Celtic collected all three points from St Mirren Park at lunchtime today but were under the cosh for most of the game. James Forrest opened the scoring in the 71st minute before Scott Brown secured the points two minutes from time to secure Celtic’s 11th consecutive SPL win.
Marc McAusland forced an early save from Fraser Forster on the goal line as a notice of intent on how the first half traffic was going to flow before Gary Hooper made Celtic’s only attempt on goal in the first half, a hooked shot from 35 yards. After 15 minutes a Mulgrew corner was headed towards his own goal by Steven Thompson, who was fortunate the ball struck his own player on the line. Five minutes alter Thompson tested Forster with a header at the other end which was saved well. Graham Carey had a good chance late in the first half but shot wide from a tight angle.
The second half started in much the same patter with St Mirren flowing forward at every opportunity and Celtic looking out of sorts. Paul McGowan setup Dougie Imrie on his St Mirren debut but Forster saved well again. The home team’s best chance of the game came when a Van Zanten shot from just outside the box was flicked towards the opposite post by McGowan but Forster somehow managed to twist his body and flick the ball safe.
Neil Lennon realised his formation wasn’t working and withdrew Samaras and Ki for Stokes and Commons, the addition of the latter proving crucial. Commons set pieces, intelligent use of his body and possession troubled St Mirren. On 59 minutes his corner was met by Rogne, whose goal-bound header struck McAusland on the raised arm, although the defender knew little about it.
On 71 minutes a Commons free kick was punched clear by Samson by Scott Brown met it at the edge of the area before rolling the ball in front of James Forrest. The Celtic wide player shot first-time from 19 yards and found the inside of the post to open the scoring.
St Mirren continued to push forward and McAusland forced yet another save by Forster. Hooper played a one-two with Stokes before shooting narrowly wide but a minute later Imrie came just as close to drawing St Mirren level.
An 88th minute short corner by Commons to Scott Brown caught St Mirren sleeping. The Celtic captain slipped a left foot shot inside the far post, a carbon copy of his Scottish Cup goal against Rangers last season.
A minute from time a Commons free kick was headed in off the post by Thomas Rogne but the assistant referee incorrectly flagged for offside despite the Celtic defender being four yards onside. The game poor advert for the SFA officials with a bizarre collection of mistakes made over which team knocked the ball out of play at corners and throw–ins.
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Morning all
the hooped crusader says:
22 January, 2012 at 06:15 and barcabhoy
great post, they live in a deluded bubble.
I can’t believe we’re 4 points ahead, I have to pinch myself. Lennie and the players will have last year’s experience to draw on, I hope this focusses them. We’re bound to lose points at some stage which will make it very close if they start winning again.
Just watched a re-run of yesterday’s game on local TV. Local commentary drowns out Burley which can’t be a bad thing. Horror show from the officials from the disallowed goal to the unpunished assaults on our players. Commons made all the difference – let’s hope he kicks on like this time last year. Better teams will expose Ledley as a left back. Interesting to see how Lenny shapes the midfield in the coming weeks.
I’d love to rind snyde tomorrow and ask if they think rangers will come back from this
Come on CNQ’rs get oot yer bed and get posting.
It’s midday here, I’m away oot tae get my messages in
and I hope the blogs busy while I’m away.
Just checked ootside temp it’s a balmy minus 16 here.
So I’ll no be long.
Good Morning as we sit 4 points clear before February.
Jellybean’s father confirming he will move this month, just waiting for the likes of a Liverpool to make a bid.
HH
The current RTC is a great read, explaining his motivation for setting up the blog and a fabulous link to succulent lamb !
Look away now Craig:
Portsmouth have been issued with a petition to be wound up by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs for unpaid PAYE of £1.6m, according to Andrew Andronikou, the administrator of the club’s parent company. He described the situation as “very serious”.
Michael Appleton, the manager, may be forced to sell players from his already threadbare 18-man squad to raise funds to help ease the crisis.
Andronikou, of Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI), which owns Portsmouth and who handled the club’s administration last year, said: “The club effectively ran out of cash at the end of December. The situation is extremely serious, we’re under extreme pressure to find a buyer.Time is against us. The issuing of the petition effectively means the club loses its ability to use its bank accounts. But we’ve made other provisions. We’re not fazed or worried by it. The club’s debts are not significant, we haven’t got millions and millions of liabilities.
“We pretty much have two months’ PAYE outstanding. We have about £800,000 a month and we never paid December and the club certainly is not in a position to pay this month so it’s a total of £1.6m. We’re waiting to see what the Revenue will do. They will probably advertise the petition [in the London Gazette] next week. I think there is a hearing date at the end of February.
“We need to focus on finding a buyer to completing a transaction to raise cash. In terms of working capital and cash it’s only going to come from two sources: a buyer or player sales. We’re working on both.”
