A late goal by Kilmarnock substitute Dieter van Tornhout was enough to overcome Celtic in the Scottish Communities League Cup Final at Hampden this afternoon. Celtic’s record in League Cup finals since 1970 has been dismal, they have reached 21 finals in that time, winning only seven, and have contrived to lose to rank outsiders, including Partick Thistle, Hibs, Dundee, Aberdeen and Raith Rovers, but few victors will have gone into the final with form as indifferent as Killie’s.
Neil Lennon changed the Celtic formula, brining Kelvin Wilson into central defence and pushing Victor Wanyama into midfield but they never managed to dictate play for a sustained period. Both teams had great chances, Kilmarnock keeper, Cammy Bell, won man of the match, while his opposite number, Fraser Forster, was Celtic’s best performer.
Gary Hooper had a miserable day but was most culpable after intercepting a risky pass by Mahamadou Sissoko across the Kilmarnock box but, unmarked, with the ball at his feet 18 yards from goal, he snatched at his shot and Bell saved.
Kilmarnock looked nervous early on but after Dean Sheils’ shot went narrowly past 20 minutes in they settled and looked the equal of the favourites.
Scott Brown crossed well from the right for Stokes to head from 13 yards but Bell was there to end the danger again. Brown then had a fine shot tipped over by Bell.
Paul Heffernan then brought the best out of Fraser Forster as the Celtic keeper kept his team level.
Sheils looked sure to put Kilmarnock ahead minutes after the break when he fought free inside the box but with the goal opening before him he seemed to panic and could not connect properly with his shot. Sissoko threatened again with a header. The warning signs were there for Celtic.
Neil Lennon realised his formation was not working and decided to hook Thomas Rogne, who was playing well, but the tactical switch allowed Ki to move into midfield while Wanyama dropped back. Ki immediately brought a degree of composure to Celtic’s play but Kilmarnock were no less threatening.
Gary Hooper was eventually subbed for Geogrios Samaras as Celtic again changed the recipe. Samaras played left and James Forrest was asked to play behind Anthony Stokes but the change didn’t have the desired effect.
With seven minutes of the game remaining Lee Johnson got behind the Celtic defence on the left to cross while van Tornout drove towards the back post where he headed into the net to give Kilmarnock the lead.
Celtic chased an equaliser and Bell made an excellent double save to deny Samaras and Kris Commons. Anthony Stokes had a last minute claim for a penalty denied and was booked for his efforts.
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Kev Jungle
Ledley should be our 1st pick in centre mid alongside a playmaker and Wanyama in a 433 system. Brown seems to have reverted to his usual self after a glorious golden period, Mulgrew is not a LB and should be 1st pick at CB, Hooper should be watching a few games from the Stand. Forrest badly needs a rest (looks like he’s gonna get it after that assault yesterday) and Sammi gets dropped after a great run of form????????
Sincere condolences to Laim Kelly, his family and friends. I hope that with the passing of time he will appreciate what you helped achieve for Kilmarnock.
There is never a good time to see your dad go but I hope that you made him proud on his last day will be a wee comfort at least.
I also hope that the Kilmarnock team and supporters find the courage and the appropriate time to celebrate their win.
Why was Rogne subbed? My mate and I both presumed he must have been injured. While I agree that we improved when Ki came on, that shouldn’t have been at the expense of Rogne. Big mistake imo.
While I gather from Taggsybhoy, Hooper and Forrest won’t be fit for Ibrox, I would hope that a team such as: Forster, Cha, Rogne, Wilson and Mulgrew, Commons, Ki, Brown and Ledley, Stokes and Samaras.. Hooper and Forrest were particularly disappointing yesterday, again imo.
kev the polish player, at least has had good reviews
With Wilson , he had very bad reviews at forest
We deserved to lose yesterday, end of story.
Who do we start with against the fraudsters that is the question.
No Wilson,Forrest.Stokes and Hooper for me.
Forster
Lustig Rogne Mulgrew Matthews
Wanyama
Brown Commons Ledley McCourt
Samaras.
Hopefully Lenny learned from yesterday.
KTF
.
Thoughts and Prayers with The Kilmarnock Squad and Officials Today..
It’s Only a Game..
001Bhoy
Sydney Tim,
I seem to remember the Kelvin Wilson was well thought of at Nottingham. I thought the reason he never played the last five months of his contract was becasue he signed a pre-contract with Celtic.
