SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

I’ll write this article in the assumption that most of you watched the game. If you didn’t, I recommend the highlights on BBC iPlayer. It is well worth watching, even if we did finally go down 4-2. Gave us a proud Scottish goal difference of 13-14 though!

Going into it, I didn’t really think we would get much from this match, given our selection problems-many of them self-inflicted. A look at the bare scoreline suggests I was right. But that doesn’t even scratch the surface, no sirree. For starters, we were two down in five minutes! Our old defensive frailties of losing a cheap goal, followed by another while we are still trying to figure out how the first one came about. At that stage, I’m quite sure that one or two tellies got switched off-I got a phone call from a mate who said he was for off at half time-but those who did so missed a rousing comeback. 

Followed by another heroic failure…

After five minutes, we truly looked in for a helluva doing. And little changed over the next twenty minutes either. Sure, we started to get our foot on the ball. Yes, we stopped getting cut open quite so easily, even if we were having kittens every time Villa got on the ball. But we started to create chances of our own.

Hatate shot tamely at Martinez when he was clean through, and I admit I thought we had probably blown our chance. Villa would tighten up, aware that we were still kicking. Then, with ten minutes remaining in the first half, we clicked. Hatate, looking really up for this, fed a delicious ball to the overlapping Taylor to cut back into the six yard box, the Villa defence got in a fankle, and Idah hooked the loose ball into the net. 

Cue pandemonium in Celtic-supporting houses and venues everywhere! 

I’d hardly settled back into my seat when we equalised, this time a cute reverse pass from Engels feeding AJ on the right of the box. His pass inside to the onrushing Idah was perfection, and suddenly the tie was even. That ever-so generous 1/2 on offer for Villa at the start of the game wasn’t looking like such a nailed-on certainty now, and there must have been a few hun mortgages in serious danger of not getting paid on Friday. 

Two goals apiece at half time, a scoreline which reflected the effort that we had put in over the period just to get back on terms after a dismal start. Surely we wouldn’t repeat the errors in the second half? 

Well, we didn’t. We just found new ways to make them happen. Even Schmeichel was guilty of giving them a free shot at goal, though he redeeemed himself with a wonderful save. He made a few of them on the night, I should add. We weathered the initial storm but weren’t really creating much of our own, then Villa pounced on our old pal frailty. 

Scales lost a battle in the Villa half, Engels lost his on the halfway line-both players needed to be much stronger, I might add-and they were two on one against Trusty. The easy pass inside Trusty to Watkins left our keeper with no chance. A goal down, but this time we were looking tired, worn out by a relentless counterattacking side who looked threatening at every turn. 

Even so, the manager waited longer than is customary to introduce his subs. Bernardo and Palma on 73 minutes with Cummings for the hat-trick seeking Idah on 79 minutes. 

Another youngster given a chance on the night was Murray as a replacement for Scales. I confess these weren’t substitutions I thought to be wise while we were still in with a shout at 3-2. And even if it was a poor piece of play from Murray which gifted Villa the clinching fourth goal in added time-the hat trick for Rogers-I can’t place any blame on either. Both ran their heart out, gave their best. As did every player on the night. I was proud of them all, even as I was gutted at the final result. We didn’t quite stand on the shoulders of giants on the night, but I think they gave us a good punty-up! 

The knockout stages await, with a battle in two and three weeks to see who goes through to the last sixteen. At the moment, the table and the format suggest either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Both of whom are well clear in their domestic leagues. 

Such is life when you are playing in the top club tournament in world football. They say that you have to beat the best to win it. Well, it certainly looks as though we will have to do just that. It’s The Glasgow Celtic Way. You never know, we might just have our first-choice centre-back available. 

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Above article by BMCUWP