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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Guy commentating on the ragers game on ragers t v says “saluko has got a licence to RRRome today for the want of a better term”. Then goes on to talk abt Italian football. mmmmmmmmm!!
0-0 with the bhuns.
Just Scroll Past.
Great win today – the kind that wins championships.
Obviously delighted but I just had a look back at the angst that was posted during the game.
Clearly not everyone who made a negative comment is a nervous wreck – some of the views about the team’s deficiencies are valid.
Plus points
Played badly and won (bottom line – nothing else really matters)
Forster, Hooper, Commons
Minus points
Officials – deary me. Fans have the right to howl at these people but Celtic players and coaching staff should clearly be managing these dumplings better.
Recent games against OldCo, Peterhead & St.Mirren confirm that you can injure Celtic players and get away with it. The club, at every level, has to be more forceful in dealing with this.
Brown & Ki starting clearly doesn’t work. Between them they cannot control the middle of the park. One lacks the technique, the other lacks heart.
Brown infuriates me. His general work (passing, touch & awareness) is routinely untidy. However he is strong, fit, committed and a wind up merchant.
Mulgrew (I’ll put my armour on). Anyone who thinks this guy is the answer at Centre Back is, IMO, kidding themselves.
His “conduct” at 24 mins & 89 mins today sums up all that is wrong in his game.
He is a classic drop off merchant a la McManus and has clearly not learned from his mistakes at Fir Park & Inverness which cost us games.
Centre Backs need to be very strong & aggressive. Quick helps. Mulgrew is none of these.
Skill & passing are way down at the bottom of the requirements spec.
Hail Hail
great to see sftb at the game
freezin cold, strong wind, slashing rain, stubborn opposition
superb 3pts !!
was right behind the trajectory of yon Brooony strike
belter ! cool as you like
a true captain’s performance today
delighted
0-0 at HT at DebtMountain
Didnt see the game today but 3 points cant complain. I hear it was grim, that FF played a stormerand the usual Mibbery afoot.3 points nonetheless.Well done Lenny.
Huns
“The due date for filing the Glasgow clubs 2011 audited accounts was 31st December.
No accounts have so far been filed, which is a potential criminal offense for owner
Craig Whyte and his boardroom colleagues.The PLUS listing has also been suspended.
Unaudited accounts were published last month. But there still remains unresolved
issues with auditors Grant Thornton over the potential major tax claim from a tax
avoidance scheme which could mean administration if – as expected –
Rangers lose at the tax tribunal”
..and Ellis has joined the board..
..the bored however are kinda quiet lately..could be a good sign..
..comoan aiberdeen
RATM
You might be right, I had my two boys fighting over a yo-yo at the time, so I might have misheard. :)
TopCorner –
Great to hear from a supporter who was there.
What were the police like before and after?
RobertTressel
With Samaras/Commons on one wing and Forrest on the other I doubt we would see ti being lumped forward that much. Our problem hasn’t been really getting crosses in but that they are usually knee height when we score.
All my English bets today are going according to plan, got Sunderland, Newcastle, QPR, and Everton all winning and Liverpool yet to kick off, will be a nice little lift if all goes to plan!
it never fails to amaze me when rangers are drawing or losing they are always the last score in scotland to come through on the vidiprinter at half time or full time
yet, when they are winning they are always the first one through
it happened today again
amazing isnt it?
BTWCelticShow Beyond the Waves
Going live at the top of the hour (4pm) – Skype into beyondthewaves and let us know what you thought of todays 2-0 result
here in under 10mins time…
BTW
Summa – I think that is a good summary. As soon as Commons and Stokes came on the game stretched which suited Celtic. Both COmmons and Stokes are good link men. Stokes will come out wide far more than Hooper and has the ability to beat players and set up chances which isn’t a strength of Hoopers.
We looked particularly solid at right back even though Cha in my opinion is not a favourite of mine, he is effective in games such as these. When we have possession and space then it’s Matthews every time but swirling winds, narrow parks and players in your face might not be the best for a 20 year old newbie when you have an out ball in the ever willing runner that is Cha.
My biggest concern was how far across Ledley was being drawn and he seemed to have no protection in front of him at left back. Needs looked at but a minor issue.
David Weir getting wheeled round park at bigot dome.
Cheaper than giving away freebies to soldiers, so maybe they should consider keeping him on.
TopCorner – DebtMountain – LOL
If at 65 mins the Huns game is still 0-0 get your house on Jelavic to score a penalty.
First of all I am not one of Scott Brown’s biggest fans , I actually dont think he fits into our team. But today I cant believe all the flak that he is taking.He does a lot more than what you seee on telly. Today we had a midfield that just didn’t seem to want to know in the first half, apart from Broonie. Broonie dragged us through that first half. I say that from being at the match and watching a lot of the stuff that doesn’t get shown on the telly. We had only one other pass mark in the first half , Gary Hooper , never stopped running to close down when others were watching, doing nothing. The second half belonged to Fraser Forster, another one who can’t count me as his biggest fan. I didn’t hear who the ESPN MOM was but it should have been FF. Officials were a total disgrace, but they wont even be embarrassed by their performance.
Still all that matters is the 3 points, and keeping the run going . League on the back burner for 2 and a half weeks, we’ve got 2 cups to progress in.
Hail Hail.
ASonofDan and RATM,
Young was indeed talking about Hearts and 8pts etc. The criticism is of course because no meeting has taken place yet.
