A lack of cutting edge cost Celtic dearly as a Hearts smash and grab sent them into the Scottish Cup final after spending most of the game under the cosh. A controversial last minute penalty by Craig Beattie put Hearts through after an equally controversial equaliser from Celtic four minutes from time.
Celtic completely dominated the first half but had nothing up front to exploit their possession or territorial advantage. Hearts best opportunity of the game came within the opening seconds when Kelvin Wilson was carless with a back pass which was collected by Elliot but Fraser Forster came to the rescue.
Celtic then took over and bossed Hearts comprehensively but could not find a way to open the Hearts defence. Lustig headed over from Kris Commons free kick after the full back was fouled. Midway through the half Commons and Samaras combined to release Mulgrew who crossed from the win for Hooper who should have scored with his header from 8 yards but could not find the target.
Commons nipped onto a short back pass 10 minutes from half time but his touch to take the ball behind goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald was too heavy. Commons had Celtic’s first attempt on target five minutes from the break with a shot from 23 yards but MacDonald saved comfortably.
Ki had two incredible chances in the game, both unmarked back post headers at the end of each half. With 44 minutes gone he struck the upright from 4 yards when he should have scored, an outcome that would be repeated towards the end of the game.
Craig Beattie was introduced at half time and immediately changed the pattern of the game. Two minutes into the second half he played-in Rudi Skacel, benefitting from a ricochet off Kelvin Wilson. Skacel rounded Fraser Forster and shot high into the net.
The goal seemed to break Celtic’s spirit as Hearts created several chances in the opening 20 minutes of the second half. Skacel shot from 35 yards, forcing Forster into a good save. The same player then shot wide after a knock down from Beattie.
Andy Driver dispossessed Michael Lustig just after the hour but Glenn Loovens came to the rescue and conceded a corner. Craig Beattie then played a one-two with Driver before shooting narrowly wide.
Neil Lennon changed Celtic’s shape in an attempt to get back into the game, replacing Samaras with Anthony Stokes and Celtic were soon back in the ascendency. Hooper linked with Stokes on 66 minutes but the Irishman’s shot was deflected wide.
Stokes then headed over from a Ledley cross and had an attempt from 13 yards after Mulgrew cut back to him.
On 82 minutes Ki should have levelled after Kris Commons chipped a free kick towards the back post by the Korean midfielder headed against the post again.
Anthony Stokes should have equalised with five minutes remaining when he got onto the end of a Mulgrew header but he could not turn the ball goal-wards.
A minute later Dylan McGeogh fed Joe Ledley who moved the ball onto Charlie Mulgrew. Mulgrew crossed for Gary Hooper who headed home from 4 yards but the Celtic striker was in an offside position when the cross was played.
In the 90th minute referee Euan Norris awarded Hearts a penalty kick when the ball struck Joe Ledley’s arm when struck from less than 2 yards from him while he was trying to turn his back on the ball to block. Ledley’s arm was not at his side but it was not in an unnatural position either, nor was there even the remotest suggestion of a deliberate act. Beattie struck the penalty straight down the middle as Forster dived to his left.
The last few frantic moments of the game offered further opportunities for Celtic. A Ledley volley was saved before the ball struck Andy Webster inside the Hearts box but the referee wasn’t interested on this occasion.
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Since they were humiliated by the failure of their ‘strike’ the referees haven’t even attempted to hide their anti Celtic/anti Neil Lennon agenda.
It’s blatant and it’s persistent.
We can’t let it continue.
At the very least they should be made to declare their allegiances and prohibited from officiating in a match in which their preferred team is playing.
This Celtic team tends to produce LESS than the sum of its parts.
Just one other thing, the referees only ever come into play when we are playing poorly, that is why we don’t just have to be better than the rest of them, we have to be a lot better. I know this isn’t fair as even though we weren’t great we still should have won and were robbed today, but that’s the reality as we are hated by everyone
HH
At 1-0 I said to the wife that sometimes the goals just won’t go in, but I was enjoying the game. Then joy Hooper scores. Game on.
Then the feckin referee goes and spoils the game. An absolute feckin joke of a decision TOTALLY ruining the game IMO.
