Two early goals by Gary Hooper and Victor Wanyama were enough to overcome Dundee United at Celtic Park today but a cracking strike by John Rankin early in the second half ensured the table toppers had to fight all the way.
Anthony Stokes had an early opportunity to test Pernis in the United goal with a free kick, as is often the case with Anthony’s free kicks, he struck the defensive wall. United had the best chance of the opening exchanges after 7 minutes but Fraser Forster denied Garry Kenneth at his near post after a goalmouth scramble. The visitors kept the pressure on for the next few minutes but were to concede soon thereafter.
Thomas Rogne cleared his lines with a defensive header which Stokes won with an aerial challenge and reacted first to prod the ball forward to an alert Gary Hooper. Hooper made the most of the space available, opened his body and placed an immaculately measured shot inside the right post to put Celtic ahead.
Five minutes later Georgios Samaras earned hearty applause throughout the stadium for a robust challenge on Willo Flood before forcing Pernis to turn a shot behind. The resulting corner was played short to Izaguirre who through a deep and high cross into the box. Victor Wanyama was first to react and seemed to have jumped early but he somehow managed to hover a millisecond long enough to be level with the ball when he met it before propelling it high into the top left corner of the goal.
Shortly before half time Stokes had another opportunity from a free kick. John Rankin broke early from the wall, raised his arm and blocked inside the penalty box. Referee, Winter, penalised the player for breaking the wall and ordered a retake, not a penalty. Stokes had two opportunities to make the points safe within a minute of the break. He met a Mulgrew corner on the six yards line with a glancing header that went narrowly passed the far post. Pernis then denied an excellent Stokes strike with a fine save.
The Celtic defence had not lost a goal in eight domestic games before today and could do little about the goal that put United back in the contest. John Rankin struck from 26 yards, the ball clipped the inside of Fraser Forster’s right hand post and bounced in. Shortly before the hour mark John Daly had Dundee United’s best chance of the game but Forster was equal to his header.
Georgios Samaras had Celtic’s best two chances of the second half. The first a diving header from a Matthews cross which was saved by Pernis. The second a cross from Matthews which Samaras pulled down with his chest before shooting over.
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Seeing Black in the Hoops is moot…does ANYBODY really think that Lenny would consider signing him?
IwilleatmabunnetCSC
With the greatest respect to all the great financial whizzkids,lawmen and all who are predicting the Huns death,
When is it coming?
Hiv tae Run..
‘
Good Night Scotland
Good Night Ireland
Good Night Wales
Good Night England
Good Night Canada
Good Night New Zealand
Good Night Australia
and
Good Night ..Miss Reid.. wherever You Are.
Kojo
Happy as Larry.
lorbobo
I paid for 3 tickets at Ibrox last season (including cup game) is that charity :-)))
Tricoloured Ribbon says:
14 January, 2012 at 23:43
Are you the voice of the Celtic support now or did I miss something??
owen says:
14 January, 2012 at 20:33
cheers mucker. Your donation is much appreciated.
Hope you and the ladies are doing well. hopefully see you soon.
HH
Sanna
Sanna – did I see somewhere that TKF is having an end of season dinner/dance at the Kerrydale Suite?
What’s the details?
TTTT
Think i set a cat amongst the pigeons there,good night bhoys.HH
Good night from Western Australia !
The sun never sets on Timdom!
We are….
A Grand old team right enough,,,
alright sannabhoy ;)
HH
Tricoloured Ribbon-
To be honest mate, I’d be ecstatic if we never mentioned them again on the blog. Just brings down the tone to the gutter it fair does. I love all things Celtic to be bothered.
ZeroOldFirmAssociationsCSC
hamiltontim says:
14 January, 2012 at 23:51
Tickets for 3 buns games at ipox. That is charity, or very good luck.
Hamilton. If it was , you can claim
The tax back :)))
Muillach. Brighton not far from here , i am near hurstville.
Sdiego. Dont talk about bad things about our club
Jesus wept. So let’s forget about 3 in a row and how to improve things
Hamilton. If it was , you can claim
The tax back :)))
Muillach. Brighton not far from here , i am near hurstville. Why did you leave?
Sdiego. Dont talk about bad things about our club
Jesus wept. So let’s forget about 3 in a row and how to improve things
good night to all the good ghuys
totl and long may that continue
hh
Sydneytim-
You are becoming a parody of yourself mate. Your contributions are never/seldom focused on “improvement”, team building, or prosperity. They come across invariably as a diatribe of negativity, that challenges, criticizes and generally sparks dissent on the blog. Then again, what do I know, maybe that’s your intent all along?
