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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James Forrest
What will it take for you to be happy with “This Team”.
5 game winning streak
10 game winning streak
The League
A Treble
10 in a row.
Due to injuries the Celtic team is pretty much a makeshift team due to injuries. It is impossible to solidify an area of team due to injuries. Yes there are also problems.
Me. I’ll hold my thoughts until I see an injury free team settling together and playing together.
Until then I believe yours and the opinions of all of us are pretty much fluid even though they do seem engraved in stone.
MWD will wait and see while supporting the hoops.
BTW Just sat and read some of the comments from the wee survey I setup. Some really funny stuff. All will be published when survey closed.
canamalar @ 23:36
Yep…the same folk that have identified a problem are more keen on voicing it than looking at the cause.
re Sammy, he always works his arse off when on the pitch, he NEVER slacks…the goal scoring issue is due to tactics, positioning and in his own case, with the few chances he’s had, confidence. Maybe worth pairing him with Stokes again if the momentum keeps up after tonight, but better to stick with Hooper just now to see if he can build on that goal tonight.
Thank God it’s just FINANCIAL doping that we’re fighting against eh.
sammi is better than ki
Moonbeams:
Right now? Consistency. Playing well for an entire 90 minutes instead of looking shaky for at least half of it.
A winning run of ANY description, especially in the league, would be nice.
Learning from basic mistakes so they don’t get repeated again and again and again and again would be nice too.
Mad Mitch has been posting on here since the day dot. He is no a Hun nor a journalist (per se)
James Forrest is Lennon says:
26 October, 2011 at 23:41
madmitch:
Don’t waste your breath mate. All this “we need support” stuff is the same-old-same-old from people who take every good result as proof that things are rosy whilst the problems mount up on all sides.
And we accuse the Huns of having deluded fans??
Another hissy fit James ? Not like you, tell you what away and write one of your “state of the nation speeches” that your so fond of and then sit back and you’re little band of followers will respond with their slavish comments about how wonderfully perceptive you are and that you truly are a genius…………that always seems to make you feel better.
Personally you always come across to me as a spoilt teenager………….or mibbees I’m just getting to old.
James Forrest is Lennon says:
26 October, 2011 at 23:57
How long have we been watching Celtic. A goal of a start has been pretty much the Celtic way for most of my time watching.
In fact the centenary season was probably the best for it.
I’ve kinda gotten used to that.
Another decent win on Saturday and then Thursday and the wilting blossom will begin to look wonderful again. ;o)
MWD
FFM @ 23.41
The scum have won, the court case was the final nail.
They have managed to cobble together a tidal wave of intimidation and vitriol that no person would be able to work through it. They have even managed to back us into a corner where the knee jerk reaction, the mutual support instinct that we all have means that we support NL no matter what the results are.
This situation can’t go on.
NL should have been given 12 months leave of absence and an old head brought in for this season.
Money should have been no object to get in a world class name that the LL could not easily ridicule.
Mature individual with a track record of success and a top quality coaching contacts to put the TFOD in their place.
Consequently come the start of 2012/13 when we have won the league, NL can come back on a more normal footing.
James Forrest is Lennon says:
26 October, 2011 at 23:52
The fisrt half was not dire
what game were you watching?
We were linking play and creating chances that on other days would have been taken – maybe theirs too as they were killing us on the break and maybe a better team would have taken the better of it or maybe, just maybe big Fraser would have pulled off another marvelous one on one
never mind that tho eh? Listen to the plumdits tell you they seen him have another clanger
We were always going to win the second half.
Well that is maybe not strictly true. IF they had got the second the mountain may have been too big
but IF we scorde an equaliser – I truly did think we would have gone on and won comfortably – we did!
My experience of playing and watching football told me that
By NO stretch of imagination were we dire in the fisrt half
I love CELTIC
FFM,
glad to say you are the first victim of my subliminal hypontism
hail hail
sammi is better than ki
clyde9-1:
That post is an insult to a lot of the people on this blog, not just me. One thing this blog does not have is “slavish followers.”
Who are you anyway? First time poster?
Snake @ 23:38
It’s the crucial point. Last season i don’t think we ever came back from behind. In the past month or so, we came from behind several times to earn a draw. I noticed that at the time, and was happy as i knew it could spell a turnaround in confidence for a young team that desperately needed to learn how to do that. Next thing, at the weekend, we come back to win against the Sheep 2-1, then tonight, we come back again to win 1-4, away.