James Forrest at 16.05
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! There are countless shoulder to shoulder with you. The apologists might as well be against us as they continue to keep their heads down and be thankful that they are permitted to continue their gutless existence.
I’m just back, feel let down again.
The team has some fine players but too often they are stifled and undone by opponents who simply show nothing more than 100% grit. That’s all it takes to beat this hollow Celtic team. The answer is simple, some of this Hoops team are not giving as much as their opposite number.
Several of the players don’t have the passion to overcome Killie or Ross County who are inspired to grab their once in a decade chance.
The support was insipid today too, hundreds of tickets for sale outside. No doubt the absentees would have found their passion for the final.
Why did Norris give the Hearts penalty ? – Because he wanted Hearts to win and realised that they had nothing else to give in extra time.
Why did he not give Celtic the penalty ? – Same reason.
On the final, given the ecomonic climate, the inadequate M8 and strain on the Glasgow – Edinburgh train lines it makes sense to have the final in Edinburgh to give Edinburgh the final it deserves….
The Have the Scottish Cup Final at Meadowbank Stadium campaign starts here.
VinegarCSC
My Dear,Dear,Dear Friend…….
CultsBhoy(In Administration).
“Loovens confirming my suspicion that he worthy of Hoops”(sic).
“Skacel is Celtic class”.
Just when you finally had oor MWD@Warts convinced by your ‘credentials….you ‘blow’ it..
Mr Irvine will be most unimpressed….!
Yer Pal….Who still thinks yer a brammer
Laughin’…;-)
The referee made a major blunder…but we contributed to our downfall even more.
Taking the decision to play Kelvin Wilson who once again failed to impress had as much bearing as any other.
Samaras & Hooper do not make a good strike partnership. Brown central midfielder, not for me.
Start the search for reasons from within then we can look at others.
caeser1967 on 15 April, 2012 at 15:49 said:
For the love of ghod gonny stop bleatin about the refs. Team crap @ Ipox got what they deserved – blame the ref. Kille cup final team crap, got what they deserved , cue blame the ref. Today team absolute crap, cue blame the ref. Never subscribed to the Neil lennon cannae win a big game, but now its just to much of a co-incidence. Someone tell me why Izzy was not left back and charlie in the middle in place of the big liability Wilson? – Why Ki in midfield in front of Wanyama who provides excellent cover the dodgy defence.? Neil WTF?
**********************************************************************
Yep, despite the MIBery, that sums it up for me. Must do better.
HH Gerry
Aye, just sell every player we have and start again. Talk about babies and bathwater.
We have a young team that needs a couple of signings added to it. And we have Kayal, Forrest and our new centre half to add to the mix too. We are not the finished article by any means but we are on an upward curve, whatever happened today.
A treble would have been great. But let’s not forget that we achieved our main target for the year with games to spare.
Last minute – ball to hand in box, not deliberate – result = penalty.
First half – black (already booked) – hand to ball DELIBERATE – result = free kick no booking.
If we play by the rules….
No last minute winner and Celtic play against 10 men in second half.
Joe ledley @joe16led Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
This Sums it up, he thought it hit victors arm
mickbhoy..
a league title is worthless……pardon?
Instead of everyone moaning when are we going to do something about the referees ?
I don’t think we looked better than Hearts until the last 15mins. Forget possession. I think we might have been suckered between the first half – second half – roped in – then 2 forwards. And we failed to spark. Too many hurried, hot potato passes. Gaz looked off side. Referee is given the opportunity to make a decision he’ll relish…
And for me Kelvin Wilson gifted them the ball which brought them up the park for their first goal. Kelvin Wilson amongst many other things has a first touch similar to mine – only I’m not a professional footballer. Hasn’t merited any of the games he’s appeared in – yet has surfaced in a lot of crucial ones. Never Celtic class. Get rid.
We waited too long for changes too – there were things not clicking early on – Hooper deep, Sammi erratic, Lustig playing as a winger, a flawed midfield. I don’t think we changed our shape with subs today – because we didn’t have one – the mid and front line were all over the place.
Another learning day at Hampden. How many more?
