ON the night they unveiled an eye-watering set of annual results, it was hardly a surprise to see Celtic recording another tidy net profit on the field.

The reigning BetFred Cup champions banked four goals without reply for the second successive game as they turned over Dundee to follow their Old Firm rivals Rangers and Hibs into the competition's last four, with Motherwell and Aberdeen meeting tonight for the privilege of joining them there. Scott Sinclair opened their account via the penalty spot, James Forrest made it two then doubled his money to make it four goals in two games, with Callum McGregor also cashing in late in the match on the counter attack. With no obvious extra injuries to contend with ahead of Saturday's first Old Firm match of the season at Ibrox, and that unbeaten domestic record now standing at 56 in all competitions, all in all you could say Brendan Rodgers' balance sheet looks pretty healthy.

Back in the days when Neil McCann was a mere SkySports pundit, Celtic's Northern Irish manager had been known to occasionally take issue with his analysis of his Celtic team, but there is an admiration there for the former Rangers' willingness to get his hands dirty in the managerial hot seat at Dens Park and the two men exchanged a warm hand shake at kick off. With a pristine playing surface softened by an incessant Dundonian downpour, McCann had made two changes - introducing Mark O'Hara and Randy Wolters - to Rodgers' six.

Most interestingly, perhaps, there was no sign of Moussa Dembele, for whom a week's training at Lennoxtown was apparently viewed as preferrable to further match practice after his first outing for months following a hamstring injury against Ross County.

With Jozo Simunovic absent with a swollen knee, Dedryck Boyata was back too, for his first appearance since the Scottish Cup final. He sailed through the match alongside Nir Bitton at the back, and looks in decent shape for Ibrox, not to mention a visit to his native Belgium in the Champions League next midweek. Rangers will have the benefit of an additional day's rest and recovery

Dundee have made no secret of their desire to move to different premises but there is a magic to old fashioned grounds like these under the lights and there was no shortage of belief or endeavour about this Dundee side in the opening stages as they aimed to become the latest side to dent Celtic's cloak of invincibility. Wolters, a feisty Dutch winger who once clocked a pitch invader out in Holland, almost gave the Dens Park side a sensational early lead after Lewis Spence had picked him out from a clever corner routine, but his deflected shot skidded off the surface and whistled narrowly past Craig Gordon's post.

All in all, this was to be an eventful evening for Mr Wolters, who put one on a plate for Faissal El Bakhtaoui, only for the French-Moroccan to miss his kick from close in. He was also booked for a nasty kick on the knee of Kieran Tierney - the Celtic fans who caught their breath when he went down were relieved to see him get up again - and briefly caused consternation to both medical staffs when he suffered a freak injury in the centre of midfield. It was a hard earned ovation, then, when he came off around the hour mark, to be replaced by Roarie Deacon.

But as glaring as such openings were, as usually tends to happen in Celtic matches, they largely came against a green tide. Olivier Tcham's daisycutter had whistled narrowly past a post early on, and Patrick Roberts had uncharacteristically mis-kicked from a clever Griffiths corner, by the time Scott Sinclair, running at the kind of pace only he can muster in the Scottish game, slalomed past a few men at pace. Young Jack Hendry had the misfortune to be the final man in his path, and while contact seemed to be minimal, it seemed to be enough to send Sinclair over. While Hendry argued his case in vain to referee John Beaton, the Englishman picked himself up and rolled in his ninth of the season already.

Dundee were still in this game - midfielder A-Jay Leitch-Smith also had a clear run on Gordon only for him to be overhauled by the imperious tracking work of Scott Brown - but the killer second goal changed all that. Tierney, unselfishly ploughing away down his favoured left flank, hit the byeline and Forrest cleverly timed his slide to clip the ball into Bain's bottom corner from around eight yards.

Celtic started the second half in a mood to inflict further misery for the hosts, but for once Leigh Griffiths' radar was off, even if the striker's wickedly deflected shot would have spun into the bottom corner were it not for an outstretched Bain arm.

Another fine save from the former Scotland squad man required to stop a close-range Forrest strike, but Griffiths had departed the fray early - perhaps another nod to his participation on Saturday lunchtime at Ibrox - by the time the further goals arrived. For all his ability, El Bakhtaoui can be a frustrating player. One wrong decision turned a decent attacking position into a disaster, the eager Sinclair feeding substitute McGregor whose low finish into the corner was true.

All this was depressing enough for the Dundee fans who remained before Forrest picked up possession and rattled a low shot into Bain's bottom corner. Rangers have the benefit of an extra day's rest ahead of Saturday's Old Firm game, but on this evidence, it may not be enough.