Dunfermline looked out of their depth in this SPL encounter for most of the game but a combination of sloppy finishing, last-ditch defending and Celtic’s still-unresolved problem from the penalty spot meant the game finished on a knife-edge.
Gary Hooper intercepted a cross-field pass from Dunfermline’s Paul Willis after 6 minutes, took a great first touch and fired a bullet shot into the bottom left corner of the goal to put Celtic ahead. After 19 minutes more slack play from Dunfermline allowed Celtic to break with fluency. Kris Commons, Anthony Stokes and Hooper combined to setup James Forrest to put Celtic in what looked like easy street.
Stokes almost finished from a tight angle after Forrest flashed the ball across the face of the goal, while Forrest failed to hit the target with a couple of shots from inside the box.
Commons, restored to the starting line-up, was clearly enjoying his free role, drifting from left to centre-midfield and twice found Anthony Stokes with outrageously precise 40-yard passes. Celtic’s effectiveness suffered when Commons, who must surely have been injured, failed to appear after half time.
Celtic, perhaps having things too easy, dropped off the pace without the prodding of Commons and, with Dunfermline offering no apparent threat, looked like getting away with a 4-4-2 formation, with two traditional wingers. Dunfermline had not read the script, however.
Andy Barrowman thundered a shot from the angle of the box into Fraser Forster’s bottom right corner with five minutes remaining – plus an eventual four minutes added time. Any match report should record that Dunfermline never got close to adding a second goal in the remaining nine minutes, but this was also a period when Celtic lost all composure. Fraser Forster was booked for timewasting and Adam Matthews will never take as long over three throw-ins all season. The final whistle was greeted with enormous relief by the home support.
343 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- »
Vogue it would have been 2 of them that got thrown out, they were egging each other on to wave their flag at us spent the game chanting and looking at the Celtic crowd rather than watch the game.
voguepunter says:
24 November, 2011 at 10:03
Going into the game last night past the away entrance,six wee A-hole dumf fann a ‘s
Waving a butchers apron and singing ‘ why don’t you go home’
Police chased after them “yir goin the wrang way , go in that turnstile boys”
Compare and contrast with the Green Brigade.
Off topic.
Looking for some help from the music buffs on the blog.
I’m looking for some kind of Hard Drive based sound system. Something I can copy all my CD’s to and get rid of the hard copies. I’ve seen one called the Sony Giga Juke – but wondered if there were any other suggestions out there.
Vogue someone posted last night that a group of them were charging the Celtic fans next to them,,, only one arrest I think, compare and contrast.
V
We got the three points last night, that’s the most important thing. A similar performance against St Mirren on Saturday, allied to a bit sharper finishing, will give us another win. The pressure is building!
Is there a league for worst penalty conversion percentage? If so, we must be at the top.
awe naw
fae the celtic website
Celtic delighted to sign Mikael Lustig
By: Newsroom Staff on 23 Nov, 2011 13:54
CELTIC are delighted today to announce the signing of Mikael Lustig from Rosenborg on a pre-contract agreement. The agreement means that Mikael will join Celtic on January 1, 2012, on a three-and-a-half year contract.
sheik
Thanks
Hail Hail
Henriks Sombrero: 24 November, 2011 at 10:14
I just do it through itunes.
gordon j
bet were the worst in europe for missed pens
Kris Commons is the oil in the engine, what a difference he makes. I heard Neil saying he was subbed as he’d a groin strain and hopefully it was just precautionary.
Wee Forrest was totally unplayable for 60 minutes too, every bit as much as Sammy is at his best, but even more effective.
I’m sorry to say it but I was very disappointed with Neil’s inability to bite his tongue and walk up the tunnel. The truth is after the penalty miss we had Stokes through on goal and hit the post with a chip when he should have put his laces through it and that was that from Celtic. Yes, of course we should have been 4 up but we weren’t. It was a nervous time, it means so much to most supporters that frustrations show, we put energy, lots of money and endless emotion into supporting Celtic. If that shows in a negative way that’s unfortunate, but Neil’s reaction was inappropriate. Protecting his players? How about refusing to give exclusives to the Sun or the Record Neil, the folk who really have our Club under attack, rather than taking it out on our own supporters.