U
For those of you who were at the game, or for those who watched it on BBC – Sky had ex Hearts man Neil McCann and ex Hearts man Billy Brown in the studio.
When Brown was asked if the Celtic pen claim after 94 minutes should have been given, he said words to the effect of “no, it was far too close to him for him to do anything about it, so it wasnt a pen”
2 minutes later, Brown was asked if the Hearts penalty should have been given to which his response was words to the effect of “the handball rule now is so confusing, is it a handball is it not a handball, remember the one in 2008 when Grainger held his arm out and it wasnt given…. in my opinion they should just simplify this rule which would make it a lot easier – if it hits your hand or your arm its a penalty, end of”
Nothing like a combination of impartiality of intelligence in your choice of football pundits is there!
Cannot believe its the refs fault again, we bottled it!! Like we have in the other big games. We’re only kidding ourselves with the blame the ref diversion.
williebhoy
blunder ..infers mistake …no mistake with that pen …deliberate cheating
*THE KING VIC 67* on 15 April, 2012 at 16:08 said:
Yep, still can’t believe some of our support not only believe the biased media but actually help pay their wages by buying the rags.
GoandsitatthebackofthebusbutbequietCSC
My take on the game from my rubbish seat in the South Stand (haven`t seen any TV footage of the major incidents yet)-
Various factors combined in the outcome today.
What Hearts did well – first half especially – was they pressed Charlie Mulgrew very early as soon as the ball was played to him, regardless of where on the pitch he was at the time. They correctly identified Charlie as a man who is integral to us right now, they stopped him and to a certain extent stopped us.
Our failings – Kelvin Wilson – bombscare back pass within 60 seconds. Weak header that failed to stop Hearts attack in the lead up to the goal. Appeared physically weak in various challenges throughout the 90 minutes. Wasted about 15 minutes of game time with pointless square balls to Loovens and vice versa.
Service to strikers poor for most of the game.
MIB Influence #1 – Ian Black is booked in the first half. 10 minutes later he blatantly and deliberately handled the ball on the touchline close to the halfway line. The referee correctly called the foul against him but declined to take further action despite deliberate hand ball being a yellow card offence.Black should have been sent off at that point with over 45 minutes still to play.
MIB Influence #2 = Hearts penalty kick. I did not see any Hearts players shout for it, couldn`t say for sure that their fans were claiming for it either.
Carbon copy of the nonsense penalty they got at Celtic Park in December.
It says it all that BBC Text said the penalty had been given against Joe Ledley while Rob McLean`s commentary which was being replayed on my car radio on the way home said that the penalty had been given against Wanyama.Such a clear penalty that the BBC didn`t even know who it had been given against – never a penalty in 100 years.
MIB Influence #3 – Ball hits Hearts player in his own box in the last minute of injury time, looked like hands to me, but the referee doesn`t want to know.
There were no claims for offside at Hooper`s goal from the Hearts players and I certainly never considered it to be offside at the time although I understand from Paul67`s report that tv coverage shows that it was.
That isn`t the referee`s call to make – its up to the linesman. However, I am suspicious of these earpieces that link the ref to the 4th official and I wonder if its at all possible that the 4th official sees the footage of the goal on the tv a minute or so after the goal is given and says to the ref – “oops that shouldn`t have been a goal.” If such a thing had happened, surely this would make the referee more inclined to favour Hearts in a contentious game-changing decision?
Philboy – why do you bother?
Estadio Nacional on 15 April, 2012 at 16:12
I usually enjoy and take great interest in your posts, however your comment today “Lawell must go”, is surely unjustified…
I think it was yourself or TBB that wrote a couple of weeks ago “Write a letter out of frustration and anger… put it in a drawer… open it 24hrs later and BIN IT”
It is usually not what you are trying to deliver.
Just remember… we hit the woodwork twice from a couple of yards, had a penalty denied, had a penalty awarded against us which was evidently wrong, Hearts should have had a player ordered off from deliberate handball and we dominated possesion for long periods
HH
On the balance of play today the game should have gone to extra time that would have been fair.
I believe Celtic would have won in extra time as the minis were starting to look gubbed.
