SENTINELCELTS

Morning, all.

The only real plus from this game was the result, three points maintaining our lead at the top of the table. Much of that was down to the atrocious conditions as the game was played in the teeth of a howling swirling gale. At least it wasn’t as bad as Saturday at Firhill, where the players needed water wings and the ball only travelled about three yards before being drowned. Someone posted a link to it later that night, and it’s worth a look.

That either game was played is just another example of how bad our referees are, and if you wanted more proof, look no further than Ryan Lee. Another of the new influx, and rapidly climbing my MIB shitlist. He was perfectly happy to allow Hibs to take a quick free kick after two minutes which led to their goal, and repeated that trick a couple of times. Any time we tried it, he was standing over the ball to stop just that move! Suffice to say we expected eff all from him, and weren’t disappointed.

The Hibs goal, clever tactic as it was, was a disaster from our own point of view. We all stood about like statues watching it, and it was in the net before most of our players had even turned round. That’s one wee trick we’d best not fall for again, they made it look far too easy.

Our equaliser wasn’t long in coming though, with a Nygren corner whipped in by the wind and under the crossbar. Ish. Not that close to goal though that the Hibs defender had no option but to bury it. The rugby tackle on Scales as he went to challenge went unremarked by Crocker, but with Walsh on VAR I doubt we would have got the decision.

We then settled into a game for a while with Osmand again looking sharp down the left. One cross teed up the luckless Høgh a few yards out, but the touch he needed to control it cost him the chance. He’ll always get a ten for effort, but he actually looks surprised when he gets a chance to score, which is no way to be when you’re the main striker.

Fortunately his partner Duran, played again on the right, came to the rescue. A shade before half time, he picked up a loose ball at the corner of the box and fired it low and hard into the far corner. I’ll say it again, he is deadly when he gets the chance and deserves the central role in my opinion.

Hibs came out strongly in the second half and definitely had the better of the play for the opening twenty minutes or so. Once again we were conceding too many shots on goal-thirteen on this occasion-but our defence were holding firm without too many issues. An injury to Donovan saw the welcome return of AJ, but haud that result as he hobbled off with what looked like a hamstring problem after lasting only twenty minutes.

This is clearly becoming an issue for the player. He’d pick up fewer injuries in his old sport of ice hockey, ffs. I don’t know how we deal with it, but I doubt we will see him until after the next international break.

One man’s sorrow is another man’s opportunity, right enough. On came the returning CCV after his own spell of injury issues, which meant that Murray, impressive again, moved to right back. It might have been the match-winning substitution too, as CCV cleared a goalbound shot in the dying minutes. I’m as critical as any of us about the big fella’s mobility or lack thereof, but he knows where to be at the right time on these occasions!

One other thing of note here is the yawning chasm of empty seats where the Celtic fans should be, in one of the stands behind the goals. It used to be we got one end plus half of a side, now we are down to half a stand and 1600 tickets. I really don’t see the point in teams building a stadium if they’re not going to make the effort to fill it when they get the chance. Next time we hear club officials bemoaning the poverty of the Scottish game, we should remind everyone of this. I think only St Johnstone (and Livingston last season) make any effort to do so by offering the away support a decent allocation. Mind you, we know who started all this nonsense.

A difficult day then, but take the three points and get down the M8 before anyone asks for a stewards enquiry. It’s Dundee United on Wednesday night at home, which I think is our first domestic match in midweek. We will be hoping to maintain or increase our lead at the top, if for no other reason than to shut up the vultures in the media who must be down a fortune at the bookies by now from predicting our defeat every game we go into. It’s not pretty, it’s far from good enough, but that lead is still there. And as far as GIRUYs go, that’s a stoatir.

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Above article by BMCUWP