Then Jim Spence suggested that there may be no difference between not paying trades suppliers and other bills and not paying players, which is obviously a reference to the forces. Spence’s reflection was met with a tumbleweed moment.
I’m amazed at Spence’s brave comment. Well done him.
Would also like to say;
NOW is the time to complain about performance of the officials. Complain when you win – that way you’re not made out to be ‘paranoid’ or ‘making excuses’.
In theory we we denied 2 goals today – rogne great header and the stonewall pen. On another day st mirren could have sneaked a goal or two and its points dropped.
Complain Celtic, complain. Unacceptable decisions. All from the ref and one linesman. I believe the ref was very poor for both teams but you do not need to be a rocket scientist to work out what team the far side linesman supports
dAVie wiEr
In halftime pie chart hun legned careers…he’s shirley simply something….
fecked if I know.
JabbaTalk.com
Tom McLaughlin
i’ll be honest with you…
i did not notice the police today very much at all
no strip search took place when i entered the ground (Celtic end, North Stand) at 1210hrs
however, when i was there for corresponding match last season, yes indeed, a body search took place, much to my surprise
then again, none took place at the earlier fixture couple years back involving a certain TMowbray
no flares today, only happy happy hoops fans at the end of the game
:)
Don’t know if anyone said this earlier, but if voicing political views in a football stadium is a border-traversing scandal, which is costing Celtic kudos and cash, how comes it St Mirren can have trackside advertising for the SNP?
Scotland: the best wee double standards in the world.
Tax Fiddlers 0 Ewe Fiddlers 0
Scott Brown’s first touch often leaves a lot to be desired but I feel that his drive and commitment cannot be
underestimated. Hard fought three points by a team that passed us off the park. How did Imrie avoid a booking
for that challenge on Brown? Dodgy ref.
antrimkev –
Sorry mate, but you really are scraping the proverbial barrel there. They read them out in alphabetical order.
Besides, do you really think it makes a difference to the actual score or result what order they read them out?
Greensideup is also Neil Lennon
========================================
Are you a Toffee man in disguise?
If so, nowt wrong with that.
Moyes has worked miracles at Goodison. Him and Kean are 2 good ghuys.
Fraser Forster is becoming more and more important to Celtic.
I thought it was a hard game only because of the atitude of the two players that were rightly subbed. We can’t afford any passenagers until the league is won.
Paul67 goes on about the protection Kayal gives the team but I think more importantly Kayal sets the tempo we play at and without him no other player including Scott Brown seems capable of dictating the play for Celtic.
It would do on harm to have big Dan back asap.
Still another important win making it a very impressive 12 in a row.
TopCorner –
That’ll do for me.
Thanks mate.
Di Canio
3rd mate.
Summa of Sammi…. says:
21 January, 2012 at 15:47
Nail on head.
Tom McLaughlin says:
21 January, 2012 at 15:59
i hope your on the wind
the scores dont come through alphabetically
my point still stands
Neil Lennon Abbot of Clonmacnois says:
21 January, 2012 at 15:57
As much as I hate hearts I don’t think that a points deduction is the correct punishment, as those points were collected by players not being paid! Fair play to the hearts players for sticking at it.
But it is amazing though that as soon as it’s not Rangers, there is a hint of investigative journalism from BBC sports Scotland….Yawn…
West Ham have coolled interest in Jelly allegedley
cos we (CFC fans) told them he was a dud haha
repeat exercise for latest suitors QPR ?
tell them Jelly is a dud and not worth more than 1.5mill max, no left foot, cant head it, soft in a challenge v young inexperienced CFC defenders etc
contacts as per below…
Press, PR & Publications Manager – Ian Taylor: iant@qpr.co.uk
New Media Manager – Paul Morrissey: 020 8897 5419 paulm@qpr.co.uk
Press Officer – Matthew Webb: 020 8740 2539 mattheww@qpr.co.uk
New Media Journalist – Adam Hulme: 020 8740 2526 adamh@qpr.co.uk
Head of Youth Recruitment – Terry O’Sullivan: terry.osullivan@qpr.co.uk
Head of Education and Welfare – Steve Quashie: steveq@qpr.co.uk
Auld Neil Lennon heid says:
21 January, 2012 at 15:31
Many thanks, ANC……
So, motherwell didn’t fold into a newco? Did they get points deducted?
Summa
“If He would have Went with that Set Up Away to Inverness Last April we Would have WON THE LEAGUE..”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Ghood point m8!
Lennons Lions march on!
Hail! Hail!
The dons players will be looking at one another wondering which one of them is getting sent off for the penalty incident.
On our game today Kris Commons has a massive part to play in the run in i was delighted to see the joy on his face today.
Onwards to glory with Neil and the bhoys.
HAIL HAIL
.
I See there a Few New Rangers Tops @ iPox today with the Number 24 and Mervan on the Back..
Is he Brazilian..? Why the First Name..Any Ideas..?
Summa ft MonaCelikCSC
ASonOfDan says:
21 January, 2012 at 15:46
Chick Young declaring decision made to deduct rangers 8 points. Where the hell did he get that from?
laptop loyal are beyond laughable…
========
He was on about Hertz being deducted 8 points for paying their players being paid 7 hours late on Shortbread the other night. If he’s right regarding the huns’ 8 point deduction the game’s a bogey..l