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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twists n turns says:
15 January, 2012 at 08:24
I then spotted a Celtic scarf sticking out my brothers jacket pocket!!!! The penny dropped. They were off to hampden. I decided if I cried for long enough he would relent and take me too, but alas, I was given the old ” you are too wee for this one, there’ll be over 100,000 there tonight”. I cried right up to the point the car pulled away, thinking he would turn around, but the tactic failed miserably.
——————————————————
Mhan up,yir geein yirself a right showin up :O)
taggsybhoy,
Made a few suggestions on your Facebook post
MWD
Agreed my circles tend to be more Catholic than catholic :-)))
taggsybhoy says:
15 January, 2012 at 11:09
a superb idea
the guys who organise corporate events at the Jury’s in Jamaica Street are helpful and might be inclined to give a conference room in exchange for bar/snacks income – there is a nice wee lounge on the first floor that they might cordon off for you
I have some signed stuff (sports gear signed by non-sports celeb and some booze) to donate as raffle or prizes – you can get my email details off one of the admin guys
Good luck and HH
M
HT
Keep The Faith mate,
we know it makes sense!
:)))
HH
Not had time to read back so apologies if these musings have already been covered.
I just wondered what the club would do if they thought they could turn a profit selling Hoops and replacing him with Rhodes?
I realise that a small net gain would likely be resisted but the greater the potential fiscal advantage the greater the temptation.
If we did replace Hoops with Rhodes would we be improving our squad, swapping like for like or decreasing quality?
Have to say Gary did his valuation no harm yesterday, great, hard-working performance…
bankiebhoy1
It’s about the only thing that makes sense these days :-)
HT
True. And just how valuable is that!
HH
WWC- call me ole fashioned but I’m agin getting rid of players for ‘profit’ just when they look like they might be able to do the bizz.
What has hampered the team for years has been the complete lack of any kind of team building; we have had players coming in and going out at a prodigious rate.
A club like Celtic should not be losing its best goalscorer to Southampton.
Good Morning from a cold but dry El Peurto de Glasgow.
Woke up yesterday before the game to find that 17 cars in mine and the adjacent street had their tyres slashed. Thankfully they ‘missed’ my two, but felt terrible for my fellow neighbours. A few cars had two tyres slashed so could’nt get to the garage. I live at the end at the cul-de-sac, and last night not surprisingly most of the cars in the street have parked here. I think I wold have seriously done some damage to the thugs if I caught them.
Back to the game.
Thought we did ok in the first half, 2-nil up but not at our best, must have held the ball for about a four minuite peroid in that first half. Thought Brown played ok but out of position and has not got the bottle to be more direct and have a pop at goal, how many times did he cut in and run along the 18 yard line? Got to close down anyone running in a shooting position, lost one similar a fee weeks back. Allthough I can see the fans panic, do you not think the players have handled the latter of any close matches well?
Good to see Commons back, we need him, and would also welcome Robson back (Twas he and Hartly that powered up to our last success).
And get that wee Russell signed, he’s going to be a cracker, better than neighlegs and what TET would say ‘Hun free’ behavior.
Hail Hail
taggsybhoy says:
15 January, 2012 at 11:09
that thing is my bag get my number from Paul or Kevin.
I have 2 or 3 great uptions
2011-12 – at 23 games played, 56 points, 46 goals for, 16 against.
2010-11 – at 23 games played, 55 points, 50 goals for, 14 against.
Thomas Carlyle said “The history of the world is but the biography of great men” and argued that heroes make history through vision, intellect, the beauty of their practised art and the prowess of their leadership.
As clear a description of the work of Neil Lennon as you could wish to read, except that Carlyle missed out one very important quality: the ability to rack up league points. Well done Neil. Keep it up.
Hamiltontim
No problems mate!
I always have a wee look before the wee one goes on!
I’ve been “deleted” before myself so i need to make sure it’s not my bad language she is reading!
Take care!
Lennon n Mc….Mjallby says:
15 January, 2012 at 11:02
Cheers mate
I think that’s the same sports bar someone had mentioned to me
We’re staying in the Amsterdam Marriott we were told it was near there.
Canny wait should be an interesting weekend
Been away all morning since I contributed. Thanks for the reactions, lhads. Personally, I’ve always fancied Stan Petrov as our captain. He would be, imo, a real asset now.
Hamiltontim
Aye. Them catholic’s will never meet the high standards as them Catholic’s. Especially so on a Sunday.
MWD :-)
Just saw the penalty incident in the WBA v Norwich game. Very similar to the McCulloch Kayal incident recently. In the Sky tsudio they think the Norwich player should have had a red card.
Going back to the Kayal incident. Celtic should make sure that thugs like McCulloch serve their suspensions when they should and aren’t given the chance to injure players in games they shouldn’t play in.
I see from the Huns game yesterday that “operation the Huns must survive” is still alive.
I heard that O’Connor or Sandancer won’t sign till the Huns sell first.
