827.