I haven’t counted the number of times you have put the boot into that boy today, but it is a few. It comes across as vindictive, sinister, and downright nasty. Have you nothing else of interest beside perpetually slaging off Celtic that you might like to share with the blog.
Thoughts & prayers to the Kelly family
Morning bhoys!
My first LC final was against raith rovers and the gut turning feeling had never left me. Yesterday didn’t feel like that. Disappointing yes but that is nothing compared to losing your father!
RIP Mr Kelly your son did you proud.
The past 2 days have also reaffirmed that the sun is a disgusting excuse for a newspaper
Hail hail
Kevjungle
Think questioning K Wilson is justified though fans were saying similar things in regards Sammi , Mulgrew last season and l have worries that young Forrest is in line for the same treatment this year. Though l will say that young James seems to spend too much time on his bum, but l think the boy has it in spade loads just going through a wee dip in form.
Eremenko did seem to have that wee bit of magic, l am sure we looked at him and for some reason we never went for him. We can not sign every player that is good.
We have signed Hooper, Stokes, Vic, Mathews, Izzy, Commons and Kayal who are players who are not only quality but also have a sell on value.
We lost a game yesterday, man up people. Its football teams lose. Well done Killie, game of there life’s.
I trust our management/scouting team. Its easy to criticise but l do honestly feel we are on the verge of something very special.
Keep the faith
Mtt
kitalba,
I was thinking the exact same about Wilson at Notts Forest. Personally, while I prefer Rogne and was surprised that he was subbed, I don’t think Wilson is responsible for our losing yesterday. Forrest and Hooper were much poorer, as was Wanyama, until he moved to CB.
greenjedi on 19 March, 2012 at 09:02 said:
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I believe I would be correct to assume that, GH’s miss yesterday was the one and only chance he’s had in the last three games ?
Five years to get a purple-patch out of Brown ??????
Wanyama has shaded-off since Kayal go done by elbows! IMO!
And, Neil’s assertion that – “it was a 50-50 tackle” mmmmm
Ledley we’ll have to agree to, disagree.
Far too many, Bosmans, Free transfers, cheap – type of signings in the team for my liking. Where’s the quality ???
Hail! Hail!
Reading through everything from yesterday, I sit here very proud to be a Celtic Supporter, the amount of heartfelt wishes to the Kelly Family on this site is amazing. a day of joyous celebration has turned into grief…. for a family, grief we all encounter, but for this to happen the way it did , is truly heart breaking.
Thoughts go out to the family and friends of the Kelly family
YNWA
Proud Celtic Fan
I hope this time next week we are all in better spirits! Hail Hail
.
Bhoys..
My Biggest Criticism of Lenny Yesterday was he Chased the Game at the Wrong Time..
If You Are Going to Bring Sammi on Do it on 60 Mins Not the 80 Minutes.. We then Chased a Game and Fell Short at the Back..
When We Should have been Serting up for ET or Penalties.. Can you Imagine the Italians doing that..?
Summa
SydneyTim
Welcome back, how did I know you’d be on pontificating about all our problems this morning.
Did you know, that was our first defeat in 26 games, and first time we failed to score since October. Calm down, things are never as bad as you make out.
Mort
Kit. The well thought of did not come from the local fans , came from Peter lawell spin
If you want our players to be poor like that , I do pity you
I was concerned when I researched Kelvin and i asked forest fans on a forum and in
The city that I knew
They all said the same thing
He can’t jump, never sticks to his man and generally produces poor performances
He came to Celtic and we can all see now what forest fans knew :(
St
Greenjedi
Did the players turn up thinking they only had to turn up or did we?
We can as a support be quite disrespectful to the opposition and I doubt there was a Celtic supporter who did not think this game was for the taking and turned up thinking that.
When Hooper missed his chance was that complacency? When Stokes brought out that great save from his header was that complacency?
We rationalise afterwards in our disappointment and think our thoughts apply to the players.
On the day Killie had a winning mentality that was better than ours.
On the playing front I thought before the game that Sammy should start and certainly appear before he did because the ball does not stick up front when Stokes is the receiver and K Wilson is fragile.
