Season pivots. Gambling referees

As the second half progressed at Pittodrie, our season hung by a thread.  Aberdeen looked the more likely, Celtic were not making chances, it was difficult to see where a win was coming from.  A week earlier, we closed out the game against Dundee United better, without reward, but the winner arrived yesterday, courtesy of Tom Rogic, Adam Montgomery and the always-dangerous, Jota.

Kyogo’s return to league duty brought a reward within 11 minutes.  The Japanese icon steered a David Turnbull cross off his chest into the net.  It was an unconventional finish that should have set Celtic on course for a comfortable victory against an Aberdeen team that struggled to find a pass.

The home side came out a different team at halftime and took advantage of a perennial Celtic weakness to score from a corner kick.  Scott Brown almost doubled the damage from a subsequent corner, forcing an instinctive save from Joe Hart.

There is a points gap that does not really matter how much you will improve, you are going to struggle to pull off a recovery.  We have seen Celtic recover from more than 9 points behind much later than this in the season, but those were exceptional times.  We don’t want to go there again.

Teams that win leagues find ways to win games, even when they are struggling.  Celtic needed to do this yesterday.  When Jota got on the end of that cross, the season pivoted.

You can bet on which team will be awarded more fouls in some foreign betting markets.  The probity of our match officials and their resistance to the debt spiral gambling can bring should be monitored. Unfortunately, it is not.