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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Kit..
Ha Ha..
Just logged back on.. BBQ was Great this We Village is Awesome Coming back again Midweek Your Right what a. Part of the Globe..
Re; Hooper.. If it wasn’t for Sammi and Stokes Hooper would have Scored about 3.. 60-70% of our Assists come from they Two Dumplings.. Ha..
Summa
had a swatch at The Herald today
two matters of note
1 An accurate summation of the game yesterday….not often noted …they ran the line that CFC were well worth their victory and that DU rarely threatened …my take on the game as well…..many on here last night were suggesting we were under real pressure and were effectively hanging on at the end …utter nonsense DU didn`t create a chance after the 55th min …had only two chances in the second have , one of which was a collectors item pile driver …we had more chances than them in the second half and absolutely stuffed them in the first
2.An intersting admission by Sally that CW decides who will be sold …could you imagine the furore if a CFC manager made that decision e
KITALBA 0913
Cojones,buddy.
Done the same myself,but I don’t have a wife and kids,so it was a lot easier for me.
Kitalba12.09
I think they are all equally BAD.or to maybe please you all equally good.IMHO.Slan
I hate Lee McCulloch!
fanadpatriot:
whatever but mate remember one thing… you never (couldn’t) answer a simple question when it was only your opinion that was being asked. Who was it that opined FF is slow to get down? Not that I disagree with them.
Early in the game yesterday United had a free kick on our left and the ball was transferred all the way over to our right. Brown and Matthews had tucked in and United were able to force the first of three corners in a row. Slack marking by the defence!
Not just Fraser Forster showing weakness.
Video of every goal in the SPL yesterday…….
http://www.kirkintillochemerald.co.uk/showthread.php?p=25770#post25770
taggsybhoy
to save you calling me
Bacchus The Basement Bar
ask for Ross the owner I’ll get him to waive any charges.
Griffinette
ask for Bobbsi the owner and say you want to take the griffinette ( best option)
anything else let me know
Kitalba
What do you not understand about,IMHO all goalkeepers are equally as BAD as each other.Does that not constitute an opinion.Slan
fanadpatriot:
So are they all slow to get down?
Big FF also had a great point blank save in the 2nd half, the DU player was offside but still a good stop by the big man.
The shot by Rankin was inch perfect, in off the inside post. The Killie goal was similar, a great shot buried low. You cannot legislate for goals like that.
FF’s stature and confidence is growing game by game, becoming a very important player for us.
DBBIA at 11.49
:-)
Up_over_goal at 12.10
Agreed.
DBBIA 1149
TC,
I’m presuming the window close on the 31st Jan,that gives Celtic a fortnight on Tuesday to sign players. Will we leave it till the last week? and do we have to sell before we sign?
Goldstar10- had a perfect view of the DU goal, the ball swerved and moved like a yo-yo; Billy the FIsh would have done well to keep it out.
DBBIA 1149
TC,as I recall,was a Fecker…..
Kitalba
Before I go out,I answered your question re.,SPL goalkeepers.Who do you think is the best ?
Goldstar10
Big FF has always been a very important player for us.
I predict Ki to be the next scapegoat.
MWD
Sometimes you just need to give credit to the goalscorer. Not every goal ever scored is the result of a defensive mistake.
whitedoghunch says:
15 January, 2012 at 11:38
Passed your number to taggsybhoy.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
I have not been in the FF fan club, and I think Celtic should be looking at Craig Gordon, but the big man has definitely improved this season. I imagine if you asked any Man U fans to choose between Fraser and De Gea (who cost around 18 million didgeredoos) they would go for our man.It’s a question of him now really “getting” what Celtic means to the fans and the players. The Hearts keeper (is it Gello?) would be the only SPL keeper, apart from McGregor, to come close to FF.
OK, so very small but genuine inside info…
Gary Hooper is Nigel Adkins’ number one transfer target, top of the list, he’s told his Chairman, no question. I know this through a family member of mine down south who came up to visit this weekend who is friendly with his family.
Adkins was his manager at Scunthorpe, he knows all about him. He is not in the market for a striker, he is in the market for Gary Hooper. If he doesn’t get Hooper in this window he is not going to spend the same money on someone else, he will wait until the summer and be back in. So imo we should not sell now and wait until Southampton have a Premiership budget to come back with. If they don’t go up then Hooper may well prefer a season in the Champions League, be another year older and better and everything points to holding onto Gary.