Unfortuneately I was right to worry and btw where was Joe Ledley who had a stormer last week?
malceye
I can see your point about working hard and quoting Athletic Bilbao I dont think this is always the case, the team that was picked yesterday should not have been far away from the team that finished the match against Dundee Utd.The manager got the selection wrong and the tactics wrong,to take off Rogne and leave Wilson on was unfathomable,Hooper and Forrest have done really well this season but there comes a point were you have to say,these guys are off form time to leave them out..To go back to Athletic Bilbao,they were beaten 3 nil at home yesterday and obviously paid for the tempo they played against Man Utd.Looking at the Killie team it is made up of free transfers and loan players while we have players who cost millions,any team can lose in one off game but down the years we have lost too many finals,Killie more than matched us in effort and skill. Hopefully in years to come the memory of yesterday for Liam Kelly and his family will be of great comfort to them.
SydneyTim on 19 March, 2012 at 09:05 said:
kev the polish player, at least has had good reviews
With Wilson , he had very bad reviews at forest
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I hope your right but, when it comes to, trying to get players on the cheap then, the driving-down of the quality levels will, in the fullness of time, empty the stadium! IMO!
Now, the key question is…..who would be behind such a policy ???
Hail! Hail!
Mort. Kelvin wilson is not a center half
Does not matter how many people dont like me
He Is still not a center half
Ah! The return of the “I was never convinced by Lenny” brigade. Very predictable!
I am so glad that Neil Lennon is and will remain in charge of our team.
If any of the judgementalists on here were granted powers on team selection, tactics and transfer policy, we would be both relegated and liquidated.
Some posters have been on here long enough to learn a few proven facts.
1) A Bosman transfer is not necessarily a cheap transfer. There are good Bosman transfers and bad ones. The concept of using the Bosman market is not flawed in itself.
2) You cannot run a team where you permanently drop a player after every poor performance. You will run out of players.
3) You should not call for young players to be punted when they are inconsistent performers. Bobby Lennox will gladly tell you tales of the number of Celtic terracing experts who told him that he would never make it as a professional footballer. Even Jinky was an exasperatingly hot and cold performer when he broke into the team.
4) Just because you lose a game does not mean that your tactics were wrong or your subs were poor. BBC stats show we had 12 shots to their 8, 9 on target to their 5, 7 corners to their 5, and we committed only 4 fouls to their 6. We shaded the possession stats too so no sign that we were tactically outplayed. But, of course, the only stat that matters is balls in the net and we lost on that one. Anyone got foolproof tactics that ensures the ball regularly crosses their goal line? Thought not!
As for subs, it is becoming a matter of gospel that playing Sammi from the start or as an earlier sub would have been the obvious thing to do to win a final. Kenny Dalglish’s catch phrase is the only possible answer to such judgemental assurance. Just as with the myth that replacing McGeady with Maloney at Ibrox “ensured” a loss at Ibrox, all you have to do to believe it, is to ignore the number of times we went to Ibrox with Aiden and lost also.
Yet each of the above 4 non-arguments have been trailed in the past 12 hours as if they were beyond all reeasonable doubt. I cannot see beyond the fact that some folk try to prove their “passion” for Celtic by being as incoherently angry as possible.
To end on a conciliatory note, some posters made good points about weaknesses in our game without going OTT on the players and managers.
Off into my first meeting now
Yesterday was, for us, a punch on the chin.
We’ve had plenty of those in that tournament.
But, on conclusion, imo, Kilmarnock had the better manager yesterday!
Hail! Hail!
A grey and sombre sky over North Ayrshire this morning.
I feel so sorry for the young man who lost his dad after the game.
Sincere condolences to Liam Kelly and his family. From experiencing the highs of winning the cup to lows of losing his father within an hour muct be so hard to understand. I thought Kenny Shiels looked very emotional in his post-match chat with BBC and no doubt he had heard the news about Mr Kelly but he spoke wonderfully and he deserves this moment.
As for us, it was an off day. Nothing more, nothing less. We have played well some games, and not so well in other games but I think we as a support tend to head to extremes. if we win 4-0, we are the best in the world, but if we lose then we’re just awful. I think we are somewhere in the middle.
We certainly haven’t been as good as many have made out, but on the other hand, we have rarely been very poor.
Yesterday for example we had 12 shots, 9 of those on target. Last week while scoring 4, we only had 10 shots with 5 on target. On an other day some of those shots would have went and we’d be sitting here celebrating.