If you look at it on a graph (which i admit i’m not doing :)) you’ll see a dip in a continuing upward trajectory.
We as the support need to get behind the Team during the unavoidable dips in that upward trajectory if we want to see Lenny succeed, which he will.
larssonse7en:
I would hope everyone on this site loves Celtic, and I am sure you do.
But in the first half I was watching we did not play with the energy and verve and belief which destroyed that Hibs team in 25 minutes tonight. That destroyed a Kilmarnock side in 17 recently.
And if we start games like that and maintain our form for longer spells than those we WILL annihilate – not just beat, but annihiliate – teams week in week out.
We need to STOP falling asleep for large parts of the game.
Glad of the win, watched the game on a dodgy stream and when the picture regularly froze there appeared little or no midfield cover for the defence …….
……… got the impression that the energy levels expended increased second half but we need to get a grip on the shape of the team and be more forceful in getting the ball back when we lose it …….accepting injuries are crazy at the moment, we need to pick a back 4 and stick with it
Still cup revenge against Falkirk will be nice , if the draw goes that way.
James F
I was playing 5s league tonight so when i went on the pitch we (Celtic) were trailing at 1-0, I had decided to drive to Glasgow and personally remove Lenny…my 5’s game ended (we won 6-4!) and my Brother and me belt up to the pub to see 4-1…Lenny safe. However, I was saying to my bro – Lenny has got himself in a pickle as every game will feel like 1 away from folk calling for his heid – unless the team go on a sustained run of victories.
I didn’t see the game but I’m hoping the 2nd half held the sign I’ve been waiting for…so far this season I haven’t seen much that leads me to believe we can go on a long run of wins. If (big IF) we are to win the league – we need to win every game ..a big ask…!
Saw Forrest’s goal from 18 yds..belter!
2 things
Neil Lennon came in and had to build an entire side in 2 months last season and he still hasn’t finished the job. He has nothing like the investment in the team that was needed and I believe this is in part to the inability to get rid of the Strachan/Mowbray inherited players – many of whom are out of contract this season and should not get another deal. He also has a horrendous run of bad luck with injury and the team has wilted in most of their European hangover matches (especially in the second half). This doesn’t give Lennon a free pass and nor should it but circumstances are important.
Fat Sally is playing at being a manager with someone else’s team. He has signed 2 centre halves who have conspired to lose to Malmo, Maribor and Falkirk’s team of 16 year olds. they have played garbage at home in almost every match yet got the points on the board. they have had no major injuries to their team and no suspensions which could impact on them apart from in Europe – losing ratface for two home games against Killie and Hibs is no loss. He is no manager and no amount of pretense will mask that. Let’s see him build a team from scratch on a paltry budget before he gets the plaudits. Big Feckless looked a manager when inheriting Advocaat’s 100Million quid team and then the downsizing for survival showed his true metal – he won more out of our implosion than anything else as did the Cardigan.
We played quite well in the 1st half, imo.
On another day, with better finishing, we go in 2 or 3 up at HT.
I would be worried if we were not creating chances, and being ripped apart, but we’re not.
We are being punished by stupid indivdual mistakes and occasional flukes, whilst missing gilt edged chances.
It will change though, i’m very confident of that.
Snake Plissken:
Yeah mate, one of the things that is most galling to me is the way they NEVER seem to pick up injuries to key players at crucial times.
Goat sacrifices must be going on 24/7 up there right now.
praecepta @ 23:53
But if what Henr1k said is correct, then Ledley was out of position as he should be on the left??
I genuinely think you have a deeper awareness of what goes on tactically than me as even when i played i was pretty gormless :) – imo we have several players that can manage the LB position no bother. Rogne put in a great turn today actually so i even renége on my comment that we need a CH.
Muststopthinkingaloud CSC
Look lads chillax you both have good points, yes we do keep making the same basic mistakes just look at charlies pass back against killie dejavu last year against murderwell.
We definitely need to start better but after the killie game we have started to do well and remember confidence is a wonderful thing but this only comes with a run of games if your winning these games so get the head up bhoys a win on Saturday it could be the start of good things.
If we can do 2 nd halts like that why not from the start.
Let’s draw a line under it.
We have had a crisis of confidence artery era gers game
The Europa league has had an effect and on top of that it would be fair to say a bit of an injury crisis.
BUT we are still in it , signs are we may even come through it .
Lets all get behind and support the guys , we have hit the bottom and are on our way back
A lot of talk about injuries…some injuries, Izzy for example are undeniable…BUT
When any team is playing well and winning games – players hardly ever get injuries, funny that, eh?