Makes sense tae me.
DBBIA- No doubt the ole Rankin squiggler goal at Easter Rd will get an airing or two on Sporscene tonight.
MWD- He is indeed, but the big man is impressing me more and more each week, his general presence, shop stopping and ball distribution have improved massively. Unfortunately I have to agree with you regarding Ki, the “customers” among our support demand a whipping boy.
whitedoghunch says:
15 January, 2012 at 12:23
Apologies mate, posted before I read your latest post.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
I wouldnt blame Fraser Foster for the loss of the goal every goal keeper requires protection and he didnt get any protection the fact of the matter is like the previous goals we have lost we switched off.This is something Neil needs to work on with the team and if players are getting tired they need to be substituted either that or there fitness improved.H.H.
re the criticism of Fraser Forster yesterday……….nit-picking at best.
Rankin battererd it, it moved and hit the post too. He also hit it early.
Watch it on the video bigjie kindly supplied.
Sometimes I think some like to moan…….do you sit in the curve at the Celtic-end/North stand by any chance ?
For goodness sakes the big goalie saved our bacon again yesterday.
Ps teams are going to score against us.
Clearly the BBC website has a rule which states
“Stories involving Celtic MUST NOT appear ABOVE stories about rANGERs”
I’ve tried in vain in the past to get clarity from BBC online about their editorial policy.
I suspect that BBC Sports Scotland have the autonomy to submit a couple of items into the UK wide football page.
If anyone on CQN has any inside info. on this – I’d love to hear it.
Hail Hail
Clearly the BBC website has a rule which states
“Stories involving Celtic MUST NOT appear ABOVE stories about rANGERs”
I’ve tried in vain in the past to get clarity from BBC online about their editorial policy.
I suspect that BBC Sports Scotland have the autonomy to submit a couple of items into the UK wide football page.
If anyone on CQN has any inside info. on this – I’d love to hear it.
Hail Hail
Goldstar10 – the #9 Enigma had a good game out wide, before he was switched to his least effective position ie centre forward.
He had a couple of ‘moments’ after this and the Customers were itching to get on his back again.
They should claim themselves as the best Customers In the World.
I seem to remember Tommy Callaghan enduring a fair bit of the Samaras treatment from some fans, so it is not a recent thing
Joe Filippis Haircut says:
15 January, 2012 at 12:40
Nobody switched off Joe, the ball broke reasonably kindly, Rankin battered it early…oh just watch the goal……..
We are looking for a an experienced striker thats what Lennie said well what about an experienced ex-English International a man who has played for many of the best clubs in Europe and used to score goals for fun.C
DBBIA- The healing of the weals on Sammy’s back has been going along nicely, won’t take much to open them up again, a few swishes of the cat-o-9-tails and abrasion with seasalt will ensure his- and the team’s- form will start to dip alarmingly.
I expect it’s already featured on here but the Japanese film of hoopslegend S.Nakamura versus the bus is brilliant, well worth seeing.
Sorry pressed the wrong button Scored goals for fun and is currently a bench warmer at his clubs and has a passing interest in the hoops.Who am I talking about ? Michael Owen I believe he would score goals for fun in the SPL and we might be able to get him on loan.I am certain Hooper and Stokes could learn a lot off Owen so it would be a win win situation.H.H.
Gallagher at 12.01
That is a highly impressive montage of Baba Diawarra you posted.
I sometimes cannot believe how good a young team Neil Lennon has assembed in a very short space of time. We are bursting at the seams with potentially world class youngsters. Now, if we got this guy Baba, and I realise it is still a big if, I would really start to get excited.
Someone noted recently that James Forrest delivered 17 crosses against Rangers on the 28th Dec with 7 coming in from the oposite flank. From you’re 15 minute clip we can surely surmise that Big Baba woud have stuck the nut on a fair few?
Keep them all Celtic, add one or two and see where Lenny’s Lions are in two or three years. I for one think it will be the latter stages of the CL. And then if we need to sell and break it up (a la PSV four or five years ago when they reached the CL semi’s) then that’s fair enough, there will be no arguments from me.
Cheers for the video Gallagher
TJ
Andrey Arshavin?????????