Asked whether Appleton would have much choice who to sell, Andronikou said: “No, but Michael has been extremely helpful and understanding of the circumstances, in general terms we are looking to lower the average wage bill.”
The players’ December wages have been paid. “We’ve got plans to have the players paid for this month as well, but this situation cannot continue indefinitely,” he said.
If monies are not raised then Andronikou said he will have to ask the secured creditors, who include Balram Chainrai, the former owner still owed around £17.5m, if they wish to fund the club. Andronikou said: “We, the administrators of the parent company, can’t stay as the de facto shareholders for too long – we haven’t got the ability to provide monies for the club. The club is not in administration, the club is still running under the steam of the board. I’m anticipating HMRC will advertise the petition and that will be another problem we’ll have to deal with in due course.
“We’ll hopefully try and do a deal [to sell] in a very short period of time. We are trying to find [a new owner] who is not going to be there for five minutes.””
ASonOfDan says:
22 January, 2012 at 08:04
Jellyfish is a right tart, he’s ‘linked’ to so many clubs.
Árd Macha says:
21 January, 2012 at 19:01
Compare the penalty given against Victor and the one not given today.
I would also like to see the Thompson header cleared off the line again. There was no stewards’ inquiry to see if the ball crossed the line or indeed whether it was handball.
The ‘offside’ goal though was by far the worst. Francis Andrews should never officiate in another Celtic game, and our club should make an official complaint. I think that may lay down a marker for the rest of the season.
Árd Macha
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
2010 Never Again
Francis Andrews – When it walks like a duck and …………………….
Francis Andrews is a card carrying MIB and a despicable cheat who has plenty of form when it comes to sticking it to Celtic.
This man is incapable of officiating fairly when it comes to Celtic.
I agree entirely with Celtic formally complaining about him.
Top of the morning to you all from a bright and blustery Fife, but who cares about the weather when we have other things to cheer us?
Can anyone enlighten me as to whether or not the linesman at yesterday’s game is in receipt of a referees wage?
£1,000 per match isn’t it?
Serious question like.
Summa – my sister was born in Bellshill Hospital and she is crap at football. But I do remember loads of players having been born there. Pretty sure most of Lanarkshire was served by Bellshill – I would imagine a lot of currant buns were born there too. Interesting though. Despite the relatively small area the central belt of Scotland still produces pro level footballers in good numbers. It would be interesting to know how it compares with say, the Manchester area in those terms.
A bright, clear and breezy morning here in North Ayrshire.
Wonder what slant the papers will place on yesterday’s events.
Angelfc67
It’s so good to hear people in positions of responsibility being honest. It’s scary how much gic wangers are in
Anyone know which players of ours the Daily Ranger/ Sunday Mail haven’t tried to sell yet? It will a shorter list than the ones they have.
James Forrest for £6 Million to Tottenham? Your having a laugh. Come back with double and the answer should still be no.
The reality is we do need to sell from time to time. But we should be looking at the fringes of the squad before realising an asset like Forrest. We are after all a football club first and foremost and we couldn’t afford to but a James Forrest. So why sell one when you have one? Maybe when he has done another 4 years. But not now.
Laptop Loyal going down the rangers need players route and not Aunt Sally’s fault.
I wonder what they would have written if Neil had chucked 19 points…
Come on you Bhoys in Green!
jackie mac.
Interesting that the administrator is honest, until that happens down Govan way, they will fight tooth & nail to keep it under wraps.
Swallow Swallow brigade will keep on believing, especially when our press darlings fail to provide the truth that is easy accessible to all.
Will make it all the more sweeter.
Lennon stating Bangura unlucky with injury and expects to become a bug player for Celtic.
Interesting interview with Izzy, alot of Scott Brown bashing on here yesterday. According to Izzy he is a fantastic Captain and the whole squad love him.
He also describes him as ” Crazy, Crazy…”
Good morning fellow Celts from windy North Hampshire
it’s always a good day to be a Celt
yesterday was one of the special days
canny remember why…..
oh aye, now I do…
nnnnnnnnnnn nineteen point swing
nnnnnnice
HH
M
Just back from collecting my wee mortons crispy rolls and my wee pack of slice.
Anyway. As is norm I had a wee peek at the ole back pages.
Nae broken crest or anything.
Nae analysis or emboldened headlines informing the reader of any positive or negative results. A wee Celtic player for the off as usual and a Rangers manager begging his boss to sell his best striker this week – strange.
The Hunday Post caught my eye though.
Story aboot the SPL and how they are scouring the world to seek precedent with regard how they should treat the Hun if they go into liquidation. Aparantly soft parachute precedent has been found relating back to Parma and SeriA. Now I didn’t read the whole story but on searching Parma liquidation on my return home I note they liquidated under court instruction in 1968 and went into controlled administration from 2003 to 2007.
