Yet another disappointing defeat but somehow Celtic remain in contention for the Scottish Premiership title…
Celtic suffered a massive setback yesterday in our pursuit of the title as Martin O’Neill’s side crashed to a 2-1 defeat to Hibs at Celtic Park, in yet another worrying afternoon with an unconvincing display by the team, coming on the back of the 4-1 defeat to VfB Stuttgart at Parkhead on Thursday night. European hangovers has always been a danger particularly if the next match is away from home but this time it was at home and it was Hibs who benefited getting their first three points at Celtic Park in over 15 years.
Despite a positive start Celtic went a goal behind after our defence was caught out yet again, leaving Passlack with a free header in front of goal. Kasper Schmeichel in the Celtic goals incidentally was blameless but Celtic wee a goal behind against the run of play.
Celtic huffed and puffed looking for an equaliser before the break but just when it looked like Hibs would go in ahead Celtic were level. Kieran Tierney fired in a fine cross from the left hand touchline right on the stroke of halftime and Benjamin Nygren (who else?) was there to finish.
The goal rejuvenated the entire mood of the stadium, and the players who started the second period on the front foot, something that elevated the atmosphere to one that’s been missing for quite some time. It looked like just a matter of time before Celtic would go ahead with Hibs content to park the bus.
Incidentally theRangers also happened to be losing at Livingston, so there was extra motivation on and off the park, and all that was missing was a second goal for the Champions,.
However despite bombarding the Hibs goal, we failed to take advantage, and the match turned on its head in the 74th minute when Auston Trusty was needlessly ordered off for having a swipe at his Hibs marker Jamie McGrath at Celtic corner kick.
It was sheer stupidity from the American International, especially when Celtic was on the front foot. Why players do that when VAR is in operation is utter madness, but then again we can only wonder where the man behind the screen was when Liam Scales was quite clearly impeded in box when attacking a corner kick. The referee looked away, rather remarkably to follow the ball and missed Scales being pulled to the ground, with a Hibs defender heading the ball to safety behind the Hibs goal.
A VAR penalty call was quickly dismissed with the big screens at Celtic Park telling us that the decision was no penalty because the ball was foul happened outside the box. This was remarkable for a number of reasons. Firstly the incident happened at the edge of the six yard box not the 18 yard penalty area. So it if it was a foul then it certainly should have been a penalty. Then to make matters worse the referee Matthew McDermid started play with a goal-kick to Hibs.
Bad decision on top of bad decision here or perhaps it was more than that. Most Celtic supporters in the crowd certainly thought so.
The second goal did arrive, but unfortunately it was the yellow of Hibs who struck with three minutes of normal time remaining, Ante Suto set up Andrews to take full advantage of a tiring ten man Celtic side much to the delight of the travelling away supporters in the far corner of the ground.
Ironically it was a goal that benefited their bitter rivals Hearts who came out the weekend as the biggest winners, as theRangers also dropped two points at Livingston. The Ibrox support have complained about Celtic getting six and seven minutes of added time in their last two league matches. They certainly weren’t complaining when David ‘Digger’ Dickinson added on 13 (thirteen!) minutes as theRangers searched for a winner.
But at Celtic Park it was a massive opportunity that slipped through Celtic’s fingers, with Auston Trusty being tie culprit. That red card means he’s play in Stuttgart on Thursday night in a team that will be filled with non starters for Ibrox on Sunday afternoon. Somehow Celtic are still in contention for the title but they really must start to put together a winning run.
Hibs and Motherwell are both good sides and will take points off the top three. Indeed Motherwell aren’t too far away from making the three a four team fight for the Scottish Premiership title.
The next four fixtures for Hearts certainly look winnable – Derek McInnes’ side plays Aberdeen (H), Kilmarnock (A), Dundee (H) and Livingston (A). There final pre-split match is against Motherwell at Tynecastle.
Meanwhile theRangers in their pre-split fixture take on Celtic (H), St Mirren (A), Aberdeen (H), Dundee Utd (H) and Falkirk (A).
Champions Celtic, who have played a game less due to the recent postponed fixture up at Pittodrie, have the following matches to play in the Scottish Premiership before the split: theRangers (A), Aberdeen (A), Motherwell (H), Dundee Utd (A), (Dundee (A) and St Mirren (H).
Post split Celtic will face both theRangers and Hearts at Celtic Park, Motherwell and Hibs away from home and probably Falkirk again at Celtic Park.
Introducing The Celtic Star App and our new ad-free Premium Service...
Go ad-free on The Celtic Star, get a FREE trial period to try it out. Also download our new App – available for both Apple and Android – and get the best Celtic content on your phone without fighting through pop-up ads and being forced to watch videos.
Our new PREMIUM service comes with a free seven-day trial so you can look before you book. If you are happy to continue the price will be just 99p per month or £9.99 for the year. For that you get an AD-FREE SITE plus access to our premium content, and you’ll also help us make The Celtic Star even better and less reliant on advertising revenues, allowing us to be more focused on publishing the best Celtic features on the internet.
Click HERE to access your FREE trial. We think you’ll like it! We’re Obsessed with Celtic and we think you are too! Join us hand in hand...
Still in contention, but if we incredibly make it over the line to be champions it’ll be like that wreck car on wacky races that hilariously trundles over the finishing line ahead of the better equipped rest with three wheels, backfiring and cogs flying off.