Victor Wanyama scored the only goal of this game after 72 minutes, a postage stamp corner cracker from outside the box, but the 90th minute created most drama as Fraser Forster saved an Eggert Jonsson penalty to secure the points.
Celtic were forced into yet more injury changes as third choice right back, Cha Du-Ri, was drafted in, in the absence of Adam Matthews and long-term absentee, Mark Wilson. With Emilio Izaguirre and Joe Ledley both close to returning to action Charlie Mulgrew played left back, giving Celtic a physical looking formation but they struggled to impose themselves in the opening 30 minutes.
Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes offered little up front all day but Hooper had two gilt-edged chances before the break. James Forrest hooked an awkward cross in from the right which the Hearts defence failed to deal with, allowing Hooper to shoot from inside the six yard box but he tame effort missed the target. Minutes later Hooper was again presented with a chance inside the box after Georgios Samaras hit the goal-line on the left but the striker failed to get his feet in gear.
Anthony Stokes connected well with a shot from 25 yards which tested Kello, the only real effort either keeper had to deal with in the first half. Stokes came close again after the break but he couldn’t quite get high enough to above James Forrest’s cross and his header rebounded off the bar.
Charlie Mulgrew struggled with his delivery from free kicks and corners all afternoon but the ball broke to Victor Wanyama on 23 yards out after one Mulgrew free kick. The Kenyan brought his foot from right to left across the ball, injecting a devilish degree of swerve to leave Kello rooted to the spot as the ball flew into the net.
With the clock running down Fraser Forster failed to deal with a corner and Wanyama was penalised in the resulting melee inside the box resulting in the penalty. With Jonsson ready to take the kick Georgios Samaras stood over the ball insisting it was not correctly on the spot, taking a clear opportunity to unnerve the kicker. Jonsson refused to re-spot the ball until the referee moved it clearly away from its initial position and insisted it was placed again.
When Jonsson eventually took his kick he struck it well enough but Fraser Forster dived quickly to his left and turned the ball behind. The winning run continues.
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Kitalba
Well said, 1 SB. HH
Sandman Is Neil Lennon says:
11 December, 2011 at 00:17
What you said Sammi said brought a big smile to my face.
What I like most about Sammi, more than all his skill,the thing I like the most is Sammi wants to play for Celtic; just like Scott Brown.
And befor the penalty the Hearts player out wide looked like his was a tad offside, but then again a couple of the assistant MIB were not having the best day on the job. Not by the written rule book anyway.
I feel a wee bit sorry for Loovens too, I thought he was having a decent game before he made way to allow Scott Brown to get onto the field. Didn’t agree with it at the time but in the end….
Hunnism in Melbourne?
Ozzie laptop loyal?
Lucky? More like travesty of justice.
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-sport/celtic-boss-delighted-after-lucky-10-win-20111211-1op9n.html
Good morning from MK.
I’ve only had a quick scan through the posts as I’m off to play golf. I’m not sure if anybody has already posted a link to the penalty decision …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWFsbCt9xcs&feature=youtu.be
Any unbiased observer would have to say it was a harsh call but being a Celtic supporter it was an understandable decision in the circumstances, know what I mean.
Would like to see this line up for the 28th.
Forster
Matthews
Majstorovic
Mulgrew
Izaguirre
Brown
Kayal
Wanyama
Ledley
Samaras
Hooper
Well a very welcome 3 points yesterday and much way to much relief to hear the final whistle
We must keep the pressure on Sally, as January looms and hopefully Celtic can get level or better
No surprise at Callum Murray poor performance, it just has to be overcome, how he is still a grade 1 after his embarrassing and dangerous to his fellow professionals performance at the SFA when he cleared Boughera and the the A*** is beyond reason
We had a team not firing on all cylinders yesterday, passes astray and missed chances by Hooper in the 1st half, what to do at H/T? What we got was Loovens removed, Wanyama moved to central defence splitting up a decent defensive partnership and Scott Brown in central midfield, we got a poor second half performance which matched the changes, Wanyama is a central midfield dream of a player why move him? Loovens yesterday doing well why move him? Dunfermline and yesterday have saw us on the rack at the end of league home games, we have to see out games with more professionalism, and substitutions which benefit the team
3 points due to two individual fantastic moments, Wanyama beautiful strike please keep him central midfield and big FF our developing fine young goalkeeper with a superb penalty save
Hertz came to frustrate and get at least a point by pushing the boundaries of the rules particularly the time wasting rule loved the irony of Sammy holding them up at the penalty
On the bench….any of the following….Stokes, Ki, Forrest, Commons, Bangura, McCourt, Loovens, Rogne, McGeouch, Blackman, Wilson, Zaluska,
oooooof.
