Celtic’s run of 27 games unbeaten in domestic football came to an end yesterday as Kilmarnock surprised even their own fans, who bought fewer tickets for the final than they did for the semi-final, perhaps anticipating a reversal.
The bedrock of that magnificent run has been incredibly strong defensive performances; even when Aberdeen scored to take a point earlier this month, their goal benefited from an enormous deflection and the interaction of two debutant defenders.
Kilmarnock’s goal yesterday benefited from no such fortune. Ki didn’t match the forward run of Lee Johnson and Kelvin Wilson didn’t attack the cross. It was, however, a good goal, exploiting the expansive Hampden pitch with some fine passing and excellent movement.
Cammy Bell deservedly won Man of the Match but none of his many saves were spectacular. It could be argued that the stop from Gary Hooper five minutes in turned the match but it was a gift to Bell’s highlights DVD.
Celtic looked like a team who have run out of steam. Profligacy in front of goal and a momentary lapse in defence was all Kilmarnock needed to secure the cup.
I didn’t get a good view of the Anthony Stokes penalty incident at the game, it was Hampden after all, but on the radio going home I heard the evidence clearly confirmed it was not a penalty, which Neil Lennon would realise after he calmed down a bit, despite his initial reaction on seeing a replay.
Television evidence could not be clearer. Michael Nelson went to ground to tackle Stokes and didn’t come within 2 feet of the ball but clipped the Celtic player’s ankle while he was in the process of controlling a fast moving ball.
There was no dispute that Stokes ankle was clipped. No claims were made that Nelson played the ball, or even got close to playing the ball. The incident was an indisputable foul.
When you are running at speed the contact required to force you to lose to lose control of the ball is slight, more than enough contact was made on Stokes to hugely reduce his chances of scoring. Nelson made a rash and ill-timed challenge which should have resulted in an injury-time penalty.
Our sincerest condolences to the Liam Kelly, his family, Kenny Shiels and the Kilmarnock players on the death of Liam’s father Jack in the minutes after full time.
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Saint Stivs – get ready for Edinburghers coming after you on here soon.
Funnily enough one of them was next to me on the flight as I headed back to England and civilisation.
I tried not to make eye contact:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d4/PubTThou01.jpg (thumbsup)
I was at the game yesterday but it still didn’t make the disappointment any lighter.
I was so looking forward to seeing all 3 domestic trophys at CP by end of the month. Didn’t see that coming – that’s football. Although we should never take anything for grant in the League Cup.
Neil Lennon has built a great little side however they are still young and inexperienced and hopefully yesterday’s experience will stand them in good stead for the future.
neveralone on 19 March, 2012 at 12:43 said:
Not a happy rememberence but –
1961 SC Final, lost to Dunfermline (6 Lisbon Lions/pool players)
________________
Plus a future 1968 EC winner in Pat Crerand.
Should read “wasn’t at the game”
Joe Filippis Haircut on 19 March, 2012 at 13:31
I think Forrest & Hooper will both be out on Sunday – injuries.
Last word on yesterday, our defence needed to be 10 yards further up the pitch which would have allowed the midfield and forwards to press the Killie defence who tend to overplay.
Kelvin is taking stick and to be honest he is not my cup of tea, as he has a tendency to both overplay the ball and drop back , resulting in a “wragged back line”, I was really pleased when Neil left Kelvin out last week, and surprised when he was re-called yesterday.
I guess Kelvin is being played for his pace but not for me.
At Ipox next week , we will need to field our physically strongest 11, in what will be dirty game. Left back is our problem position at the moment and putting Chas there disrupts the team. I would go with the following next week:
Fraser
Chas Thomas Chas Adam
Scott Victor Joseph Ki George
Gary
Invite Dignity on to us but strangle the game in midfield, see how the game develops and use George in a roving role to find the weak link in the Dignity defence.
Wonderifthecourtswillsolvetheticketusclaimcfc
CELTIC striker Anthony Stokes could cite the ultimate star witness in his case for being wrongly denied a penalty in added time of yesterday’s Scottish Communities League Cup final.
Stokes said that Kilmarnock defender Michael Nelson, whose challenge resulted in him going to ground only to be booked for simulation by referee Willie Collum, admitted the incident ought to have brought a spot-kick.
“It was a stonewall penalty,” said the 23-year-old. “You never do get anything off referees up here, but I don’t know how I’ve got a yellow card for diving. He caught me. The boy himself said afterwards he couldn’t understand how it wasn’t a penalty but obviously the referee has seen something different. I lost the head a little bit, but as far as I was concerned it was a definite penalty. I knew I had been caught.”