I know some will make the reverse observation that having injury free team leads to sustained wins..but I still maintain – playing well and winning prevents some ‘injuries’
CultsBhoy hates being 2nd says:
From my limited view , the overall defensive cover (from the whole team) is still very poor and we could very easily have been 2-0 down, staring down the barrel.
The management team need to get a settled back 4 quickly (injuries have been a mitigation) and get a better work ethic in the team , makes us hard to beat …….. too many guys passing the ball (buck!) look great when we are winning ….. need to play differently whe we are really up against it ……….
The age balance of our team is not right ….. experience midlfielder and forward required to steady the ship……..
I expect Neil knows far better than us what the problems are but fixing them ain’t easy and it is not a question of chucking money at it!
Tell ye this, Glesga will be the making of Big Fraser.
The force is strong in this one, hope we reap the benefits.
James Forrest is Lennon says:
27 October, 2011 at 00:03
clyde9-1:
That post is an insult to a lot of the people on this blog, not just me. One thing this blog does not have is “slavish followers.”
Who are you anyway? First time poster?
No not first time, extremely infrequent yes, but even if I was a first time poster as you ask, what are you implying ? My log in may give you a clue as to my vintage.
I have no wish to turn this into an argument, because frankly I don’t have the energy or the time, all I will say is that if you devoted half the time you spend pontificating on the site, by engaging your brain first you may come across as slightly less arrogant and immature. Don’t take the huff it’s my view only and I realise you have many more people agree with you than me (although I think there may be a few more posters & lurkers than you think agree with my point).
Good Night
EKBHOY
Personally feel we need to see how Lenny manages between now and January.
If we are training by existing margin..or worse..then it’s a change of Manager (& CEO!!) and no investment for me. I’d rather see a new guy coming in and a player clear out in summer.
Tonight, I feel that we have to give the current squad the opportunity to prove the doubters (me included) wrong..
MadMitch @ 00:01
I’d rather this country faced up to it’s issues and allow Lenny to manage in the way he wants to, than him being told to give up…it was always his decision to make, and our support made it clear he had our support either way. He chose to stay which makes him a hero in its own right. But he also surprised a lot of his critics by impressive results on pitch.
So it’s hard to take for me when people who are supposed to be supporting Celtic are demanding he goes 2 months into the season. Such opinions are easily vocalised here, but they don’t reflect the support at the actual games.
Lenny has my support 100%. Tonight, in a football sense, he prooved yet again why he deserves it.
Any Celtic Manager has difficulties to face that no other manager in the UK has. Lenny has shown he can deal with them with an excellent first season, and this season 2 months in, we look like we are turning a dip in confidence right back around.
How anyone can be negative about that defies belief to me.
FritzS @ 23.55
I make no comment about NL’s long term health situation.
I only make a comment that there has been a sustained and brutal campaign of intimidation against him during his time in Glasgow.
That campaign intensified when he became the manager and included almost all the elements involved with Scottish football and culminated in the Hertz “assault” and trial fiasco. That level of pressure is to my mind unsustainable, that is how it was meant to pan out and that is how it has panned out. The last straw was the jury and their nonsensical verdict which showed that Civic Scotland was incapable of meeting acceptable standards regarding the rule of law, respect for individuals and crime / punishment.
It shocked me to the core and I am just a bystander, an interested spectator both in the treatment of our manager and the changes now developing in the constitutional status of our very own little country. Consequently how it affected NL I can only but guess, however I fear not all is well and he is feeling the effects of all the pressures put his way.
I fear we are currently between a rock and a hard place regarding the current managerial situation.
If he leaves or he is shown the door then the scum have won.
If he stays and either he or the team collapses then they have won again.
We need to do something to sort this out.
Canamalar
sammi is better than ki
clyde9-1
what’s worse…?
Old and dismissive or immature and arrogant?
Right bhoys night I’ve got golf the morra and some of us need our beauty sleep ha ha.
Keep the faith lads.
Great win in the end! Great to see young Forrest also continuing to step up and hooper scoring( it’ll do his confidence the world of good)!! Let’s get back into the habit of winning games!! Especially league ones!!! Hail hail!!!!
.
JamesForrest..
Did You notice we Were Playing Away from Home..And in a Semi Final..
Name One Celtic team Ever that has Went to Edinburgh and Hamerred them For 90Mins (What your Saying we should be Doing) and took 4 off them..
