SENTINELCELTS

I’ve gotta say, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I thought it was a great advert for Scottish football, it had nearly everything an observer could ask for, and now the dust has settled on the weekends fixtures its clear the top 2 slots in the SPL is a 3 horse race.

The team selection was no real surprise, the atmosphere was great, weather not bad and surface looking fine,,ref blows his whistle and we’re off. They storm at us straight from kick-off, surely a strategy, it takes one minute to get the ball and we storm at them. Two minutes in, I knew the encounter would be fascinating.

It took about ten minutes (gotta stop those slow starts Brendan) but we grabbed a hold of the game and started playing. This was especially hard given the nature of the game, their shape was good plus they constantly fouled, by we began turning the screw.
It delivered two fine goals, similar in that both were created by fine through balls, one converted directly and one laid off to a runner.
When the second went in I genuinely wondered if this was about to become the romp that has been bubbling under the surface since late June.

Part of that reasoning was Arne Engels. I previously mentioned he was top of my player watchlist, and straight from the off he was at it. The second minute saw him burst forward with a dangerous run, he later hit the crossbar in audacious fashion, most of his corners were fine (one might speculate the others notably Trusty should have scored),,,so given Arne was on point up until halftime and we were two goals up with Forrest, McCowan, Idah, Yang, and Bernardo to come on, I believed we were in for a spectacle.
It was indeed that, but a most unexpected one.

When a game changes at halftime, I simply must give credit to the opposition manager for provoking the reaction. Saturdays fightback was not only impressive, but it convinced me that team can achieve second place, Sundays results being the case in point. Especially if strengthened in January for the hardly spent any of the Mioski Dosh. It also convinced me that Thelin is worthy of being on our next manager shortlist, and that the SPL has a new player in town who deserves respect.
The domestic scene just became a lot more interesting with his recruitment.

In the second half, for about 30 minutes, they essentially did to us exactly what we had done to them, two great through balls leading to two goals. They were the better team during that spell, bringing the game to us despite being away from home. I was seriously impressed, but a combination of substitutes and pride saw Celtic decide to go for the killer goal with about 15 minutes left plus injury time. We threw every bar the kitchen sink at them,,it was a true siege when the last seconds of added on time saw a goal-line clearance that was surely a handball given the protagonists body angle.
The decision goes upstairs to VAR, it’s surely only a matter of time before the last gasp penalty is awarded and I’m already wondering who shall step up and be the hero given Bernardo had already replaced the anonymous in the second half Engels on set piece duty.

The ref starts to raise his hand, I’m thinking he’s surely pointing at the spot here, nope. He raises it straight up and blows signaling the games over and it’s a point apiece.
I’d love to know what happened, because he surely should have signalled VAR said no and time is up, if that was the case. The camera angles are poor to say the least, can the richest club in the land not afford better? Better should be a requirement, not an option, in these modern high stakes days.

And that was that, we won the first half 2 zip, they won the second half likewise. Sunday saw Kilmarnock beat last year’s runners up to ensure both sides extended their lead at the top and the table makes for interesting reading despite our good start to the season. We all long for a strong SPL, to force Celtic to stay on their toes,,Im delighted to report that’s slowly happening. This weekends results showed the evidence, more notables being Hearts new manager inspiring his team to put 4 past a decent St. Mirren side plus both Dundee sides won showing they belong in the division.
The SPL isn’t a stroll, and long may that continue.

By Mahe sentinelcelts@gmail.com