Kilmarnock’s victory will be placed second only to that by Raith Rovers in Celtic’s final flops in cup finals in the past 40 years. They have almost made it a club tradition to lose against unfancied opponents in the League Cup in that time, having also lost to Dundee and Partick Thistle. Yesterday was Celtic’s 14th defeat across their past 21 League Cup final appearances. Stokes didn’t put the reverse down solely to Kilmarnock goalkeeper Cammy Bell proving an impregnable barrier. “Their ’keeper made some great saves, but we dominated, played very well but just couldn’t put the ball in the net,” he said.
And Stokes didn’t pretend other than his strike partner Gary Hooper squandered a glorious opportunity to put Celtic one up inside five minutes when Mohamadou Sissoko passed straight to him in front of goal, only to find Bell with a weak shot. “Nine times out of ten, Hoops would put that away, but we still created a lot of chances and I thought we dominated the game. In the second-half we had a period of sustained pressure but we have to congratulate Kilmarnock because they are the winners, so well done to them.”
Stokes extended his sympathy to Liam Kelly on the death of his father Jack after he suffered a heart attack at Hampden and later died in hospital. “We heard about it after the game and it is terrible,” he said.
Algarvian on 19 March, 2012 at 13:22 said
Thanks.
AGENT CRAIG 1319
I’ve mentioned before a rambling interview from Gazza on Talksport a while back where he denied he was skint as he “still had a couple of million offshore,like”
Say no more,nudgenudge,winkwink,etc.
And as for the 2nd De Boer’s “petrol money” contract……
1stChas= Cha
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo – CELTIC striker Anthony Stokes could cite the ultimate star witness in his case for being wrongly denied a penalty in added time of yesterday’s Scottish Communities League Cup final.
Eighteen thousand letters, all addressed to Santa Claus?
I Can’t Believe It’s A Law Firm CSC. (thumbsup)
timbhoy2 on 19 March, 2012 at 13:31 said:
Paul ,neil lennon and his backroom staff change the team to much for my liking,big sammi scores a goal up at tannadice last week end, on sunday on the bench.i think neil lennon is to loyal to certain players ,and that loyalty can come back and haunt you.
Agree 100% with that post.
philvisreturns on 19 March, 2012 at 13:32 said:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d4/PubTThou01.jpg (thumbsup)
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i am convinced thats were my fear of flying comes from,
that episode of Twilight zone with the gremlins chewing up the wing, and a poor Captain Kirk stuck there looking at it.
Ten Men Won The League on 19 March, 2012 at 12:52 said:
So Calum Murray is the ref for Sunday?
Our discipline will have to be top notch on Sunday. He will book Celtic players first chance he gets
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Our discipline seldom has much bearing on how many Celtic players are booked or sent off.
But I would say that if Celtic are not prepared to mix it physically on Sunday they will literally trample all over us.
share
EKBhoy – Re: your lineup.
Cha Du Ri is the only one eligible for Carrousel.
How did he escape the Sandmen? Must be his youthful looks. (thumbsup)
Football League chairman Greg Clarke has ruled out any chance of Celtic joining League One or the Championship.
A report on Sunday claimed Celtic were so keen to join English football that they were in talks over a move into League One.
Club sources have insisted that is not the case, and Clarke himself said it would be “disrespectful” to the Scottish football authorities to enter into any such talks.
Clarke said: “We have absolutely no intention of having any discussions with any club from another national league regarding membership of our competition.
“This would be highly disrespectful to the Scottish FA and Scottish Premier League and will not be countenanced by the Football League.”
Celticbhoy
Qualifiers against other champions from lower ranked sides. There will be 2 qualifiers to negotiate.
First Round of Qualifiers:
Champions from Malta, Northern Ireland, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Andorra, San Marino play to get through to round 2.
Second Round of Qualifiers:
The three winners from Round 1 are joined by the Champions from Switzerland, Israel, Czech Republic, Austria, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Norway, Serbia, Sweden, Bosnia, Finland, Ireland, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Albania, Liechtenstein Estonia, Wales, Armenia.
That leaves 34 teams in Round 2 and they play off to get down to 17.
Third Round of Qualifiers:
This is where we join with the Champs from Belgium and Romania and the 20 remaining teams are seeded and play off to get down to 10.
Fourth Round/Play-Off:
The 10 winning teams are again seeded and play off to get down to 5. These winners get to CL.
Mort
I would love to know what Neil can see in Kelvin Wilson, I have watched him a few times and he is certainly no better than some of the CBs who have been slagged off over the last few seasons. If it is just for his pace then why not get an olympic sprinter in instead, we have let O’Dea and Hooiveld go and they were/are far better imo than Wilson. Forster,Mathews,Rogne,Mulgrew,Izzy,Commons,Brown,Victor,Ledley,Sammi, Mc Geough, would be my starting 11 to win the league at Tesco Park, up the Celts.
Gollum is nothing but a cheat I thought it was a penalty at the game and even more so when I saw it on tele he didn’t take a 2nd to think about it he was going straight for stokesey with a yellow. Think back to last year semi against aberdeen we got a pen for the exact same thing at the exact same end gollum was the ref but the only difference was the game as done it was 3 nil. Gollum your lucky I’m not 10 years younger and 1 of your pupils you would be a sorry man
HH
A SON OF DAN 1327
You also say it so much better than I ever could……….