Actually. I wish I had read the full story now.
I still await my reply from the SPL.
MWD
Sunday post story today telling how the sfa can follow the lead of the Italian fa by allowing newco back into the spl with no censure no fine no points lost and no honours deducted, just like Parma fc/ac.
Sickening.
Somethings cooking……..in the kitchen, to the chune of;
The day will come
The day will pss
When orunj men
Will go to Mass
Baxter Bye Bye
Toast oan – check
We can talk about our Charlie Tully
He’s the man that made the ranjurs silly
Egg turned
Paddy T
Its the Sunday Post what do you expect.
The difference is, there is a Scottish Precedent, Livingston!
Point deduction and put in Third Division, some people might be looking at possible legal action to recover monies lost, if Newco not treated the same.
HH
It’s obviously lost on Scottish hun journalists that Italy is infamous for corruption in football.
Shameful desperation.
I hope the hearts story is true, if they are deducted 8 points for paying wages a day late then SPL have backed themselves into a corner over rangers.
They can hardly just deduct 10 points and leave it at that without expecting legal action from hearts.
HH
Isn’t it funny how a large part of Scotland people decry that which Italy is famous for,calling it corrupt,perverted and wrong yet they want to take a lead on how it runs an industry which is worth billions and is treated like a religion here?
Question.
What’s the deal with the post at 8.48 from Libertarian News?
Just asking.
Lorbobo
As Paul predicted a while ago, there will be an intensified media campaign to push this
Disgraceful
hh
Fantastic weekend of results for us.
I was pacing up and down the living room waiting on the score coming through from the Death Star and by 4.55pm the game STILL HADN’T FINISHED!
Convinced there was some skulduggery going on by the referee by adding time on, I was absolutely ecstatic when it finally came through on Sky Sports as 1-1.
We now have a vital 4 point lead which gives us a cushion when we play our cup semi-final next week whilst the filth have a league game. Even if they win, we’re still top of the pile.
Magic.
bankiebhoy1
there were a few similar, albeit under differing monickers, throughout the night.
MWD
Bankiebhoy. It’s spam
Apperently it comes from a valley north of Glasgow :))
St
Anyone catch the Tom English Scotsman article
Glorious 12th for Celtic
the guy is an AH
Lennondinho18 (@CelticNewsAtTen) says:
22 January, 2012 at 09:32
Lorbobo
As Paul predicted a while ago, there will be an intensified media campaign to push this
Disgraceful
hh
——————————
That’s why we need all the Celtic bloggers and “freelance journalists” to be continually firing out articles challenging their campaign and driving the buses through their arguments. We need an equal and opposite campaign to nullify their pleas for tax cheats to dodge just punishment.
Moonbeams. U back from shops with mortens and square slice?
I will put the kettle on, pop round:))
Please :)?)
St
Morning All,
Phil’s post about Celtic closing in on signature of a big name Euro striker got me thinking.
I’m sure I’m not the first to work it out so apologies if already posted, I haven’t had time to read back.
First let me outline my reasoning. We need to ask ourselves why a big name striker wants to go on loan in January. For me the likely answer is that he is desperate for game time ahead of Euro champs in summer.
Next question is why Celtic and not a premiership club where there is an obvious dearth of goalscoring talent at the moment. This would suggest that he is already at an EPL club who do not wish to offer their rivals and help. It is also safe to say that the EPL clubs are the only ones who have the resources to leave such talent on the bench.
A quick glance around the premiership then for big Euro names who are warming the bench lately throws up two obvious names. But if I apply previous logic, Berbatov is not going to the Euros and is therefore not in such a hurry.
That leaves us with Roman Pavlyuchenko from Tottenham Hotspur, a club we know we’ve had contact with lately cause we played them in a bounce game last week.
So welcome to Celtic Roman. Simples :)
P.S I realise that my thinking is probably a million miles off the mark, but if it did happen, and seeing how the other lot have started a trend of using players’ first names on the back of shirts, it might work out as a really sweet GIRFUY to them if we followed similar policy on this one :)
ST and MWD
Thanks.
I’ve no idea about such things. On reading back I noticed a few others in a similar vein. Do these represent any threat to blog security? Are they common on Blogs?
On my way out the door now btw. Will be back later to see what yous think.
I have prepared a few thoughts re things discussed on the RTC blog last night, which I missed as I was asleep.
As my comments tend to ramble, they are being split in to two parts (and I do remember I still have three parts of my Round-up to finish).
So, Part 1 of my thoughts re last night’s activity – Rangers Update – Mr Ellis & Mr Hughes, Wavetower Ltd, and the “Fit & Proper” Test (and only 1,500 word too!)
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/ellis_hughes_fit_and_proper/