It wasn’t a desperate last 9 minutes, we were poor from the 65th. Ki decided he’d had enough and became the invisible man, again, leaving Kayal who had been superb chasing shadows as a one man midfield. Forrest does what he often does after the hour mark (and what a fantastic hour he had) and bowed to the tiredness, absolutely no chasing or running off the ball.
My complaint is that we use our subs badly. Commons was forced off but time and time again at Celtic Park Ki and Forrest are no use to us after the hour mark. We lose momentum and see it out on the back foot. Unable to threaten Hibs, unable to threaten St Johnstone, scraping a result against Dunfermline.
This sounds like a ranting complaint now, it’s not supposed to be, but we need to continue to see the signs and learn from them. Lessons from last night – Ki does not have 90 minutes in him or the stamina and drive for a league winning midfield. He’s a smashing player but coming on for the last 30 minutes must be a serious consideration as his most effective roll, or at best for him getting the first hour. Kayal, Wanyama and Ledley are all better options as mainstays.
Forrest is sensational at times, scoring and creating. He also needs some protection and so too do our defenders. Give the boy the chance at a standing ovation on the hour mark.
Paddy’s roles are in the hole behind a lone striker or in a 5 man midfield or coming on when we’re under pressure, fabulous player. Wide of a midfield 4, nope. Not far enough up the park to be his most effective.
Again centre back injuries may have forced the selection and Victor at the back, but El Kaddouri at left back back and Joe in the middle was an option when Ki put the slippers and his jammies on in front of 45,000 people and Neil didn’t notice.
St Mirren are in a much better shape than Dunfermline and they have McLean as the ref, Saturday will be a tougher proposition, let’s put it away in the first half hour Celts.
Ooh Aah Sshhhhhhhhhh!
Henriks Sombreo @10 14.
I much prefer vinyl— but-
I have a gifted Brennan JB7.
It does its job . It does what it says on the tin –
http://www.brennan. co uk
http://i44.tinypic.com/f2pkc7.gif
goal of the season
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon 24 November, 2011 at 10:19:
Their keeper should have been booked last night at the penalty. Ki was ready to take the penalty, the goalkeeper then stood in the corner of the net wiping his hands for what must have seemed ages to the penalty taker, Ki respotted the ball and then missed.
When a player respots the ball his chances of scoring a penalty go right down for some reason.
Paddy Gallagher says:
24 November, 2011 at 09:44
On 28th October the huns delivered an alteration to their floating charge over the assets to Companies House and granted a security to Close Brothers in return for a cash advance. It was last ditch stuff as they had indeed run out of money. No one knows what finance they got from Close Brothers but many assume it would have been enough to get them to January so I wouldn’t be looking for a significant date before then. They will then sell Jelavic to Man City £54m and everything will be fine.
What I would be concerned about is giving their ticket office 10,000 tickets for the away end at Celtic Park at £42 each for a match on the 28th of December and not have it arrested by a creditor before Celtic get it. Seriously.
Sion Quick News —
Italian fitba media are reporting that contrary to several previous statements—-
Sion will be attending today’s session of The Court for Arbitration in Sport .
Seen as being a bit of a surprise and has led to speculation that Sion [ and whoever else ] are more than happy at having reduced UEFA to pleading for special protection from the potentially relevant European Courts and have chosen to let the matter rest [ for the moment !].
Who knows ? -We’ll see !
The Honest Mistake (Sickened)
What has happened to all the fans who packed the stadium in past seasons???? Its nothing to do with time of year or time of kick off!! Its about people who have now lost interest in OUR club!! But i guarentee you one thing……once the trophies return they will all be back being happy clappers!!
whos the ref for the killie huns game
anywan know
Enjoyed the first 70 minutes of the game as much as I have for a long time yesterday. But whether it was tiredness or over confidence we were decidedly slack and the crowd was right to be restless. Their goal had been coming and there is no point in denying there is work to be done.
Lenny should chose his words carefully. He is correct re the bulk of the performace and it is a shame that any gloss is taken away from it but to give the tabs the opportunity to run with Lennon attack fans headlines is naive. Ot maybe the fits 2/3 of the interview was excellent and the last part he was sloppy.
re the Huns what I do not understadn is that while they gleefully believe that they wil only get a 10 point penalty and keep their players they have not got to the point that whatever happens after they will be a new company. Their season tickets will be therefore invalid and they will have to buy more tickets.
skottybhoy1888 says:
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Hun alert !