Norris had an other idea though and that is one of the softest penalties given against us I have ever seen.
Our aim was to win the league and get back to the Champions league this has been done.
The team will get better and the consistency needed to develop that winning mentality will come as the group of players grow together.
We’ve got plenty of time next season to win doubles and trebles, the league is won and for me that is the big bonus this year.
That’s doesn’t stop me from being heartsick at how we lost today and the sight of that fat hun beattie with his shirt off was the last straw and how interesting it would have been to see the referee’s decision had that been Anthony Stokes!!
FTSFA…
Mickbhoy 1888
You didn’t join the celebrations last week because you’re clearly a hun – and a brainless soup taker.
brummiebhoy on 15 April, 2012 at 16:22 said:
Cannot believe its the refs fault again, we bottled it!! Like we have in the other big games. We’re only kidding ourselves with the blame the ref diversion.
==========================
So did you think Hearts deserved the penalty ?
Eyes Wide Open on 15 April, 2012 at 16:21 said:
To be fair to Brown that’s not inconsistant.
He said the Hearts penalty shouldn’t have been awarded, which is correct.
Regarding our claim he said it would be easier if the rule was changed so it is in effect strict liability. Ball touches hand = penalty.
He’s wrong though, all that would happen if the rule was changed the way he suggests then is that players would aim the ball at an opponents arm to get a penalty.
Sixteen roads to Golgotha on 15 April, 2012 at 16:12 said:
29TH APRIL 2012 – As soon as the hun game is over – Skysports is gone,and their pishy movie channel is being cancelled as well.
That squirrel-like creature Tanner & the tripe talking McCann were actually sitting in that studio laughing.
WTF do they take us for?
================================
I think I’ll be doing the same. I posted about it this morning.
The panel lost any semblance of neutrality or professionalism at the end.
McCann to me has always been a reasonable guy in the commentary box. Yes, he turned his back on Celtic for more cash, but he really doesn’t bother me. But I must admit to being a little annoyed at his performance today. (there are also one or two players who i am less than impressed with as well but I’ll leave that for now)
Sky brought in some of the Scottish media ‘establishment’ to cover scottish games. What else do we expect. Setanta (an Irish company FFS) were the same. ESPN are just plain poor.
I thought we approached the game too casually & only seemed to realise late on we were playing in a big game. A bit like the LC final.
Lennon left the ineffective sammy on too long & how ki played 90 mins I’ll never know. Big Wilson continues to frighten me wearing the hoops. Unfortunately brown was half fit & we miss Forrest.
A bit of urgency about or play when wanyama & mcgeouch came on. Could have done with a fit kayal on the park today.
We had more than enough chances to win, just didn’t do it again. Gutted.
Put Sky Sports on when I got back home to see how bad it was.I am now racking my brain to remember a worse penalty award.It’s an absolute disgrace!!!!
THE KING VIC 67* 16:24
Was a just a wee joke to lighten a heavy post.
Agree with your points on the game but we should have made more of the game than hitting the woodwork and blaming the referee, yes the referee cheated but the team were poor today and the management also.
EN
So the penalty might have been given against Joe Ledley or maybe Victor Wanyama?
Aye, you can see how the ref would confuse the two of them, can’t you?
Like FF on here. Always the same after a defeat.
One Neil Lennon
As I said on the previous thread,the MAJOR talking point is the mib.
Scotland saw it .
Britain saw it.
Europe saw it.
But the huns KNEW it.
Snake 16:05
Superb post
Entirely agree
Hooper’s “offisde” goal – another example of if they say something often enough we’ll believe it. Not one Hearts player claimed for it
Ghuys
done by the ref again, quelle suprise! Seems to me that we want to walk the ball into the net and our lack of shooting from midfield allows teams to funnell back and hit on rhe break.
Still Scottish league must be one of the few where the ref decisions do not follow the money!
Neil needs to keep on rhe front foot with the refs and I would expect a formal complaint to the SFA from the club at the season ….. still we have the Green pound and we should exercise it prudently by campaigning for a move out of Scotland, the Board need to state clearly that our tolerance levels have been breached yet again… and we are off!
Sunnyincorraleljocfc