Celtic eventually overcame Hibernian at Easter Road in the Scottish Communities League Cup quarter final tonight but not until they endured a fraught first half. The game was 3 minutes old when Ivan Sproule gave the home team the lead off an unfortunate Daniel Majstorovic. A Hibs corner was not defended at the edge of the six yard box and had to be cleared off the line by Adam Matthews at the near post but Sproule fired the clearance into the six hard box where is ricocheted off Majstorovic and into the net.
Celtic struggled to get into the game but after 19 minutes Beram Kayal broke free on the right and crossed for Gary Hooper, who missed the ball with his leading foot and saw it bounce off his left knee and behind.
The best two chances of the first half for Celtic came within four minutes. Ki and Hooper combined before Kayal released Stokes on 23 minutes but the Irishman’s shot skimmed the outside of the post.
In a move that would have a more productive second half facsimile, Stokes was unmarked at a Ki corner but missed the ball with his head and saw his shoulder contact go wide.
On 33 minutes Sproule ran half the field and cut inside Ki of the edge of the area before shooting over. Minutes later Sproule released Agogo, who dispossessed Celtic midfielders throughout the first half, but Forrest saved at the big striker’s feet.
Five minutes from half time Leigh Griffiths should have doubled Hibs lead when Celtic’s scourge in recent times, the long forward ball, returned to haunt them. Griffiths ran unattended from his own half but Fraser Forster did his best gable end impersonation to narrow the angle inside his box and block the shot.
Things soon picked up.
James Forrest underlined his Most Valuable Player status to Celtic a minute after the break. Ki played a forward pass to Hooper on the edge of the area, which was nipped onto Forrest by the Celtic striker. Forrest cut inside, dropped the shoulder and shot home from 17 yards.
It was a remarkably simple goal but the strength of shot by Forrest was particularly noteworthy. Being able to shoot from the edge of the area is a crucial part of a wingers play.
Beram Kayal was booked on 48 minutes for being kicked in the face by Ivan Sproule, who also saw a yellow card.
Forrest got his second, and best, goal on 57 minutes. He collected a throw-in on the wing, beat two Hibs players, played a one-two with Stokes and finished with a well-placed left foot shot.
Celtic then went into overdrive as Hibernian faltered. Forrest skinned his marker and crossed but Ki slipped inside the box when the ball broke to him. A minute later Anthony Stokes make a good connection with a Ki corner to head Celtic’s third goal from the six yard line.
Gary Hooper was having an off evening but he timed his run onto an Adam Matthews long ball, controlled and scored to finish off the scoring. Ivan Sproule received his second yellow card 20 minutes from time for kicking Mark Wilson as he ran through on goal. On this occasion his victim escaped punishment.
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AWE NAW 04.20
The Scorpion actually responds “Because,it’s in my nature.”
I know ,i was there.
TT
I wonder if the fat administrator is doing her vocal warm up.
blantyretim says:
27 October, 2011 at 09:02
I speak from vast experience of such mornings!!
KTF
CELTIC are continuing to keep an eye on the transfer window re-opening in January, and have taken former Arsenal and Chelsea full-back Andre Blackman on trial.
The 20-year-old arrived at Lennoxtown this week, and Hoops boss Neil Lennon will take a closer look at him in training after he played in a bounce game against Rangers.
Lennon said: “He was recommended by a friend who runs an Academy for players who are out of contract or with issues in their life.
“He did well in the game and told me it was his first match for a year. He picked up an injury, he’s only 20, but I like the cut of him. We’ll keep him for a couple of weeks.
“You would like to strengthen the squad when you can. If there is an opportunity there, then I think we could be in a position to do that.
“We are not into November yet, so we will talk about that nearer the time.”
TT,
Were you the horse ?
Straight from It’s mouth ;-)
A wee perty tonight ?
HH
fritzagrandold says:
27 October, 2011 at 09:06
Good stuff, Fritz
Good to see our best centre half back last night. Hopefully Big Tam can stay fit for more than a couple of games.
Fritz
Excellent prose. Puts our hacks to shame.
HH
Patrick67
Happy Birthday.
TT
If the huns both large and small go up the stank in close proximity I fear there is more likelihood of the league rules being bent re demotion to a lower league etc. My view is the old cliche, if you do the crime then do the time. Hope the club presses as hard as possible for this.
On last night, heartening to see the team ‘click’ at last in the second half. That is the level of performance we require as standard. Consistency is all.
Also for me
Ledley : essential centre midfield cog. Should start every game there.
Wanyama : really like this player
Matthews : really, really like this player.
Stokes : He is no Aguero but hey, he scores goals. And both he and Mulgrew have the passion we and their team mates need.
In the word(s) of slightly bonkers ex Orc pin up Marvin Andrews ‘BELIEVE’
Hail Hail and in addition Hail
2010 Never Again
Name and shame KIT. I tend to miss a few :-)
Thanks for the birthday good wishes.