BlantyreKev 24 November, 2011 at 10:28
What I would be concerned about is giving their ticket office 10,000 tickets for the away end at Celtic Park at £42 each for a match on the 28th of December and not have it arrested by a creditor before Celtic get it. Seriously.
Gives Celtic a chance to petition for the winding up of rangers. Now wouldn’t that be a Christmas present?
Re penalties,I noticed that like wee kris’s miss against St Johnstone ,Ki took a small run up and tried what I would call ‘clever’penalty trying to send keeper the wrong way without a lot of pace or strength on the ball,which from two of our best strikers of a ball is strange,why dont the two of them just put their foot through the ball into the corners after a better and longer run up?.they are both more than capable of this..on the way home heard Lenny on shortbread remarking that Matt Le Tissier might need bringing out of retirement!
[get him up for some coaching?]
God forbid something like this will haunt us later[missed penalty].still good three points..but another twitchy finish..HH..bring on the saints!
ps nice to see some very “bizarre refereeing decisions” or as the transparent SFa prefer to call them “honest mistakes” from another follower of Dallas.
BlantyreKev says:
24 November, 2011 at 10:28
Thanks for the reply.
re: What I would be concerned about is giving their ticket office 10,000 tickets for the away end at Celtic Park at £42 each for a match on the 28th of December and not have it arrested by a creditor before Celtic get it. Seriously.
*********************
Forever the optimist, maybe in these circumstances we could sue them and push them over the edge. :-)
skottybhoy1888 24 November, 2011 at 10:30:
I can tell you without a doubt that it has everything to do with time of year. I personally know a number of the supporters that you are trying to slag off.
Some stats for those who feel that we somehow should/must/always score a millionty goals just because we have upwards of 65% possession in games:
Possession: 75%-25%
Shots on goal: 13-10
Score: 2-2
Possession: 62%-38%
Shots on goal: 10-9
Score: 2-2
Possession: 76%-24%
Shots on goal: 14-4
Score: 1-0
Possession: 74%-26%
Shots on goal: 21-6
Score: 0-0
Possession: 74%-26%
Shots on goal: 17-2
Score: 1-0
Possession: 63% – 37%
Shots on goal: 16-4
Score: 2-2
From what I gather, really good teams with the bulk of possession apparently score a barrowload of goals. Well people, the stats above are Barcelona’s games in La Liga where they have either dropped points or won by only a single goal (like we did last night).
Our oft-maligned strikers apparently seem to miss too many chances, hooking shots wide etc. Well, here’s another stat: of the 91 shots in those 6 games, only 39 were on target. Mind you Barca’s strikers are pretty mince, it’s not like they have a Messi or Villa in their side.
Clearly, total domination of a match neither guarantees a win nor that you would win by a considerable margin. Still hamstrung by injuries, our squad is performing admirably well in my opinion and indeed seem to be improving. I feel, having said that, we have a 5 or 6 goal tanking to dish out to somebody soon (although I’m happy to keep such a mauling in the post until the end of December).
Hail hail :-)
Vmhan♣ who Supports Neil Lennon says:
24 November, 2011 at 10:05
Scotty
Have the Hun paid for they’re 8,000 tickets x £44 yet?
Make them pay up front Celts!
——————————————
May as well start litigation now for that money. They never pay out till it gets to court.
BBC Sportscene appeal to Trust. I have sent the following letter to appeal the decision by the BBC Trust to consolidate the above issue. Anyone having similar concerns should appeal by 3pm today and their letters, together with their original appeal will be placed before the BBC Trust when they meet in December. …………………………………………..
For the attention of the BBC Trustees.
Dear Trustees,
I refer to the BBC Trustees decision of 2nd November—communicated by Francesca O’ Brien on 9th November—to consolidate my appeal, and those of 26 others, about the editorial issues of a Sportscene broadcast by BBC Scotland, in order that the BBC “can be efficient in terms of cost and administration”.
By e-mail of 10th November I objected to this consolidation, which manifests itself in a summary of the issues by Francesca O’Brien that did not identify some of the specific editorial issues that I had complained of and was appealing.
By way of response to my objection I received an e-mail from Lucy Tristram, presumably on behalf of the BBC Trustees, by return on 11th November telling me that the Trustees were entitled under Para. 5. 3 (e) of the Complaints Framework to “compile a full range of issues raised by the complaints” if a “large number of complaints against a specific decision by the BBC’S Executive” are made, to consolidate in this instance. And added that the Trustees decision to act in this way was final.