That’s football for you, and some times, its good to lose as it focusses the mind a lot more.
We have a very young team and will still be champions at the end of the season, which is really all that matters.
Mort
Thoughts & prayers with the Kelly family. Heart breaking news.
Congratulations to Kilmarnock. Despite the fact we had an obvious off day, I did not feel we deserved to lose. We had most of the ball and most of the best chances.
But they got the breaks, and if a club the size of Killie has a chance of beating us in a final, then they would need a good few breaks and at least 4 of our players to have real off days. They got all this, and took their chance when it came.
Kenny Shiells is a decent guy and deserves the plaudits.
Neil has turned the team around amazingly well this season, and things look bright for the future. But I hope he learns his hard lesson about removing Rogne. I assumed he was injured yesterday when he was taken off and that it wasn’t tactical.
This boy is an old fashioned type centre half and exactly what we need. He does not attempt to do anything fancy with the ball, but concentrated on clearing his lines. He gets his head to everything and I don’t think I’ve seen him beaten in the air. He was immense in the derby game on 28th Dec. Contantly winning the ball in the air by a centre half does more than clearing the immediate danger. It spreads confidence right round the rest of the team.
He is a far more able centre back than Wilson & Wanyama and should be twinned with Charles Patrick in defence and never substituted for tactical reasons.
This tournament has given us so many cup final disappointments it is unreal.
But we will always have the SEVEN – ONE.
tully
Kev jungle
I feel we have a lot of quality players for our level, but not enough and also IMO the team is to young. We need an old head or two to bring experience to the side.
Forrest – To much expected of him, he’s only a kid.
Wanyama – A defensive midfielder, not really a creative type, mant similarities with Lenny.
Hooper – Is it just me or does he seem to think he’s Gods gift? Needs to stay out of the clubs and loose a stone. As Roy Castle said “Dedication is what you need!”
Ledley – Just play him in CM FFS!!!
Mulgrew – Is never a LB
Rogne – Pick a CB to play beside him and leave them alone to gel.
Matthews – Again just a kid, will make mistakes.
Brown – Back to the old days, plenty of energy, but little creativity.
Play a 4-3-3, Sammi on the left Forrest and McCourt to share the right and God knows who up front!
I could never accept 2 nd to the Huns so I’m not accepting it to Killie.
Why is that after a defeat we have to slaughter everyone? Sure, quite a few were off the mark yesterday but let’s not forget that this result was the first defeat in 26 games.
SydneyTim
I’ve just spent the last half hour on Nottingham Forrest blogs, I have no doubt that somewhere there are one or two or maybe a few disgruntled Forrest supporters who put the boot into him, but what I read was every supporter wanting him to stay, his manager wanting him to stay and his captain and team mates wanting him to stay.
You have a sinister approach to posting mate, I just can’t understand your motivation.
Last time we spoke you were saying how racist Australian Rugby League administration was. You painted a false and despicable picture of a caring code. I hope you took the tiome to read up on the ‘black v white’ game as you termed it.
Auldheid
I think it was a bit of both. A lot of the players looked as if they where waiting for things to happen instead of making things happen and a lot of fans did expect it to be a formality. I along with a few others have been mentioning the players seem to think in a lot of games that they have won before before they start and its very hard to change a game where we have stsarted with that mindset
setting free the bears on 19 March, 2012 at 09:23 said:
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Interesting that you should mention, Bobby Lennox in your rant.
Bobby Lennox was for me, unplayable and, in my humble opinion, was, THEEE best player that I have seen in the hoops!
But, what do I know ? :¬)))
Hail! Hail!
Lenny is a good Celtic man and manager but he got it wrong yesterday.
We can say these things when they are true. It means we feel he made an error of judgement. It does not mean anything else.
However the biggest portion of blame lies with the players.
The players didn’t look like a team yesterday. Yet that has been their defining trait over the last 20- odd games- playing as a team.
Yesterday highlighted we need a new Captain. Brown is not a man to lead Celtic IMO.
Bobby Evans Superstar on 19 March, 2012 at 09:30 said:
Why is that after a defeat we have to slaughter everyone? Sure, quite a few were off the mark yesterday but let’s not forget that this result was the first defeat in 26 games.
…………….
Because even in games we do win the same faults are there!