Iposted on here a year or so ago that Celtic needed to bring in about half a dozen £6 million players and supplement them with youth as the way forward. I thought we would have to pay £6million for each of these players but I think that Lenny and Peter Lawell should be congratulated for acquiring them already for much less money. Hooper, Wanyama, Kayal, Ki, Forrest, Matthews all fit the bill. The only adjustment to my master plan is that instead of supplementing the team with youth, these players are so young that we need to supplement them with some more experienced players.
Someone gave a shout for barry Robson earlier. I agree 100%. This is the type of player we need in the ranks. He doesn’t have to play every game or even for 90 minutes. He just needs to be around and used when the going gets tough. His presence and advice would be invaluable for talented young players to learn from. It would also be good to have a couple of others as well in the same category.
MWD
Indeed, I liked what you did there.
Right I’m away to Mass to pray for the c/Catholics :-))
The Battered Bunnet – 1005.
Said the same things almost word for word to the ‘ol man after the game.
Some say he caused the Tower of Pisa to lean just by resting against it
and that he can drive a golf ball 520 yards…… with his putter.
All we know is he’s Victor Wanyama
The last book ole Adolf Hitler read was Thomas Carlyle’s biography of Frederick the Great.
While I’m naturally reluctant to abuse one of ole D and Gs numerous giants of philosophy I think TC was probably bonkers, and not in a good way.
kitalba
My sources say you’ll never get a source.
Gordon_J, got it Gordon thanks and thanks too Saltires en Sevillas, you’re a gent
Kittoch
You forgot to mention the 520 yards was one handed without a backswing.
I know little or nothing about the game, or the respective merits of particular players, but team dynamics requires a well organised set of individuals who are comfortable and capable in their respective roles who enjoy what they are doing sufficiently to gel into one unified unit focused on a clear goal.
If we buy one player of unmistakable quality, I’ll be happy with that.
Let’s not start chopping and changing for the sake of it, or because the headless chickens around us are doing so. Let’s instead focus on what we need to do.
The Goal is winning the league, and stepping over the moribund remains of the rotten mob.
Win the League Celtic.
HH
kittoch:
Then Santa is charlatán fanfarrón (sic).
I’ve given up on GCT explaining himself from earlier, I think he has lost the plot; either that or he is infatuated with his own importance (again sic). I’m going to bed. Happy Sunday to those who are living it.
Well I know that what I am going to say will not gain universal agreement,but that’s life.
We need a goalkeeper now.The goal yesterday and against Kilmarnock,could have caused us dearly.Forster is far to slow getting down to shots,2goals lost from 25/30 yards ,on the ground proves my point.He is going to cause us big time,IMHO.Slan
fanadpatriot:
mate FF isyoungand not yet the best but who – in your opinion – is the best keeper in the SPL?
I’d like this guy Arevalo Rios
and this guy Baba Diawarra
in our team.
fanadpatriot says:
15 January, 2012 at 11:58
See my post earlier about those two particular goals. Rather than blaming the goalie entirely for these goals, I think part of the problem is that in both games the team switched off in the second half and left a huge gap in front of our penalty area which opposition players were given the opportunity to run into without challenge and fire off shots. As I said earlier it was very obvious that Dundee United put in a lengthy session practising shooting from just outside the box in the pre match warm up yesterday. I think our opponents are on to this defensive weakness and we now need to counteract it. The goalie needs to work on it too.
001:
Just as I was heading to bed I had a wee thought… had the Hooper not been wrongly given offside against them he would most likely be sitting on seventeen.
Kit alba 12.01
Whoever I or you consider the best may differ,I don’t think there is a goalkeeper in the SPL
Good enough for Celtic.IMHO.
Further to my last post I would also say that the loss of Beram Kayal might make us more prone to losing these type of goals. I really think we need to get someone in as cover :-)
fanadpatriot:
mate with respect that is not what I asked you, I asked, in your opinion, which keeper who plays in the SPL is the best?
Neil Lennon Abbot of Clonmacnois
Incredible statistic when you consider how things stood at half-time against Kilmarnock.
I think we look a stronger, more solid outfit right now, but you only have to look at Rangers game yesterday to realise that, no matter how bad they are and how lacking in quality, there’s still a huge gulf separating Rangers from the 10 teams below them, meaning they have a 4 in 5 chance of winning most games.
Winning the league, in my opinion, will boil down to the mentality of the players.
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 says:
15 January, 2012 at 10:56
Someone posted a link to an raffle on Kerrydale street in aid of the Vanesa appeal. To bid you need to join the forum, I have completed the required information to obtain a login but have had no response. Does anyone know how long this normally takes as I really would like to purchase a raffle ticket?
Hail Hail
TheOriginalSadiesBhoy 12 05
I agree the defence needs to tighten up,to stop these shots coming in,but I also think,like you,that teams have spotted a big weakness in FF game.Slan.