The e-mail from Lucy Tristram on behalf the BBC Trustees did not state whether or not my objection to the consolidation had been brought to the attention of the BBC Trustees to whom it was addressed or whether she was acting as a gatekeeper and spokesperson in this matter.
My objection of 10th November to the consolidation by the BBC Trustees could not have been known when they made their decision—as it was this decision of 2nd November that I objected to—and I would respectfully ask Ms Tristram to put the following questions to the BBC Trustees in connection with the consolidation of the Sportscene appeals:
1/ Did the BBC Trustees give consider my objection to the consolidation of my appeal of BBC Editorial decisions?
2/ If the answer to question 1 is in the affirmative; why did they fail to include specific issues, raised by me and appealed in a proper manner, in their consolidation of the Sportscene appeals?
3/ If the answer to question 1 is in the affirmative; why did they consider that 27 complaints was a “large number” in terms of the Guidelines which would appear to have been drawn up to deal with hundreds, perhaps thousands of similar complaints where consolidation could satisfy all of the areas of concern raised by the appellants?
In addition to the above request and in my understand of the role of Fran O’Brien as gatekeeper to the BBC Trustees I would accept her offer made in her letter of 9th November that she ask the Trustees on my behalf to review her decision not to proceed with parts of my appeal she will place this letter and my original letter of appeal to the Trust before the ESC.
I would be obliged if she would do so in order that my extreme dissatisfaction at the way the genuine concerns of members of the public can be completely ignored in a consolidation process taken with cost being the overriding concern and where whole points of appeal—and not nuanced differences—can be ignored so that a consolidation by generalisation of the lowest common denominator is arrived at.
This makes a parody of the BBC Complaints process.
Blantyre Kevin
100% agree with that last post.
MWD
Many on here love the idea of it being Celtic that put the final nail in the coffin of RFC – either by vetoing a decision or voting against something. On the surface it sounds like a great way to pay them back for their decades of bigotry and cheating. On the downside, I would be frightened to imagine the social consequences to our players, mngmt and fans – and the wider catholic community – if such a thing happened.
Their would be massive retribution, either by individuals or rampaging gangs.
I know we shouldn’t back down from the moral highground but it’s worth bearing in mind.
DougC says:
24 November, 2011 at 10:14
Saw them from north stand,maybe copper doing them a favour
letting them in.
Can imagine them wandering around Parkhead,jumping at every wee noise.
The Honest Mistake (Sickened) says:
24 November, 2011 at 10:23
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon 24 November, 2011 at 10:19:
“Their keeper should have been booked last night at the penalty.”
I would book also any ‘keeper who stand directly in front of player/ball; who pick up the ball from the spot and give it a rub.
Steinreignedsupreme says:
24 November, 2011 at 10:21
I use Itunes for my Ipod and have a couple of docking stations, but would rather have one kickass hi fi system that stores all my cd’s in it rather than messing around with docking stations.
South of Tunis – Will have a look at those Brennans. Not another business venture by our host I presume ! ;-)
skottybhoy1888 says:
24 November, 2011 at 10:30
You got something against happyclappers?
DeniaBhoy 24 November, 2011 at 10:40:
LOL, and that would be different to the status quo with thems still alive?
Big Nan says:
24 November, 2011 at 10:36
Good on you.
Just check wording of point 1 “1/ Did the BBC Trustees give consider my” should be give consideration to my
Have Ofcom been contacted do you know? I can’t remember whether they passed the buck on this issue?
HH
iki 24 November, 2011 at 10:43:
I agree with you. The keeper has no business standing away from his line.
DeniaBhoy: 24 November, 2011 at 10:40
Alternatively – the Huns could just settle with the tax man.
Morning CQN from a howling Hebrides.
MWD
Thanks for the photos from last night.
Viva la Green Brigade!
Good point by BlantyreKev and reminded me that I’d heard we’d already paid the tickets for the March game at Ibrokes.
Is this true and if so, is it normal procedure to pay in months in advance for away tickets?
awaytoworkcsc
Henriks Sombrero: 24 November, 2011 at 10:44
Shame your ditching your collection. I must admit I could never do that.
Big Nan
understand ?
understanding