Buaben will live the dream—Swanson

DUNDEE UNITED’S Danny Swanson has backed team-mate Prince Buaben to fulfil his dream and win selection to the Ghana squad for next year’s World Cup.

Swanson believes that if the midfielder puts in a few more displays like the one he produced on Saturday at Parkhead in the 1-1 draw against Celtic the African nation’s coach Milovan Rajevac simply won’t be able to leave Buaben out.

“Prince was the best player on the park by a mile,” said Swanson. “He’s still only 21 and has a lot to learn, but he looked like he’d been playing for years out there.

“He was outstanding and it’s the best I’ve seen him perform.

“Ghana have qualified for the World Cup and Prince has been involved in the past so hopefully if he continues playing the way he’s doing, then he’ll be in South Africa next year.

“He’s certainly ambitious and, while he’s really happy at Tannadice, he ultimately wants to play in England — the World Cup would be a great stage for him to show people just what he can do.”

United have added a lot of experience to their side this season with the signings of Danny Cadamarteri, Andy Webster and Nicky Weaver, but on Saturday it was the developing maturity of players such as Swanson, Buaben and David Goodwillie that will have the club’s fans convinced the future is bright.

However, United have already made a big impression this season —as illustrated by the fact Celtic manager Tony Mowbray confessed he was so worried about the Dundee side’s attacking threat, he sacrificed Georgios Samaras to the bench to bolster his midfield with a fifth player.

That tactic failed to have the desired effect, with Goodwillie netting as early as the sixth minute as he blasted the ball high into Artur Boruc’s net from seven yards after turning centre-back Glenn Loovens inside out.

United could only hold their lead for nine minutes when Darren Dods was harshly adjudged by referee Steve Conroy to have handled just outside his box and Celtic’s unmarked Scott McDonald headed home all-too-easily from the resulting free-kick.

With Morgaro Gomis, Scott Robertson, Swanson and Buaben looking composed in midfield, United had much the better of the first half, with the Celtic fans only having the right-wing exploits of debutant Northern Ireland international Niall McGinn to cheer.

The home side finally stirred from their slumbers after the break, but it was Swanson who had a great opportunity to make it 2-1 when he cut in from the left past Andreas Hinkel and then curled a shot past the helpless Boruc but also just wide of the post.

United hearts were in their mouths, though, when Celtic sub Samaras headed in on the hour mark, but the goal was chalked off for offside.

Five minutes before the end, Scott Robertson hacked down Samaras and was sent off after receiving his second yellow card of the game.

Then in added time the visitors’ destiny was once again in “the hands of the Dods” as the defender looked to have struck the ball with his hand while making a headed clearance inside his box, but this time Conroy waved away Celtic appeals for a penalty.

“I thought a draw was a fair result in the end,” added Swanson, who also pulled off a crucial last-ditch tackle on McDonald to prevent a certain goal in the first half. “We had a few chances, but so did they.

“I had my own opportunity to score when Prince played a great ball through to me.

“I tried to curl it into the far corner, but was just wide and I know I really should have done better. It’s critical that you take full advantage—especially at Celtic Park.

“I’ve no excuses really, but these things happen and you’ve just got to put it out of your mind before the next game.

“People keep asking us why we’ve not established ourselves as the third team in Scotland, but I think that this season will be a great chance for us to finally get there.

“We don’t fear going to Celtic Park or Ibrox any more and the gaffer is always telling us to go out there and play football.

“We’ve started brilliantly compared to last season and we now have a great squad of players, so if the gaffer wants to change things there are guys ready and waiting to come in and do a job.”

United boss, Craig Levein, said, “I’m reasonably happy with a point at Celtic Park, but I think we are just about at the stage where we should be coming to places like this and be looking to win—a little bit more self-belief would go a long way.

“As for the handball which led to their goal, well I watch football from all around the world every week and nowadays that’s not a free-kick. I felt Darren was just too close to the ball for the referee to judge that he’d deliberately handled it.

“Don’t get me wrong, we made a huge error at the free-kick when we decided to defend it as we would a corner—which is impossible when the ball was placed so far from the byline.

“It meant our goalkeeper could not take care of the delivery in his six-yard box as normal—the goal wasn’t caused by bad marking.”

The Big Yin, Billy Connolly, was in the crowd for the match, and it seems Levein is intent on following him down the stand-up route.

When the United boss was asked what Dods had said about the alleged handball towards the end of the game, he said—with tongue firmly in cheek—“Darren says he’s really disappointed he didn’t manage to hold on to it.

“And I must say I thought Prince Buaben was the best player on the pitch today, I thought he was fantastic. Of course, he’ll read this and simply insist I should have said that.”

His Celtic counterpart Mowbray didn’t see the funny side, though.

“Without making excuses, we have had 15 players performing all over the world for their countries in the last two weeks while they’ve had none,” he said.

“As for the disallowed goal and the penalty, I’ll let you decide.”