Out of sorts Celtic keep on rolling
Another 3 points for Lenny’s bhoys
The pre-match talk was about runs…winning and not-winning runs….and the impact that both managers were having on their squad. The 100% league run of Neil Lennon was still on the line but how much would have John Hughes given to have even a 50% run at the moment?
Yogi has definitely had better times and Hibs have had better times against Celtic. The Leith club got an early reminder of previous glory days against the second club to wear the green!
A Celtic v Hibs game with Scott Brown racing through a static defence and scoring used to be a regular occurrence but then Brown signed for Celtic. The Celtic captain rolled back the clocks and got the crowd off their seats early on as he unleashed a shot into the corner of the net.
Many in the crowd thought the game would roll on from there with Celtic dominating but that never really took place. Celtic still had more of the chances but the midfields appeared to be getting overlooked as the game raced to both ends.
The first half didn’t have too many moments of note. Anthony Stokes was booked for diving, there’s no point us saying much about it until we get to see the replays, the moaning of Jim Jefferies got the stand side linesman twitchy with his flag and that was about it.
Celtic tried their best to gift the Hibees an equaliser at the start of the second half but the Edinburgh club didn’t seem too interested in taking the chances they were handed. As often happens…Celtic broke quickly, won a corner and Glenn Loovens headed beyond Mark Brown.
It wasn’t entirely clear if the ball was over the line but the North Stand linesman raced back to the half-way line and there were no complaints from the Hibs camp. Footballers aren’t normally the most polite chaps if they think they have been slighted so it’s probably safe to say it was in.
And just when you felt it was game over, Celtic yet again gave the ball away and Derek Riordan delivered a delightful chip to dink the ball over the 6’ 7” Forster to give Hibs a lifeline. The goal was a perfect example of what Derek Riordan has in his arsenal when he can be bothered.
And just when you thought there would be a grandstand finish…Hibs retreated, Celtic pressed without too much pressure and the game came grinding to a halt.
Samaras nearly got on the end of a Stokes cross / shot and Juarez rattled the bar with a header but Hibs didn’t look like a team desperate to win.
All in all, another good win for Celtic but a day that both clubs will be glad to put behind them.
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Stokes has a talent but he better harness the positive side to his game soon. His crude challenge at Kilmarnock, could and should in my opinion, seen red. Diving against his old team as well, why do players feel the need to do these things?
We’ve still not seen the replay on highlights Quags – so we’ll refrain from commenting. If he dived, fair play to the ref in spotting it, booking him and Stokes needs to wisen up. If he didnt dive…well, he has no real need to look at himself this weekend.
A lot goes on in games…funnily enough, the media have been rather quiet about a goalkeeper attempting to kick an opponent after he played the ball.
But anyways, returning to Stokes, concerns about his attitude have plagued his career and you would hope for the boys sake, he will wisen up. Mind you, Derek Riordan still acts like a wee ned – which makes his goal on Saturday a wee bit heartbreaking – what a talent he has, he should be gracing a better stage than the SPL but his attitude has always let him down.
I thought McGregor was finished with his school boy antics but it re-surfaced again yesterday. Absolute stupidity that could have seen us down to 10 men had he connected with the player.
I sincerely hope Walter Smith has a quiet word with him, he doesn’t need to indulge in this carry on as he’s an excellent keeper.
Fair play for that Quags.
No doubt McGregor feels like a marked man and enters the field with a bit of injustice about him… But you just wish he’d knuckle down and let his fine goalkeeping speak for him.
With Craig Gordon still made out of chocolate, McGregor could grab the international number one spot too.
Supposedly the Stokes incident is now kicking about online so we’ll try and see it later and then voice our opinon.
The Anthony Stokes incident can be found here at the Kirkintilloch Emerald site:
http://www.kirkintillochemerald.co.uk/showthread.php?p=12087#post12087
Stokes appears to have been very hard done by.
We see that one of our fellow Scottish football sites stuck a twitter out that Weiss dived….wow, thats fairly insane, dont think anyone can have a complaint about that decision yesterday.
So….Celtic and Rangers should both have had penalties at the weekend…mind you, the biggest refereeing blunder came at Tannadice when two yellow cards did not equal a red.