Summa
On injuries
The reason we get injured is very often that the opposition believe they can with impunity just kick us …… this is partly due to poor officiating and also because we are a young bunch of guys playing nice football.
The reason they do not get injured is with such a small squad they have to pace themselves through the season and play a dour, defensive minded game , where most teams fail to stand up to their physical challenge.
I doubt if O’Connor of Hibs would have lashed out at a Dignity CH in the same way as he felled young Thomas this evening.
We have had teams in recent years which were physically more robust and this usually co-incided with a settled team.
longdayoffnowCFC
CultsBhoy hates being 2nd says:
27 October, 2011 at 00:22
clyde9-1
what’s worse…?
Old and dismissive or immature and arrogant?
fair point, my opinion that’s all………everybody’s allowed to have one.
James Forest
“What I am angry about tonight is the way a second half performance is being talked about as if it makes us invicible.”
I think your “as if” qualifier is a cover-your-ass type of expression since I never read anything tonight that read remotely like a description of Celtic as invincible.
In fact, I’d say most of the happy-clappers acknowledged that we were neither brilliant in the 2nd half nor were we rubbish in the first. I cannot say that I read the same equanimity, balance and careful consideration in those who posted extremely negative posts in the first half.
Overall, we are a struggling team this year BUT…. the same rookie manager and rookie back-up team were very promising last year, established a dominance over Rangers until we were undermined on a rutted Hampden pitch in a LC final, and narrowly lost a league.
I would have thought NL’s performance in managing Celtic following Tony Mowbray’s sacking plus last year would have earned him a bit of leeway. How much leeway is down to the individual.
Our away losses to Hearts & rangers are not sacking offences so that leaves the St. J home defeat and the Killie debacle draw as the signs of worry. I said before that I’d prefer to see a long slow crawl back to form and that’s what we’re getting. A team that alternates abject performance with brilliance would worry me more.
No-one is fooled that we are favourites to win a league. It really is too early to be sure but a few more losses from us would make everyone more certain, so we must avoid that.
You ask what will it take to get people to accept the need for change?
Let me give my own answer by avoiding the question firstly and then getting back to it.
I’ve seen us sack WGS because he lost his first league ever with Celtic after 3iar yet we went on to lose the next league.
I’ve seen us sack Tony Mowbray when the league was lost and yet we lost the next league.
I’ve seen Neil Lennon lift a demoralised bunch of players and get them back to winning ways with a season long good defensive record and yet we lost his first league.
So should we have sacked him? Sometimes, sticking it out is the right thing to do. Another twist followed by another twist and punt will sometime bust you.
Now, I’m not talking about complacently drifting, or taking it on the chin. I see no signs that Neil Lennon is built that way or thinks that way. He will rage against any dying of this (league title) light and will not go gently to any doom.
I remain committed to standing with him. It is not unconditional support but it is hopeful and determined support.
I have to head bedwards now. i have a big presentation to make tomorrow morning that I finished writing just before the game, meaning I missed the Easter Road experience tonight.
I am envious of those that were there.
James Forrest is Lennon says:
27 October, 2011 at 00:05
James I was taught that any preamble before the word BUT was to soften the (often) truthful response
All I would ask is that you stop being so critical even if just a few weeks – see how you feel then
I truly did not see what you seen tonight.
I seen the verve, I saw the imagination I witnessed the outcome
The response from the players was best of all
I have faith in Neil Lennon – I hope I am never proved wrong
If I am there will be many many contributary factors towards that
I will still Love CELTIC
and Lenny will still Love CELTIC
You know for a team that never win important matches we have competed in every important game this season.
Well that is, if you look at it from the young players and rookie coaching staff eyes!!
We are still competing in all trophies entered despite injuries, suspension and loss of form to key players.
I think the only thing the team are really up against is complacency, we ARE playing when it matters – maybe they know something we dont!! Maybe 10 points isn’t too much – or even 15 in the league.
Sion was the only dampner – ibrox I am used to. Really it was no biggie… 3 points throughout the season is all the fixture gets you and with 12 to play for…. well we showed that last season
HA HA – thoughts going too fast for type now – type of typing I wish I was in the boozer, chatting with you over a beer about
You know I respect you
HAIL HAIL
CultsBhoy hates being 2nd @ 00:22
Now why would you feel the need to join in that discussion with “Old and dismissive or immature and arrogant”??
Jury is still defo out on you for me….not that you’ll care what i think as i’m sure you’ll assert in response…if you respond.