Are our Australian friends over compensating ?
San Diego Bhoy says:
14 January, 2012 at 23:56
Don’t get me wrong I love this place but I got a text from my mate the other night. He isn’t registered on here and very rarely looks in, his words were, “Hail Hail mate you know I usually don’t don’t do the cybertim thing but they don’t half like talking about the huns on that CQN!!”
Bundoran bhoy , evening , hows tricks ?
TTTT , yes , we do.
The Kano Foundation End of season fundraising dance will be held in the Kerrydale Suite at Cetlic Park on sat 28th April. Tickets will be priced at £25 per head this will include a 3 course meal. Entertainment will be from Britiains no1 Michael Buble tribute act and a disco to finish off the night. We will be holding our usual raffle (prize donations welcome) and for the first time we have a fantastic auction prize. We hope to have a few special guests as well. Ticket details to follow but would be nice to see some CQN’rs out and about .
We don’t know what the game situation will be as it’s post split . If you’re interested , drop a line to sannabhoy@thekanofoundation.com.
HH
Sanna
There’s a hole in our huddle, dear sydney, dear sydney,
There’s a hole in our huddle, dear sydney, a hole…
st
Worked in hurstville, remember watching games in scruffy murphys-is it still there?
sannabhoy says:
15 January, 2012 at 00:06
Im good mate, need to catchup
HH
Bundoran Bhoy – KANO 1000 says:
15 January, 2012 at 00:09
absolutely
lorbobo says:
14 January, 2012 at 23:58
If you take tickets for all other away games you automatically get offered Ibrox. It’s a punishment of sorts :-)
15 SPL games to go
next up…
St Mirren (away)
Sat 21st at 1230hrs
_____________________
11 victories in a row
let’s make it 12 !
ST
At times you are worse than a Trolling Hun on the blog?
Imagine having a rep like that.
You must be so proud.
MWD
MWD
Now, now don’t you start upsetting the tangerine cart when things were just starting to calm down!!
Hamilton Tim-
Indeed so! I am a long time enthusiastic lurker mostly, but when all things on here turn hunnish I switch on Celtic TV.
Moonbeams
How are you ?
We looked like world beaters in the first half.
Victor is world class.
Bundoran Bhoy
Give me a shout for a next night out
hamiltontim
I’ve just been reading back. When did it start to calm down and I’ll pick up from there.
MWD
P.S. I hear the Oz govt are to rename The Gold Coast to The Really Dull Boring Coast. Just for ST to please ST.
.
With all this Should we Buy.. Should we Seel Talk..?
I was thinking Since Lenny came in is this the Best run of good Signings we have Ever had.. ie.. Players who have came good and have a Good sell on Price.. Seems to be a Few..
Sammi 14Million..
Summa
Hamilton Tim
Hope you are ok , looking forward to another chat and a few beers
That is the second home game I attended since I got back home. A couple of common features.
The two goals lost were both to first class strikes from distance, no blame being attached, both were well struck balls that would be beat most keepers.
The opposition, Killie and Dundee Utd, at times played some very neat football and never gave up trying. They were just that wee bit short of one top quality player and we had better quality throughout, whilst ourselves not having a top quality player at our higher level to ease concerns when the goals went in.
I came away having enjoyed both games.
Gordon64
I’ll take that result every game till the end of season. Would love to see the Bhoys cash in on the superiority though as well as possibly play 2 good halves. But this season. Scrappy heart in your mouth cack in your pants 1-0/2-1’s etc will do.
Nobody ever said it was meant to be easy.
MWD
FourGreenFields says:
15 January, 2012 at 00:21
Ok bro ;-)
HH
M.W.D.
I have had the pleasure of meeting S.T. at Celtic functions in Sydney.
He`s a dyed in the wool Tim.
I frequently disagree with his point of view,and he,like you, frequently disagrees with mine.
Hail Hail
I went to school with John Doyle – Our Lady’s High, Motherwell.
He was a year above me, and was playing with Ayr United at the time. He was the only pupil who drove his own car to school and on a couple of big European nights he drove me and a friend to Celtic Park. He was Celtic to the core, and a gem of a human being.
I got to know him because I played for Blantyre Celtic and he attended a couple of games and recognised me from school and approached me the next morning. After that he always asked how I was getting on with the football.
One of my classmates was being bullied by a couple of older guys and one day John asked me what it was about. I told him it was a silly argument over spilled milk, literally. He then went and spoke to the bullies. He didn’t get tough or anything. He just spoke to them. I don’t know what he said, but I saw him shake their hands and after that, the bullying stopped.
As I say, a gem of a human being.
Hail Hail.