Off topic enquiry for the IT specialists: I’m looking for a good and reliable free anti-virus software product. Any recommendations? Currently running McAfee with windows 7 Home Edition.
Thanks in advance.
HH
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 19 March, 2012 at 13:38
I remember that being posted before.
Having read Awe_naws posts i take then that player wise ebt’s are easier to work on players being signed from abroad rather than home-based players.
How does that then work with Ogilvie having an ebt.
I thought they could have been part of anyone’s contracts, so to speak.
Just when i thought i was getting a grip on the financial side of the business world up pops another gremlin……this is burstin ma chops!!
EKBhoy
You had me wondering.
I hear Hooper & Forrest are injured. So my line up…
Fraser
Adam Victor Thomas Charlie
Scott Ki Joe Kris
Sammi
Antony
Sammi having the ‘free role’
Incidentally, Callum Murray is the ref on Sundy.
Should read Sunday
Celtic will have to be prepared to mix it on Sunday.Watched a bit of their game against United on Saturday,and one thing was clear,all their young players were prepared to put the boot in.McCoist will have them pumped up to do the same against us.
Saint Stivs – It’s funny that Kirk, Spock, Scotty and Sulu were all in The Twilight Zone.
My personal favourite was the one starring Burgess Meredith, AKA The Penguin, AKA Rocky’s trainer Mickey, as a man trying to sit and read in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. (thumbsup)
alex thomson @alextomo Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Ah – UEFA now want to speak asap.
I believed young Rogne had made the C H spot his and he wd have dealt with that cross as a C H should. 2 people should have dealt with it FF or C W end of!!. Ive never really understood the term BALL WATCHING but Wilson cleared that one for me. Rogne has been brill all season and he didnt give 10million pound rated jelly a sniff in the last O F game.
Paul67
Fairly reported but I would have to say that Bell’s save from Stokes’s header was top drawer. Stokesy did everything right put it back across low towards the corner. Fine save.
Of the penalty…Nelson’s body language told everyone it was a penalty.
However lets not be churlish. I have friends who are Killie supporters that loved Tommy Burns just as much as we all did. Let them enjoy their day in the sun.
Let us win it at Ibrokes. The pain my 10 year old son is feeling at the moment will evaporate and we can enjoy a big party on the 1st of April.
Hail! Hail!
Oh BTW the big mistake was not playing Sammi from the start. Our big Greek always plays his best against Killie and would have loved a 90 minute run out in the wide open spaces of Hampden.
Green tide,
I use Microsoft Security Essentials (free) with Windows 7 and have never had a problem
Green tide
Find AVG and Malwarebytes combine well to give decent free protection on Win7.
Hail, hail
bobby Eavns
I like the look of your line up.
Hail! Hail!
Huns back in admin. Do they get another ten points deducted? lol
ST STIVS 1340
Fear of flying?
Absolute nonsense.
Statistically the safest form of transport by a mile.
And anyway,the big man upstairs decides when yer number’s up,nothing else.
So what is there to worry about,ya big saftie?
Hard lines,mind,if it’s yer pilot’s number that’s up………
Agent Craig “Green and” Whyte!!
The EBTS are offshore.
That means they are out with the auspices of the UK tax man
I am not saying that no British player got paid through an EBT just that it makes it more difficult and less transparent.
British players would have to have an offshore bank account and preferably a second address not in the UK.
SO those who have Holiday homes in Spain like Hugh Dallas or French Villas like Martin Bain can easily access their EBT money.
For a British player without a second home out with the UK then he may have an offshore bank account to get any funds he is allocated from the EBT to be paid into or he may have used a family member who doesn´t pay tax to allow him to bring in to the country his EBT benefits “under the radar”
Hail Hail
first things first…
thoughts and prayers for the kelly family.
well done kilmarnock
you took your chance.
as for Collum
the wee snivelling rat is a cheat. plain and simple.
pictures and video evidence mounts season by season on him.
never mind…it was the wee diddy cup afterall ;-)
onwards to decimating the scumbags on sunday.
6 or 7 – 0 will do to make amends bhoys.
and then onto the party the following week at home
then its chargin onwards for the double.
hail hail…and remember the huns will be gone soon.
Green tide on 19 March, 2012 at 13:46 said:
Off topic enquiry for the IT specialists: I’m looking for a good and reliable free anti-virus software product. Any recommendations? Currently running McAfee with windows 7 Home Edition.
Thanks in advance.
HH
___________________________________
The ones mentioned above are all good. I use the free version of Avast on a laptop with Windows 7 and it works pretty well with regular updates and no real sales pitches.
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo
Cheers…as clear as mud!!
Yes understand it better now.