Celtic 2-1 Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock substitute Danny Racchi scored with a thunderous striker after 87 minutes to turn an otherwise pedestrian Celtic victory into a late drama. Georgios Samaras scored a goal either side of half time to give Celtic the platform to secure a victory which moved them to within a point of the top of the table.
Victor Wanyama played in central defence, which left his midfield partner, Beram Kayal, bereft of a solid accomplice in midfield. As a result, Kilmarnock found it easy to run through the Celtic midfield with Paul Heffernan and Dean Shiels causing problems.
Neil Lennon must have been wondering what he would need to do to spark Celtic into action after the break when Cha Du-Ri sprung clear on the right and threw in a high cross which Samaras attacked six yards out and headed into the net in first half stoppage time.
8 minutes after the break Samaras made it 2-0. Gary Hooper collected a through ball on the right and knocked it into the Greek’s path. Samaras looked to have lost the ball, which was caught between his feet, but he recovered, evaded some flaying defenders and cracked a left foot shot into the net from the edge of the area.
Kilmarnock looked well out of the game until Racchi’s late intervention but after they pulled a goal back Celtic looked rattled. Celtic scarcely held possession for the remaining minutes and hardly put two passes together in three minutes added time. Fraser Forster was forced off his line to challenge Heffernan with seconds remaining. The keeper did well to block but the ball broke free to Dayton who failed to convert an excellent change to equalise.
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