TT
Morning all – good 2nd half performance, but Kayal’s temperament worries me greatly at the moment. I know Sproule kicked out/stamped at him, but he seems to get involved in A LOT of wee niggles throughout each game. Maybe time for Neil to take him aside and have a word…
HH
Giggs
I was reading the paper there, didn’t realise that the gravity of the housing situation in Britain.
So bad, they’ve even asked Paul Young to take his hat back.
kitalba
Thats the wonderful world of football . Everything can change in a moment.
I held back from letting off steam with a halftime rant . I was shouting from the couch for wee Forrest to be taken off as he was doing nothing.
I didnt realise he was wearing the wrong boots.
Got a laugh reading this tripe,some rag called the scotsman.
This cretin is livid,raging:
Defensive failings cannot be masked by rest of Lennon’s team indefinitely
By Moira Gordon at Easter Road
Published on Thursday 27 October 2011 00:59
THEY say it is often better to be lucky than good. At the moment the Celtic defence is proving themselves blessed with neither of those attributes, as once again they had their strikers and the genius of James Forrest to thank for sparing blushes.
Only three minutes into this match and already the recriminations had started. Hibs were one goal up and Daniel Majstorovic was the man who was credited with getting the final touch rather than foiling the Hibs attack.
It was Ivan Sproule who had lashed his effort into the danger area, but it was the big Swede who directed it into his own net.
Another ground, but the same old story. There was a feeling at the start of the season that Celtic had the strongest squad in the SPL. Neil Lennon was considered to be blessed with greater strength in depth than any of his competitors and they were many people’s favourites to prise the league trophy away from their city rivals. But those folks hadn’t factored in that while Celtic had defensive options, none of them were all that impenetrable.
The Celtic manager himself is done disguising his disgust at the porous nature of his defence. Collectively and as individuals the players have cost him points. Individual errors have been the biggest bugbear. He admitted recently that given the unreliability of his rearguard, he went into every game fearful of the opposition attack.
Hibs have an attack worth considering. There have been column inches aplenty dedicated to Garry O’Connor since his return to the club, but the unit is complemented by the speed and directness of Sproule and Leigh Griffiths. Indeed, had either of those wide players been more clinical in their finishing as that first half progressed they could have had more than that solitary goal by the interval.
Celtic had started with Thomas Rogne alongside Majstorovic in the centre-back roles, battling the physical presence of O’Connor and their own inability to deal with long balls, while Mark Wilson and Adam Matthews occupied the full-back berths, tasked with containing the adventurous streak of Sproule and Griffiths.
They were a frequent source of nuisance as they darted and danced their way down the flank, getting to the byline or cutting inside. On the break, for the first half at least, they were dangerous and Celtic’s defenders were fortunate rather than vigilant. Too often the positioning was wrong, the decision-making poor as they gave the home strikers sniff after sniff of a scoring opportunity. To their relief, their opposite numbers were just as lacking on the night.
Thankfully for Neil Lennon’s blood pressure and long term job prospects there is a reason Hibs are occupying one of the bottom spots in the SPL table.
While they are game, they don’t always make the right decisions when the adrenaline starts pumping. The frustration was evident as the battered advertising hoardings could testify. Brisk on the counter-attack they found themselves one-on-one with the keeper or a full-back on a few occasions, but, in the first half, Fraser Forster twice rescued the men in front of him, even if he did look less than convincing as one or two of those set-pieces were piled into the box and did spill the ball when Beram Kayal was alert to the danger posed by Junior Agogo and, having tracked him back, got in ahead of him to cushion the ball back to the out-rushing keeper.
But frustration and poor decision-making really spilled over with 20 minutes of the match remaining and it was one example of the Celtic defence getting the better of the Hibs forwards. Already booked for a confrontation with Kayal, Sproule brought down Wilson and was rewarded with a red card. It was a challenge as silly as it was poor. It also screamed of frustration. When Celtic went behind to Kilmarnock on league duty they were rocked, and the Rugby Park side capitalised on that, but Hibs did not have the wherewithal or the finishing to cause a similar upset in this match.
Profligacy cost them and Celtic hit back with four goals in the second half to render that Majstorovic own goal an irrelevance. Well irrelevant in the context of this match.
But such frailties linger long in the memory of the Celtic fans and in the thoughts of the Celtic manager. He knows that he needs to add quality to that backline in January and they need to settle quickly.
They march on in this competition thanks to the midfield and the finishing qualities of his forwards, but when it comes to the really big prizes, Lennon must know he is unlikely to triumph with this backline.
——————————————————————————————-
PMSL Bitter or what? :)
I reckon Sir William of Bad Debt is beginning to panic.
Go get ’em Lenny…
Fritz
09.06
What an excellent appraisal.
TT
I’ve read some guff on this site (written tons o’ it too, mind) and I’ve heard some belters from habitual stoatirs…………plus ca change ‘innat…….However the best by a country mile has to be that TinyTim is 48!!!!!!!!!
LMAO ( whatever that means)
:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
(Happy Birthday wee man, that must have been some paper round ye had!)
‘Celtic see off 10 man Hibs’
‘Celtic edge past 10 man Dons’
Plus ca change
Good morning gentlemen.
