SENTINELCELTS

Celtic win at home, R2ngers drop points away, I suppose that’s just the way of the world these days, and as such yesterday’s set of results cannot be considered abnormal.

I had egg on my face reading the team selection, Brendan did indeed make some statements and several of Thursdays starters found themselves on the bench, which is a lot wiser than singling out just the one name. The weather had some impact as the stadium saw more empty seats than usual, but I was happily in my chair awaiting kickoff rather than the usual 5 or 10 late.
That proved somewhat fateful.

Within 60 seconds I was absolutely furious and yelling for a red card to be produced.
A deliberate foul prevented a goal scoring opportunity, the textbook professional foul, and the non decision was later compounded by the fact it was exactly Maeda and Kuhn who linked up for the opener.
Frazer was getting skinned, there’s no one alive could doubt Maeda outpaces him over half a pitch, and once it goes 2 on 1 the odds of bulging the net dramatically increase.
Now the ref had a get-out clause, he wasn’t the last man, so I begrudgingly accept there will be no dismissal, but not even a yellow was already taking the biscuit and the game had barely started.

The current rules of football failed us on the day, and if that’s the case it needs modified. You can stop a goal chance if your mates close enough, but not by yourself? Wait a minute, stopping a goal chance fullstop ought to be deemed a professional foul with an automatic red as a consequence.
If anyone caught the Spurs news, they were victims of rulebook technicality after an obvious handball was allowed due to the phase of play.
A handball should be a bloody handball, a foul with no discussion. At least twice in one weekend the current rules weren’t fit for purpose, and thats plain evidence that the reality on the pitch isn’t always matched by the guidelines. Over to you UEFA.

Despite the above, the first ten minutes were enjoyable, Callums rousing huddle speech had worked and Celtic played with intent, I counted 4 chances created, witnessed a good tempo, and a much better attitude. There was a clear instruction to up the number of crosses, sensible with Adam on the pitch, sensible overall although I personally wanted some shots from distance also. Everything seemed rosey enough, but that early momentum peetered out, we became lethargic and content with meaningless possession to the extent that the 30 minute mark was greeted by a chorus of boo’s from those (rightfully) wishing a better afternoon’s entertainment.
I felt we were missing Kyogo, he loves getting on the end of crosses, Adam wasn’t getting on the end of much at all.

I would like to say these boo’s sparked the team into life which resulted in our opening goal minutes later, but the truth is having our wingers unleashed on a quick break results in a goal the majority of times, this was simply another such occasion. Kuhn and Maeda compliment each other, both must be delighted with the others attributes, it should have been their second successful combination but we all gladly accepted this legitimate opener.

The scene was set, around 60 minutes of turning the screw, bombarding them late-on with benched players carrying a point to prove, and we did turn the screw just before halftime when one of our very dangerous corners was turned home for a first ever goal by Trusty. Despite not being the greatest game, our delivery had been top drawer, at one stage I thought Arne was about to score direct from a corner, a set piece goal and a first for Big Austin was a pleasing way to end the half and set up a second 45 full of further intrigue.

Although we marched down the tunnel 2 goals to the better we were clearly losing out in one certain area, the art of timewasting. They were embarrassing, it was absolutely cringe worthy, and the latest donkey off the SPL production line clearly had no inclination to deal with the unsavoury issue.

As myself and tens of thousands other settled back down for the second half, the unthinkable happened.

And that’s where this match report ends, most Tims (there’s more outside the stadium than inside) didn’t get to see the 2nd half as the biggest blackout since the Blitz just happened to hit that particular grid at that particular time.
I’ve a couple of points to make on the issue.
Yes, it happens.
And believe it or not I’m well familiar with that occurrence, the sudden loss of power followed seconds later by the backup generator kicking in and restoring normality.

I don’t want to go over the top here, but the safety assured by such back-up generators is priceless, and I’ll go a step further and congratulate whoever is responsible for the mandate, whether SPL or UEFA or just plain old government legislation.
Going to a game should never be dangerous, 50 thousand scrambling in the dark cannot help but be dangerous.

I brought up two fouls earlier, last week Scotland’s top flight delivered two safety issues. One each for the nation’s biggest teams, very different but still falling under Health and Safety.
If that pound coin was an inch higher Arne Engels career could be in the balance and Celtic can kiss foreign talent goodbye,,Hampden and Ibrox clearly failed their live safety test last week.
Celtic clearly passed theirs with an A+.

You might find that meaningless rambling and I admit I had never even thought of what happens when that whole area loses power, and I never imagined it would be during a game, but as someone who has friends and family in the stadium it was reassuring to find out elsewhere on social media that (double) normal service had been resumed within seconds at Parkhead even though the majority of Tims lost 45 minutes of football missing out on the 3rd goal as CelticTV and all the other bahooky sites got scrambled. Small beans in the grand scheme of things, but we weren’t looking like losing from the half of football we got.
Big Hamish was happy with his earlier than planned walk because after 20 minutes of refresh I just gave up.

It’s the first time in our site history we can only offer up a half game review, and we beg your understanding.
If the past week taught me anything, it’s that when I’m next in Scotland bringing my young daughter to Celtic Park for the first time is more likely given the ‘peace of mind’ the trip would involve given the fresh facts.
I’ll gladly lose 45 minutes of 44 legs kicking a piece of synthetic leather around to know my little girl and everyone else is safe when they enter our footballing home.

We bounced back on paper, we extended the lead at the top still into double digits, KT to sign,,the first month of the year might indeed end well.

By Mahe sentinelcelts@gmail.com