Just before I go, a minute’s search on the Internet found this more balanced picture of kelvin Wilson from a Forest Fan to counter ST’s blatant misrepresentation of their views. The picture was obviously more mixed:-
“I was listening to Elton John’s fantastic Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album today as I trod the familiar track to work in the morning. As the resplendent, epic tones of ‘Funeral For a Friend’ died down and Elton struck up the moving ‘Candle in the Wind’ with the words “goodbye Norma Jean”, I somehow found myself thinking about the departure of Kelvin Wilson from the City Ground.
Wilson was something of an enigma during his time at Forest. In the same way that Elton John sings about the late Marilyn Monroe, I suspect we never knew Kelvin Wilson at all. At times we admired him from afar, at times we were baffled by the lackadaisical ease with which he either broke down another attack or set up one for the opposition with his lazy style.
To be realistic, it is at this point which I can no longer stretch ‘Candle in the Wind’ to fit the purposes of my article, but the point remains nonetheless. Did we ever know Kelvin Wilson, and will he build on the air of a classy defender that always hung around him in order to break the big time over the border at Celtic?
Wilson began his Forest career in League One in a side crying out for some quality. He spent months as one of the latest in a fairly long line of recent scapegoats for the Forest fans, and in all fairness many of his performances deserved it. Wilson always looked a player with all of the qualities but not enough of the on field attitude to take his potential ability to the next level.
Last year, a season which saw many Forest players find a peak of performance that they had never reached before, Wilson formed a major part of the solid defensive back line, particularly when Nicky Shorey was around, that formed the basis for a promotion assault in the Championship. Although eventually falling short after failure to build and strengthen in January, Wilson had proved himself to be a defender of high quality at Championship level, and a player of the ilk that is rarely seen outside the Premier League; a defender with skill on the ball, composure and pace.
In this, the 2010/11 season, however, things went greatly sour in the relationship between Nottingham Forest, or Billy Davies and Kelvin Wilson. Various rumours circulated about bust-ups and disagreements, and Luke Chambers found his way in to the team only for Wilson to be unable to claw his place back. With further rumours circulating, and a refusal to accept offers from Celtic in January, what was clearly a fractious relationship had appeared to dissolve entirely. Newspaper reports suggested that Wilson had been placed on gardening leave and told not to turn up to training for the remainder of the season, a rather odd situation if true that led to Forest being left out of pocket.
Whilst the departure of Kelvin Wilson from the Nottingham Forest ranks leaves the club fairly short of defensive cover, the emergence of Luke Chambers, a player who recently made my Championship team of the year and who I view as the closest thing to a complete player in his position at this level, sees Forest with genuine quality in the position; Quality that we have only been able to appreciate through the Wilson debacle. Chambers, ably supported by the ever present Wes Morgan, and the up and coming Jamaal Lascelles, leave Forest with some hope for their defensive future.
Whatever the truthful scenario in the Wilson affair that has led to his inevitable departure this season, it certainly seems that we never truly knew Wilson, despite glimpses of him at his best and worst. It will be interesting to follow his progress in the future.
Read more: http://www.ltlf.co.uk/forest/2011/05/goodbye-kelvin-wilson/#ixzz1pYO3l0xe“
greenjedi
Of course all the faults are there to see. Criticism is fine, but some comments on here are way OTT.
Sidney Tim
I do not know what is better Celtic winning or your absence such an event brings about.
The thing is I agree with you on Wilson and I too would like a bigger CF to hold up play but I do not keep on and on and on blaming PL or the clubs recruiting policy.
Wilson was I understand a Lennon target and no manager gets every signing right.
And as another poster commented Mulgrew was the whipping boy before he arrived, so you never know how a player will develop.
I’ve not read one comment from you saying perhaps Celtic have suffered from playing in a league where our main opponents have denied us of success by dubious means or that we cannot attract the quality of CF or CB we ALL would like in the Hoops.
Celtic play in a very different environment than your match spectating days but that seems to have escaped your attention.
Just the odd post from you when we win or are winning appreciating what is there rather than what is’nt would go a long way in brightening up my life and I suspect yours.
Usually I just scroll by and of late I’ve enjoyed not having to.
I’m not a fan of Paddy but I think he is tailor made for cup finals. As is Sammi . These are game changers who make things happen they are ‘go for bust’ players .
I believe played from start with Stokes we would have not he’d a victory with ease.