As the headline suggests I went to the Celtic v. Livingston game today. I headed up early to make sure I got a ticket, in the end I think it was a few thousand off a sell-out but I thought I better be sure.
Since I got a digital camera over Christmas I took plenty of photographs and I guess 'Pish readers can expect this for the coming year. Maybe I'll set up another page for photos only or move them onto Flickr, as I guess folk might get bored with tons of photos. Anyway a selection from this afternoon is below.
The ground suffered a power cut at about 2.30 just as the pre match entertainment The O'Sullivan Brothers (aka The Singing Santas) had launched into Dirty Old Town. Man, was I sorry to hear the end of them. Before the power cut, on the big screens they showed highlights of the Inverness CT game from a couple of weeks ago. I never caught what pair of haddies were commentating for Celtic TV but I'm glad the power cut prevented me from hearing any more of their gibbering nonsensical comments. For a while I thought that the game would be abandoned. After numerous uncertain announcements, the power came back on and the game finally kicked off 50 minutes late at ten to four.
But just before that the crowd perked up slightly as new signing Roy Keane took a brief bow. It lasted as long as it took him to walk about 20 yards out onto the pitch, wave and then walk back to the dugout.
The game itself was pretty dire. Livingston seemed to open up at the back whenever Celtic went forward but the home team struggled to make much headway up front. They also lost possession at the back more than was good for them. Kenny Dalglish's son Paul was Livingston's biggest threat but he didn't see enough of the ball in the first half and when he did get it there was little or no support for him.
The Celtic fans quickly got on the backs of the players but they eventually took the lead with a Shaun Maloney penalty. In the second half Celtic continued to look shakey at the back with Bobo Balde in particular failing to control with his first touch and doing a passable impression of a Priest looking for the exit door in a lingerie section whenever he had the ball in his own penalty area. And it was just this uncertainty that led to the Livingston equaliser, with Balde giving the ball away and Dalglish taking his chance to level the scores.
I would struggle to say who deserved to win this one Celtic certainly created more chances, but they looked unconvincing. I was particularly disappointed with eventual matchwinner Shunsuke Nakamura. I was looking for him to take on opponents and to go past defenders, but he seemed to favour a square ball or to play it out to Telfer on the wing. That is to say until the 87th minute when he finally went past a couple of defenders and curled a brilliant shot from outside the box into the net. An excellent goal, though I was slightly perplexed why he was man of the match.
In addition to the home support screaming their displeasure at their players, (Aiden McGeady and Ross Wallace came in for a lot of stick from where I was sitting) it was surprising to see a large number leave with ten minutes or so to go as the score was 1-1 at the time.
I found it an entertaining day, mainly because I don't get to as many games as I would like, but with the ticket price being a hefty £23 I probably won't be making it a regular outing.
Since I was at the ground early I joined the eager crowd awaiting the arrival of the team. This is manager Gordon Strachan going into the ground.
Club captain Neil Lennon makes his way off the bus for a game where he did more moaning at the ref, timewasting and shoving folk than he did bossing the midfield.
"The biggest signing in Celtic's history" Roy Keane arrived on his own a few minutes after the team bus. He spent no time hanging around despite the crowd of fans chanting his name.
The power goes out before the match. It was still daylight at this time, so it didn't cause as much commotion in the ground as it might have. If it had lasted I'm sure the Celtic fans would have been calling for the head of an electrician before too long.
The crowd at the traditional Celtic End, singing along with You'll Never Walk Alone, just before kick-off.
John Hartson lurks outside the six yard box.
Celtic's Japansese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura lines up a free kick.
The Celtic players congratulate Nakamura on his winning goal.
1 comment:
This was a fantastic game.
Post a Comment