Celtic collected all three points in one of their most comfortable away performances of the season at Dunfermline this afternoon. Anthony Stokes and Victor Wanyama gave them a half time lead before a Charlie Mulgrew free kick completed the rout in the second half.
Mulgrew set pieces, the source of four consecutive goals, have become important to Celtic recently and could have led to an opener in 12 minutes when Thomas Rogne was wrestled to the ground inside the Dunfermline by Barrowman, who used both arms to prevent the Norwegian getting on the end of the corner, but referee Ian Brines, who had a particularly poor game, along with his assistants, missed the incident.
Five minutes later Celtic were in the lead when Mulgrew’s short corner was worked out to Anthony Stokes who shot from the 18 yard line into the postage stamp corner, giving goalkeeper, Chris Smith no chance.
Moments later Stokes, Hooper and Forrest combined well before Stokes tried a cheeky shot to Smiths’ near post. Celtic were now in full flow and Wanyama saw his shot from 25 yards tipped over by Smith. Five minutes from half time Celtic were in easy street. Charlie Mulgrew free kick from 28 yards was met inside the six yard box by Victor Wanyama who volleyed into the net.
Dunfermline almost caught Celtic snoozing within 60 seconds of the second goal when Barrowman knocked a through ball onto Burns but his shot was saved by Fraser Forster.
11 minutes after the break a Mulgrew free kick made its way left to Ledley who clipped a cross for Hooper but the strikers’ header went narrowly wide. On the hour mark James Forrest ran at Dunfermline from 50 yards but his cutback from six yards didn’t find a taker in the middle and slipped past the post.
High winds played their part today and almost caught out Rogne and Forster who struggled with a high ball that held up but Dunfermline couldn’t profit.
Charlie Mulgrew completed the scoring on 69 minutes with a free kick from 28 yards. Dunfermline keeper, Smith, should have done better as the ball went into the middle of the goal just under the bar.
Samaras linked with Brown to carve an opening but his shot was blocked. The ball broke to James Forrest who shot from outside the box but Smith made no mistake this time, turning the ball over for a corner. Mulgrew fired in the resulting corner and Ki found a yard of space 11 yards out but his shot went narrowly wide.
Ki Sung-Yueng made no contact in a tackle with Paddy Boyle, the Dunfermline player hurdled his challenge, but then grabbed and threw Ki by the throat. Ki never retaliated, no doubt expecting the referee to show Boyle a red card, but instead Brines booked both players. It was perhaps the most ridiculous refereeing decision of the season.
Emilio Izaguirre made his long-awaited return from breaking his leg at Pittodrie in August but almost marked his performance with a negative contribution. Having controlled the ball he then tried to dribble out of his own six yard box but was fortunate not to be punished.
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According to the BBC a Northern Irishman named Stokes scored for us today. Must have missed that.
Also, is there any truth in the rumour that all 22 players at Ibrokes today are on a bonus after that result?
MOM Craigen for sealing the points?
twitter
FatPaulLeGuen Sally McMoist
Going for dinner with Motherwell Manager Stuart McCall and Captain Stephen Craigan as way of a thank you for getting us back on track….
43 minutes ago
Notthebus,
chill.
I tell you what I will not do what 90% of the posters on this board do and pass on any snippets that they hear. Just because it’s not what you want to hear.
You didn’t answer my question about Bangura starting on Wednesday.
However to answer your question – Yes.
Seville67
well done googyghoy
fans in great voice
loud n clear
Give Bang Bang a chance for goodness sake…. he’s only played a couple of full 90 mins in bounce games and has scored 3 times.
There were a few people on here questioning Wanyama’s ability (e.g. too slow on the ball) after his first few 10 min cameo’s.
James Forrest
Even with the benefits afforded to hun strikers by their brothers in black jelly is nothing more than average.
He’s Kris Boyd with a little more mobility and look how his career has shaped without the Scottish mib?
ThisIsTheOne, Happy New Year to you too.
I watched the game on ESPN today and didn’t hear Craig Burley say anything bad about Celtic.
fan-a-tic says:
2 January, 2012 at 17:04
Rogne + Mulgrew put in another strong shift.
Brown + Vic ran the show.
Really good to see, if this continues, we’ll have a strong 2nd half to the season
I’m no Stato but by my reckoning that makes it P4 L4 GF0 GA17 since McCall took over at Motherwell.
The only club they have failed to score a singel goal against!!!
Please feel free to correct me.
Starryhope
When are the GB bringing out an album … it’d be a million-seller :¬)
Saint Stivs says:
2 January, 2012 at 17:15
1 hour 11 minutes in.
hun slagged on BBC ALBA new year show.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018v892/Ceilidh_na_Bliadhn_Uire_2011/
Sammi like player playing fo fulham against Arse – Bryan ?
James, a low opinion of Bangura,
you have indicated
We will see if it is vindicated.
collie.
Tail’s Awaggin’ . Awaggin’
fan-a-tic says:
Agree 100%. One of the most over-rated players to play in the SPL.
The pattern is familiar to anyone who lives here and reads the papers. Rangers sign some guy for a few quid, he plays relatively well (relative to SPL dross) and all of a sudden the press is blowing his value up, hoping to entice buyers.