Michael Hart: Lee Wallace ‘made a meal’ of penalty
By Tom English
Published on Sunday 11 December 2011 06:26
ANOTHER day, another Rangers penalty and again there is debate about the merits of the decision given to Lee Wallace when he tumbled in a coming-together with the Hibs full-back, Michael Hart. Rangers are adamant that the correct call was made but Hart, for one, was not happy.
“He [Wallace] played for it a little bit,” said Hart. “I’m not sure it would have been given if it was at the other end.”
There is no question, though, that Hart, pictured right, had a brief hold of Wallace’s arm in the incident. Not even Hart disputes that. “Maybe it looked like a penalty, but it was soft. He made a meal of it. It must be dubious if you [the media] are asking whether it was a penalty or not. I know I have hold of him but if he doesn’t throw himself on the floor then he doesn’t get a penalty. There was not too much contact at all.”
Pat Fenlon was more circumspect on the decision that really changed the game and set Rangers on their way to victory. “I haven’t seen it again yet,” he said. “It looked like two players wrapped around each other, but people around me say it was probably a penalty. I’ll need to see it.”
His counterpart was in no doubt about the legitimacy of the award.
And, in fairness, this was no Aluko affair. You didn’t need a magnifying glass to see the contact between Hart and Wallace.
The Rangers player went down easily, but Hart gave him due cause. “There wasn’t much debate about it,” said McCoist. “I thought it was a penalty straight away.”
The Rangers boss admitted that his side had been toiling creatively up until that point but saluted the impact of Thomas Bendiksen, the 22-year-old Norwegian, who came off the bench in the second half and helped bring some imagination to their play. “I was delighted with him,” said McCoist. “He gave us a wee bit of spark. We got him on and told him to get in and around the Hibs centre-halves, who were their best players on the day. He’s not lacking in confidence. He’s been with us for four years but he’s injured for two. So I’m really pleased for him.”
See that conspiracy gave Fat Sally teams another penalty
Morning all from gay Paree, temps du jour: cold and frosty morn, with bright sunshine, and not a hun in site to boot.
I wonder if the jam tarts players will play another game this season with as much fight and cimmitment?
Had a quick look at a couple of match reports, my God, how they are hurting!
Victor67 CSC
Grey, chilly morning here in North Ayrshire.
Last minute penalty saves are every bit as good as last minute winners against the Sault ‘n’ Sauce Huns.
A pivotal moment in the season. Big Fraser proves his worth to the team yet again.
Oh, and a superb goal from the young Vic.
Just read back a bit.
Thanks to all those who expressed support and gave advice to me after my brush with thuggery yesterday.
Much appreciated.
Regrets at having used the word, “gamesmanship” to describe Sammi’s actions at the penalty.
Why do players increase the pressure on an already-charged situation by trying to gain what must be a minimal advantage at best?
It was, “well spotted” by the big Greek.
Steinreignedsupreme:
Anybody can stike a ball, by accident or design, that ends up in the net, the true measure of young Wanyama’sperformance
is what did he do over the full ninety minutes. I think he passed muster.
lennon’s passion says:
10 December, 2011 at 20:41
Sannabhoy – there’s only 1 Kano 1000 says:
10 December, 2011 at 20:36
Agree mate,Just find it hard to believe someone headbutted someone for taking to long to get in the stadium.No words exchanged etc just wallop for having your card round the wrong way.
share
You find it hard to believe?