What a second half.
What a player is young James Forrest. It’s hard to believe he only made his senior team debut a little over a year ago, he is fast becoming indispensable.
I only hope it all wasn’t too much for the notoriously sensitive Hibs fan Pat Nevin. (thumbsup)
BelfastCityCelt 09.21
I’m sorry ,but i agree with the article.
TT
BelfastCityCelt
I’m pretty sure Moira Gordon is a Celtic supporter.
It was great to see the goals fly in, but over the piece, that wasn’t a great performance. Then again, the players have a punishing schedule at the moment.
Hope you don’t think I’m a hun. :-)
Did we witness the first genuine green shoots of recovery this season in the second half last night, certainly the fluency of the movement, the accuracy in the passing was very welcome, all jump started by young James Forrest with his excellently taken two goals, young James has still much to learn, lets hope he and his agent decide Celtic park is his academy of choice
Hibs are a poor side struggling with results under Calderwood and unfortunately like most of the SPL also struggling financially, Hibs recently reported a £900,000 loss, the first in 7 years.
Whilst playing well going forward was very pleasing, the defending was still concerning with credit due to Fraser Forster for preventing Hibs having a 2-0 lead at H/T, Fraser is a better goalkeeper than he is given credit for, Neil and his team need to sort out our continuing defensive frailties as a team if success in Europe and our hopes to halt 4 IAR are to be successful.
BelfastCityCelt
Sadly, there are a lot of cutting home truths in the match report.
Reasons to be cheerful:
Wee James in his black boots, obviously. Though he obviously needs to work on his post match interview technique.
We scored with a header from a corner. When was the last time we did that?
Adam and Joe.
Seriously, when was the last time we did that?
Hooper when he got to the bench after being subbed. He looked happy to be a Celtic player. Haven’t seen that for a while.
Skippy in the studio. Thought his shirt was a bit vulgar, though.
Big Fraser. It wasn’t all his fault.
Oh-ohhh, Victor Wanyama Victor Wanyama, Victor Wanyama, Wanyama Wanyama oh-ohhh!
A rainy, grey morning here in North Ayrshire.
Well done to the second half Bhoys yesterday.
What was that Kayal booking for?
Cheap, unlucky, sucker punch goal conceded in the first half, after that we were chasing the game, playing without a defence in an all out attack. Of course we are going to get caught out from time to time and look weak in defence if we play without one. We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot though.
Second half is what it is all about, fans, players, management all one team. All desperate to win the game. Nice football, beautiful goals. That’s Celtic.
Dwell on the first half all you want but that is ignoring Celtic in the second half.
Hail hail.
I cant believe Moira Gordon is a Celtic fan. I heard on shortbread last season and she came across like a fully paid-up member of the lap-top loyal.
The first half performance though , was a disaster waiting to happen and if we’d been up against a decent team we’d have had more than one goal scored against us.
But all came well in the end thankfully.
I had to look twice at ole Slimline Skippy.
Thought his shirt was, a shirt and black tie.
Wonder if he’s in Edinburgh worming his way in NL’s big January.
When was the last time we scored with a header directly from a corner?
The Pantaloon Duck – Also, Wanyama is the same age as James Forrest.
They’re both likely to get better. (thumbsup)
Which of the following is true and which is false:
TinyTim is 48.
Mo Bangura is 22.
Moira Gordon suffers from a common ailment among the written press. They write their report, obituary and conclusions at half-time and when it all turns on its head huvny the wit to re-evaluate the big picture. I doubt very much she is of a Celtic mindframe though. She also writes for a rag then sees Edinburgh as the focal point of the universe. Shocking really when we all know that claim to fame belongs to a wee toun in Fife. :)
Moira Gordon is a jamboe.
I have had a few chats with her a wee while back a talentless unqualified writer whose had a leg up her whole life due to her devotion to the fraternity. She can’t even use her looks as an excuse.
I would pull out all the stops to protect my job and way of life too.
HH
Dear All
Just heard a story from a friend who just returned for the Rugby WC final in NZ.
It was a bit of a flying visit and after he landed he took the shuttle bus into the City centre.
As he was on the bus the radio is on and he describes it as the equivalent of Talksport.
The article they were discussing was obviously the Final on Sunday.
The Head of Police is stating that should the unthinkable happen and NZ lose to France he fully expect there to be some civil unrest and and an increase in DOMESTIC violence.
He calls for restraint in the unlikely event that NZ lose.
The sport jouro and the Heid Police then go on to say that this Domestic Violence is not an uncommon occurrence (couldn’t spell phoneomon) as it regulary goes on in Scotland after Celtic v Rangers matches.
Small world eh?????
Friend let all listen know that it was only when Huns lose.
Play
bournesouprecipe – I had to look twice at ole Slimline Skippy.
Me too, for a second I thought he must be dating Liz Hurley. (thumbsup)
I can confirm that Tinytim is indeed 48 and looks younger.
Yours in Celtic
Awe Naw aged 32
HH
philvis
He had a long face.
Very un Pob like, cheered up at full time though.