There have, from time to time, been managers in England who believed the nonsense being put about. See Boumsong, see Wilson, see Hutton, see Cueller. But most of the time they ignore it. See Boughera, who is playing … where is he playing again? See Fleck, who will now stay at Ibrox to rescue them (haha) instead of going to play for Preston North End or some other such sexy club.
Any English manager who pays more than £4 million for him deserves the sack. There aren’t any Billy Davies’ down there to do them favours either. In fact, looking down those leagues there seem to be a lot of Tims about ….
collie2 says:
I wasn’t talking about Bangura. I think Bangura will be a good signing.
I’m talking about that Croatian diddy at Ibrox.
Paul,
Great result for Celtic today, long may the winning run continue regardless of the quality of the football, winning this league is essential. How can you be critical of a 3-0 win away from home, well I will, only because we have the players to beat Dunfermline and most others in the league by a far wider margin. I feel we need more creativity in the midfield rather than the defenders lumping the long ball to Samaras. There are a number of automatic starters for me, Forster, Mulgrew, Izaguirre, Wanyama, Kayal, Forrest and Commons, but which system do we play to accommodate theses guys? For most games I’d try to go with;
……………………Forster………………………
Matthews Rogne Mulgrew Izaguirre
……..Kayal Wanyama Ledlay………….
Forrest Stokes Commons
Subs; Hooper, K.Wilson, Ki, Samaras,McCourt.
Today’s MOM did not start on Wednesday. Neither did izziguirre, Mastrovic,
Hail Hail Media, Beyond the waves is good tonight, listen in if your not doing anything, better than Harry Potter.
http://www.spreaker.com/page#!/show/hail_hail_media
cheers top corner.
Beyond The Waves celtic phone-in live in 10mins here…
(on Skype search Beyond The Waves to phone, visit chat room on lower RHS of screen)
Hail Hail Media
so good to see izzy back, will only make our team better.
vic – jesus, what a find that bhoy is, i can see him moving on for big bucks, but we really should sign him up on longer contract at end of season and enjoy him for the next 2/3 years
brown – hats off
stokes – such a talented goal scorer and he’s working his socks of too
hope john park has not downed tools there’s always room for a couple more gems next season and every season thereafter
cheers Saint Stivs
happy new year boss
:)
Bonbhoy
Not only did Burley not say anything bad about Celtic, he actually said that the stick-on penalty we should have had when Rogne was pulled down in the box was………..wait for it………………..a penalty!
It doesn’t affect Burley’s status as the biggest fud on air, however.
I think you are wrong about Jelly. He will do well in the prem . I think the fee will be c 6M .
James, I was in error… I was mistaken,
I hope no umbrage has been taken.
collie
Tail’s Awaggin’. Awaggin’
Nor Commons or young Dylan after his sensational start. Mo has his work cut out. He has not cost Celtic yet half as much as it cost to move on Beattie for the huns. We are in a healthy place. How much did bedoya, oritz , McKay cost so far ? I think PL is a better judge of a player than McCoist
HH
I think Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd have set the tone for what EPL clubs can expect from hun top scorers.
HH
Thae magic mushroom omelettes sure bring out some funny posts.
collie2 says:
Not at all fella. Good to see some of the lads expressing their faith in Bang-Bang.
He will score for fun when he gets up and running.
Terrific performance from the lads today. Only one small disappointment ……
….. that some Celtic fans have taken a fairly obvious piece of bait from a monosyllabic numpty who was so thick he got held back at school – and then became a journalist.
This tactic of trying to deflect attention away from the superb form of our team is older than I am.
Hail Hail
Any Motherwell players sent off today for kicking R@ngers?
Was a little puzzled by Neils comments on Wanyama’s passing being not quite up to scratch today.
To me he was our best player and his passing was top notch , as was his tackling ,shooting and goal scoring.
Just checked on Wiki for Numpty.
Think it needs to be Aw Nawed:o)
Just seen the goals on RTE.
How BIG is Big Victor????
Massive.
The Bangura debate.
I have every faith he will become a top player for Celtic, the system being played today (4-4-2) would not suit him anyway IMO. To me, and he looks very raw, he is a striker in a 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 formation.
If we analyze Celtic’s transfer dealings over the last 18 months, they have been of the highest standard, even when spending very little. Celtic have spent considerable money bringing this Bhoy in AND the hun media will try to attack at any opportunity anything that they perceive to be an error by Celtic. Mo Bangura will be a major player for Celtic next season, especially in the Champions League. ;)
I feel we have the kind of midfield that is befitting a Celtic team and we are definitely getting there with the defence (full backs sorted) but up front we have to improve and Neil will make sure we will.
Todays rumours Broadfoot to Bristol City,O’Connor to the huns
Jelavic,
can stay or go – he is not much of a player – decent penalty taker. Huffy and negative influence on the team when things go wrong.
I’d hate to see him being sold for a lot of cash and keeping them afloat , but I am pretty sure that there are no hun sympathisers in the EPL who could take the risk on him.
Seville67
Celtic , will Never sell young Vic,
who is the vital Cog that makes ‘Tic… Tick!
Now, we may Sell , Kayal or Ki,
or even Broonie.. One- Two -Three,
But, Victor, is the Cat’s Nightware,
To dream of Selling Him,
We Sha’n’t Dare!
collie
Tail’s Awaggin’. Awaggin’