That’s just what happened, and my card wasn’t round the wrong way, the turnstile, No17 North Stand, was faulty.
There was no provokation and the man gave no warning, apart from his hysterical reaction to a brief delay, of what he intended to do.
Top of the morning to you all from a grey, still but mild Fife.
Was at the game yesterday and was delighted with the final minutes if not the match in general where Hearts appeared to be out to spoil the game rather than win it.
Brilliant goal by Victor and superb “penalty” save from Fraser.
From a perfect view in the upper stand at that end it was impossible for me “or anyone near me” to say what the penalty was for. There was certainly no clear-cut offence.
Why does this sort of thing not surprise me?
If a visitor from another planet was shown videos of all of our games and Rangers games he would come to the conclusion that this was a contest between our 11 men on the park and Rangers 11 plus the officials at their games and our games.
It is as blatant as that IMHO of course.
kitalba: 11 December, 2011 at 08:56
I agree. Vic has been very impressive and has hardly put a foot wrong all season.
He is a player alright.
Well were do we start with yesterdays events,with regards ourselves and the huns, penaltys seem to be what will be the deciding factor in this title and we are not going to be the benificiaries in that particular tussle. So we have to ask can we in all expectation win this league.There are most definitely people/things/excrement call it what you will CONSPIRING against us. The blatant discrimination we are witnessing every time we ,and more so they,take the field must be embarrassing to the likes of Regan and co but then again maybe not. Have seeen many titles won and lost in my time and in have managed to treat succsess and failure in equal measure. But if we win the league this year then then as the diminutive Prince once said I am going to party like it is 1999,the alternative I dont even want to contemplate.
COME NEIL MAKE HISTORY FOR YOURSELF AND MAKE THAT MOB SPEW
HH
On the back of some excellent digging on Phil MacGiolla Bhain’s blog http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/craig-whyte-some-vital-details/ and the sterling work of “sorrynocando” on RTC http://rangerstaxcase.com/2011/12/08/the-sensational-sun/#comments I was able to get some more info re Vital UK Ltd. This was the company in connection with which Mr Whyte got his ban. At first it seemed odd that a company which operated for 18 months and went into liquidation in 1995 could lead to a ban being imposed in 2000, but that seems to be the case. It was especially confusing as a result of the liquidation of the other companies with “Vital” in the name which had Mr Whyte as a director at some stage.
More here – http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/closer-to-discovering-why-craig-whyte-was-disqualified-from-being-a-director/
HT
if you are up and about Ill send you the number you asked for last night..
Paul McC: 11 December, 2011 at 09:16
It speaks volumes for the ineptitude of the Scottish media that Whyte is not being exposed as the charlatan he clearly is. The information is clearly there, as people like yourself, Phil Mac Giolla Bhain and the excellent RangersTaxCase blog have shown, but for reasons best known to themselves the media are covering up the story.
A cover up is bad enough, but it is nothing short of sinister that the Scottish media are deliberately peddling lies about Rangers and the dire situation the club is in. They are a disgrace to journalism – every one of them.
jhilday says:
11 December, 2011 at 09:00
Sorry to hear about your attack at CP.
I hope the club can check your ticket and match it to your attackers. Let’s hope they travel him and he is charged and banned.from CP.
Travel = track
Published on Sunday 11 December 2011 00:00
HEARTS players have threatened to tear up their contracts and leave the club if the ongoing issue of unpaid wages has not been resolved by the middle of next month.
They have given a deadline of 14 January, claiming that if the long-running issue is not sorted out by that date, they will walk away from the Tynecastle side.
The players’ wages for October arrived 19 days late, and since then they have received just £1,000 of their November sum.
With the December due date just five days away, club insiders have admitted they are struggling to accrue the funds to make the payment.
“We are almost at the stage that we would probably prefer not to get that wage on time, because then we could walk away on January 14, and find ourselves new clubs and Hearts wouldn’t get a penny,” said one player,
Previous from the Scotsman
JHILDAY
Hard lines wi your day out yesterday. I hope the thug gets his come-uppance.
