CELTIC'S Treble dream was salvaged after Ronny Deila's Bhoys fought back to force a draw in a tousy Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tannadice.

 

Leigh Griffiths cancelled out a Nadir Ciftci opener for Dundee United.

But despite their 10 men playing against nine, the Hoops could not force a winner.

Now the clubs must meet again in a replay at Celtic Park on March 18.

That will make it four meetings inside three weeks for two teams between who no love is lost.

Virgil van Dijk was sent off for violent conduct - his second dismissal in four games - along with Paul Paton, in a first-half flare-up, with the United man claiming mistaken identity.

As it stands, both players will be suspended for next Sunday's League Cup final.

Paul Dixon was also shown a straight red after stopping a Griffiths shot entering the net with his hand.

But, for this offence, the punishment is competition specific, and he will be free to line up at the National Stadium.

By then, referee Craig Thomson might have competed all the paperwork this tie generated.

With confusion over who-did-what in a first-half melee, a disciplinary investigation is expected to be opened by the SFA.

And tempers will have to be cooled before the sides meet again in the second of their four consecutive confrontations in three competitions.

After the shock of losing to St Johnstone in midweek, Deila reinstated Emilio Izaguirre at left-back, broken hand et al, with Efe Ambrose shifting to the right in place of the injured Adam Matthews.

With Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong both cup tied, Nir Bitton and James Forrest also returned to the starting XI for a game on a rough and bumpy pitch.

But the conditions had nothing to do with the clash which sparked this cup tie into life after just nine minutes

Ciftci and Scott Brown challenged aggressively for the ball just inside United's half. As they fell, the United striker appeared to kick out at the Celtic skipper.

With the ball bouncing free, Van Dijk and Calum Butcher went to ground to contest it, with feet flailing.

Thomson blew and, with the assistance of linesman Graham Chambers, separated the melee of players.

After consulting with his assistant, Thomson called over Paton, who had appeared to be on the periphery of the main action.

Despite protests he had the wrong man, Paton was shown the red card.

Van Dijk was then handed the same punishment, leaving the tie to continue with 10-a-side and the temperature raised significantly.

Bitton moved into central defence as United tried to exploit Celtic's necessary re-jig at the back .

Brown also sat deeper and made a last-gasp tackle to deny Aidan Connelly as he got set to shoot.

However, his follow-up challenge on Butcher resulted in a free-kick for United 19 yards out, which Ciftci sent just past Gordon's right-hand post.

Ryan Dow came even closer three minutes before the break, deflecting a low drive from Butcher onto a post from close range.

Celtic came just as close to opening the scoring when Stokes saw his low shot come back off an upright after Stefan Johansen had sent him through on the United goal.

But, the opening goal was soon to arrive, and, in keeping with the tenor of the game, in controversial circumstances.

Gordon was forced into a hurried clearance from an Izaguirre pass-back and tried to find the sidelines.

Izzy raced to prevent the throw in, but his clearance only went as far as Connolly who burrowed into the Celtic box.

He skipped past the first tackle, but, as Stokes attempted to challenge him from behind, Connolly went to ground.

The ref pointed to the spot, and Ciftci kept his cool to beat Gordon at his right-hand post.

Within three minutes of the restart. Griffiths was handed a golden opportunity to level the scores.

Stokes run down the left-hand-side of the box allowed him to send a low cross to the back post.

Griffiths fired in a shot, but Dixon dived to block it with his arm.

The defender was sent off, leaving Griffiths to put the ball on the spot. But Radoslaw Cierzniak made a brilliant, flying save to keep out his penalty.

With United's backs to the wall, the keeper also had to stand up well to deny Stokes after Forrest had played him in.

It was the Irishman's last action as he was replaced by John Guidetti as Celtic turned the screw.

The pressure finally paid off when Griffiths got his head to a Johansen cross 19 minutes from time to head back across Cierzniak and in for the equaliser.

Johansen was booked late on for a foul on Ciftci, and that rules the Norwegian out of the semi-finals on the totting-up rule.

But, it might not be the last repercussion from this bad-tempered cup tie.