Celtic 4-2 Dundee United: Sead Haksabanovic's first-half double and substitutes Kyogo Furuhashi and Liel Abada score for the Bhoys, with visitors scoring through a Steven Fletcher penalty and Dylan Levitt

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Celtic's capacity for late, game-changing goals is renowned but there was still something dramatic about the way they reacted to the peril of dropping Premiership points here.

The punishment meted out by Ange Postecoglou’s team on Dundee United was brutal as Celtic scored not once but twice at the death to send their supporters home breathless.

United had shown bravery to hang tough and create the chances that eventually yielded an 87th-minute equaliser through substitute Dylan Levitt.

Saed Haksabanovic struck two first-goals for the hosts at Celtic Park against Dundee United

Steven Fletcher's penalty equalised for the visitors six minutes after Haksabanovic's opener

On reflection, United head coach Liam Fox might wish his side had waited a little longer to claim their second goal of the afternoon.

As the United players celebrated Levitt’s goal heartily in front of the small but noisy away section in the corner, back at the halfway line Postecoglou was throwing on Daizen Maeda, his final substitute of the afternoon.

A buzzbomb of energy, the Japanese forward helped re-energise Celtic’s listing play and pile on the pressure that resulted in his compatriot Kyogo Furuhashi’s goal, just as the game drifted into stoppage-time.

A couple of minutes later Liel Abada was skipping through on goal for the final act, a moment that was redolent of the little Israeli’s late match-winning moment against the same opposition back in January.

That win did much to encourage Celtic in last season’s title race – just a few nights later they went out and thumped Rangers by three clear goals to flip momentum in their favour.

Now seven points clear of their Old Firm rivals with one more game played, Postecoglou’s team scarcely need the extra dose of belief but the psychological damage this latest turnaround might do on the opposition may be more telling.

That United were so competitive is a credit to Fox, who was tasked with turning round a group of players that lost 9-0 to the same opposition at Tannadice back in August.

Removed from the team a week earlier, goalkeeper Mark Birighitti had been spared the humiliation of that thrashing but must have feared the worst as he conceded early in this one.

Fresh from the personal career highlight of a goal in the Bernebeu, Celtic winger Jota was starting his first game in a month and started the match brimful of intent.

The Portuguese almost scored with an early first-time shot that caught Birighitti out after that narrow miss he promptly carved out the opening goal. Steven Fletcher has been a reliable hold-up man throughout his career but he was caught cold by the hard press of Matt O’Riley, who fed Reo Hatate.

Jota could have felt perfectly entitled to go for another shot as he accepted the Japanese’s through ball but instead he made the unselfish decision to clip the ball across goal where Haksabanovic squeezed his shot in at the back post with a little help from Ryan Edwards. It was the Montenegrin’s first goal for Celtic.

United might have folded but Fletcher led the charge to the other end and claimed the leveller with the helping hand of VAR.

There weren’t too many claims as the former Scotland man’s header deflected off Alexandro Bernabei and away from goal yet the footage was placed under review by remote official Nick Walsh.

Invited to view it on the monitor, referee David Dickinson awarded the penalty and booked the Argentinian for his trouble. Fletcher did the rest from the spot.

There was another VAR interlude after Dickinson failed to award a Celtic free-kick for Craig Sibbald’s late challenge on Giakoumakis.

As Walsh flagged up a potential red card offence, the crowd were subjected to another delay as the tackle was reviewed for a potential red card offence.

Already nursing a grievance at the perceived injustice of the penalty, the fans reacted angrily as play eventually restarted without censure. The nuances of VAR, which does not have the power to award yellow cards, may take some time to sink in but the interlude felt like a horrible waste of time.

Amid all these distractions, Ange Postecoglou’s message to his players has been firm and persistence. Keep going. Don’t make excuses.

And so they kept plugging away until the keeper-assisted equaliser arrived.

This time Haksabanovic’s snap-shot was firm and true but Birighitti’s attempted save merely slowed the ball as it crept in off the post.

With a rigid back five and a compact midfield, this was a United team built to contain and Celtic found it hard to put the game to bed.

David Turnbull thought he’d scored from a Jota cross but, between them, Birighitti and Aziz Behich seemed to do just about enough to keep the ball out. The budget for VAR does not extend to goal line technology so we couldn’t be 100 per cent sure.

Giakoumakis and Turnbull each came close before a steady drip of substitutions from Fox started to change the pattern of the match.

First and most importantly, the Tannadice coach removed his midfield anchor Artaud Djoum and replaced him with Levitt, sacrificing steel for the Welshman’s greater ball-playing ability.

Suddenly United were keeping the ball better and then the arrival of Glen Middleton injected energy into the attack.

Postecoglou had played safe by removing Bernabei at the break, no doubt on account of the full-back being drawn into a couple of scrapes before half-time.

Greg Taylor was a dependable replacement and was required to deny Middleton, who alighted on Levitt’s through ball and clipped a shot over Joe Hart that needed the urgent attention of the defender to clear off the line.

United captain Ryan Edwards headed off the post from the resultant corner and as United’s confidence grew so the sense of jeopardy in Celtic’s play became tangible.

United’s equaliser was unconventional but again owed everything to Levitt’s persistent probing. The former Manchester United starlet delivered a teasing cross from wide, this time in the direction of the latest substitute arrival Tony Watt.

Watt did enough to distract Hart and the ball drifted beyond the keeper into the net.

If the visitors’ enterprising play rendered the equaliser no surprise was anyone shocked by the denouement?

Celtic are not renowned for their set-piece prowess but, with the game in stoppage-time, a corner saw them pull back in front.

O’Riley swung the ball over, Ralston flicked on and substitute Kyogo stooped to apply the finishing touch.

Hatate carved out the fourth setting Abada off on the run that saw skip into the box and dink a lovely finish over Birighitti before embarking on a manic ‘taps-aff’ celebration that brought a booking he’ll scarcely have registered.

Afterwards, Fox found it hard to take comfort, especially as news of Ross County’s win over St Mirren confirmed his team’s descent to the foot of the table.

He said: ‘I’m frustrated for the players more than anything, they put so much into the game.

‘We all know how difficult it is to take anything from Celtic Park, so to get ourselves in a position to do that and then switch off from a set piece.‘The fourth goal is irrelevant, it's the third that kills us. It's not good enough from us that late in the game. We knew there was going to be an onslaught...’