Preferably off a small-but-perfectly-formed kickboxer,or similar.
Good morning fellow Celts from a fresh, grey North Hampshire.
Sans raisin de Corinthe :-)
So, another 3 points and the job done. With another heart-stopping moment in the last few mins.
Delighted we managed to win in the end and credit to Sammi for using the heid and using all his International experience…and an assertive performance at penalty by big Fraser; before the kick and a strong dive to stop it going in. Our young ‘keeper is maturing before our eyes.
Many were confident of a goals rout versus Hertz. Sadly it was not to be and I was never confident of that. The Dunfermline game was too fresh in my mind.
Our bhoys are simply not scoring enough goals regularly. Yes there are flashes and sparks of what may come, there are teams who will be put to the sword, and we might get 6 one day soon.
However, there is a fundamental problem.
When Tommy Burns, god rest him, failed to win the league in his time as manager the sense was that Walter and in his own words Andy Goram, broke his heart. That was not exactly the real reason. What did for TB and his teams was too many draws.
It’s not really the defeats that scupper the league title challenges it’s the damned draws. Lenny found that out last year when his team drew at Poundland, when a win would have secured the championship…well, almost…
When Martin lost two leagues he should have won in 2003 and 2005, the reason was not so much draws, but caution going forward when he had firepower to kill teams. It was the draws that resulted in his teams having to go down to the wire on the last day. Caution from Martin and lack of goals led to draws.
The draws do ye right in and are almost as bad as the defeats.
Against Dunfermline and yesterday against Hertz, we ran the serious risk of drawing games we were entitled to win. We came through and that is a testament to the growing resilience and team spirit in our young team. I am not knocking that sign of progress but we need to take action now to reduce the risk of draws compounded by attendant mibbery.
TB’s teams were sometimes too offensive for their own good. They lost goals and suffered draws due to poor defending or exposed defences.
Martin’s teams had the firepower and the defence to cope and lost crucial points and drew games due to over-cautious tactics. Losing two leagues we all know we should have won. It seemed like lack of goals at the season’s end. However, twas mainly due to reluctance to bury teams earlier in the season, and risking the dreaded mibbery. Resulting in draws.
Lenny’s teams are running the risk of drawing games they should win. Not because the defence are so bad now (they have their moments of course) or the effects of blatant mibbery (all Celtic managers have to contend with that crap). The problem is lack of goals and, specifically, the variety of goals.
When we get on the counter and break at pace we can be deadly. We have also learned better movement and interchange techniques in and around the penalty area with some lovely goals recently. The problem arises when our opponents get the measure of those tactics and we run out of ideas or energy and require alternative options.
We need to have the alternative option of scoring goals with the heid!
Our goals tally from set plays is woeful. The number of crosses converted is dreadful and we often neglect to cross the ball for the simple reason there is no target man.
The greatest Celtic goal-scorer of all time…nay the greatest British goal-scorer of all time… was known as ‘The Golden Crust’ by his teammates for the amount of bonus winnings he earned them due to headed goals. He was also known as ‘The Mermaid ‘(no feet… although that was mild joshing from his fellow players, as he could play on the deck too…). Another great Celtic goal-scorer, Henke King of Kings…..who can forget the two glorious headers v Porto in 2003? When nothing else was working that night…Henke rose to the heights and powered two in to keep us in with a decent shout. The header that won the league in 2008 Big Van the Man…not the Dundee Utd one, although that counts too. I refer to the late, late, one at CP to take 3 points off the currants when all seemed lost. The list is endless when you think about it…
The ability to use the heid is vital to Celtic teams that win trophies.
Sadly our current team lack that vital skill. It is not a currently, a viable option or an alternative route to goal.
That means we are not a complete team yet, and the matter must be addressed with the greatest urgency in the forthcoming transfer window. It should not matter what it costs (within reason ;-) to buy a mobile target man striker who can actually rise and head ba’s into the net from crosses or set-plays. It seems all recent attempts to fill that role have failed…miserably.
