SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

Celtic travelled to the shores of The North Sea yesterday and a big Norwegian struck oil for us! The conditions were absolutely farcical with each team taking their turn to play into a strong headwind which occasionally switched direction for a few gusts,making a passing game very difficult indeed. Whether that was responsible for our largely disjointed display is difficult to say,but it certainly seemed to be a great leveller.

In truth,we started well and finished well-scoring in the first and last ten minutes-but inbetween we were ordinary at best. I doubt if many could be impressed by their performance on the day,but each can be proud of the effort they put in. At the end,the manager and players showed the fans what they-and the result!-meant to them,celebrating a hard fought and vitally important victory in front of the away end. Put it this way,every hun in Scotland watching yesterday saw us on the way to dropping all three points. It’s the hope that kills them…

We lined up with three at the back,Nir Bitton deputising for Jozo Simunovic who was hopefully being rested for Thursday. The midfield too had a settled look about it,with Ryan and Big Tam again waiting their turn from the bench,while up front we had our big two of Griff and I Wanna. We started strongly with no clue whatsoever in the early stages of the pressure we would have to endure for the middle hour or so of the match,and in ten minutes Griff gave us what is fast becoming his party trick.

Back to goal,turns his man and hares off towards goal. Only problem this time was that the wind kept pushing the ball back under his feet! Finally,he turned it inside to Eddy who squared it to James. He beat a few defenders while trying not to get blown away before scooping it to the keeper’s right. Sadly,the keeper prevented an excellent goal,but could only parry it to CalMac who slotted it into the same corner via the post.

One up and cruising,right? Sure looked that way,but Aberdeen had other ideas. I don’t buy into the theory that McInnes teams lie down to the huns and try harder against us-results prove that-but I’ve rarely seen them put in so much effort as yesterday. For over an hour,they had us on the ropes. And it took only seventeen minutes for them to equalise.

It had been coming-but what a shocker. A ball from our left deep into the right side of the box and their player Stewart had enough time to chest it down and volley home from eight yards with no-one even close enough to him to challenge. I’m not gonna play the blame game on this,but watch where our central defenders were at the time.

After this,it was fairly one way traffic,though Aberdeen in truth created little from all that pressure. In fact,we had the best chance during this period,with Jonny Hayes-on as a sub just before the equaliser for the injured Greg Taylor-bursting through. He had every right to shoot even though a square ball to the unmarked Olly was an option,but his attempt was straight at the keeper. The heads went down in our pub,I can tell you. You can’t waste chances like that when you’re under the cosh.

But finally we got our act together by bringing a touch of quality to affairs. Eddy won it in midfield,tapped it off to CalMac who fed Jamesie on the left. He cut inside across the fringes of the box and this time it was Aberdeen’s turn to switch off at the back,leaving the sprinting Kris Ajer completely unmarked to the right of the box. Superbly weighted pass from Forrest,one touch and back of the net! Aye,we celebrated that one,I can tell you.

Eddy had a chance to tie it up a couple of minutes later,but I’ll spare his blushes. It wouldn’t have made any difference. To the victor the spoils and the three points were in the kit hamper for the trip back to Glasgow.

I’ll be honest-even though we didn’t play well,and despite the atrocious conditions making a lottery of things-especially dead ball situations-I thoroughly enjoyed the match. I’d rather we had won 5-0 but instead we had ninety minutes of tension and drama,even if little football quality was around. I’ll take that every week,just as soon as I get a decent supply of blood pressure tablets. Yesterday was a big step towards nine in a row,and we racked up our nine in a row victories too. Let’s hope we can make it ten on Thursday!

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Above article by BMCUWP. As you’ve hopefully noticed,we encourage our members to contribute their thoughts for Article of the Day. Don’t be shy,get yours in. We always publish them with gratitude. Mail Mahe

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