If we fail to fill that role in January, we will be consigned to more late, late, shows. Risking the connivance of mibbery and those dreaded draws. As we saw yesterday.
Our number one priority …again.
HH
M
Had Hearts scored from the penalty spot I reckon another Open Meeting to get the referee service overhauled would be called for.
Whatever the motivations our game is not helped by the MIB being appointed by the SFA. Let them recruit and train but put appointing and assessing in the hands of an independent appointing and assessment service reporting to the SPL.
Give the SPL freedom to appoint from outside the country if there is a shortage of competent refs at senior level.
Concentrate on competency when arguing the case.
Googybhoy and Bobby,
Thanks, lads.
I have emailed Celtic with details of the incident as well as my ticket number and that of the turnstile.
The Paradise Windfall woman also had a “ringside seat”and should be able to describe him better than I could.
We’ll see what happens. I wasn’t sure which email address to use.
Thanks again!
jhilday says:
11 December, 2011 at 09:00
The guy must be idiot mate,wasn’t belittling the situation and hope he gets caught and banned.
“Hearts could have pulled one back following a controversial decision in the final minute when Wanyama was penalised for a challenge inside the area”
“Scott Brown is penalised for a handball.”
“The penalty was awarded, I think, for either hand ball by Scott Brown or for the use of an elbow by Victor Wanyama. I can’t figure it out! ”
All three of these quotes come from the BBC wreb site (match report, live text and SPL as it happened respectively).
Decades of hun dominance, masonic chicanery, media acquiesence and financial skulduggery entitles Samaras to do whatever he bloody well likes
not big Van the Man.. Big Jan….doh!
Van Morrison playing for Celtic, now that would be something special!!
Auld Neil Lennon heid says:
11 December, 2011 at 10:13
Concentrate on competency when arguing the case.
………………………………………………………………….
This is a Celtic forum and while I would not complain to the SFA/SPL that the referees have been got at, it is perfectly legitimate to say so on one of our forums.
If it walks like a duck, etc. etc. To pretend that there is not possibility of corruption when the eyes tell us differently is denial that is damaging to one’s well being. There are 10-15 million good reasons why refs may be induced to act against us and there are also the anti-Celtics that are woven into the fabric of this country.
Before the conspiract straw man is dusted down, it doesn’t take a group of refs and others with vested interests to meet in a room and plot our downfall, with a shady club owner standing in the background– waving a bundle of brown envelopes stuffed with £100 notes.
Plenty of our brethren out there would gladly do it for nothing and not take a penny.
And think they had done no wrong!
a classic piece of ungentlemanly conduct by hearts not returning the ball from the throw in after big sammi knocked out deliberately – says it all really
it was good to see them so motivated after all their early time wasting
In a stunning ‘volte face’ the Hearts players have resorted to a unique display of reverse psychology to secure their wages. A representative for players has approached the club offering a unique return for the money they are due when credited in their accounts. The players have announced that if the outstanding funds are repaid in full they will start trying hard against other as they presently do against Celtic. An insider who asked not be named has stated that players are willing to apply this level of effort all the way through to ‘Even Rangers.’ The level commitment usually reserved for playing against ‘They taigs’ is thought to include ‘Fouling, leaving the studs in and generally just trying harder.’
Buona Domenica tutti —–
A hard shift yesterday ——- missed chances and dreadful passing / ball retention . We won . 3 points – but —– nearly a disaster at the end. A mega important save from the goalie
Hearts were very cynical —–aided and abetted by yet another your having a laugh performance from the Officials.
Wanyama is a player . Only scoring 1 against dross like Hearts leaves us very vulnerable to a breakaway / to a lucky goal or a gift from the Man in Black . We need to turn dominance into goals
Samaras was bang to rights in doing what he did —–the Penalty Spot is there for a reason — Rules are Rules etc ——otherwise what is the point.?
Anyone interested in our next opponents —– Udinese – Chievo —Sky Calcio 2 -4pm GMT.
Some of that Udinese line up will face Celtic.
Very warm [ @ 22] very grey , warm wind from the Sahara . Downpour forecast -way down south.