Well, the three points are in the bag, and it now seems that a win next Sunday will more or less finish it, but that was not an easy watch! Ross County fought well in the second half, and the explosion of joy behind that goal when the second one went in, shows just what this actually meant for the supporters, and for the club.
We had a major blow last Sunday, but we have now fought back and although you can never take anything for granted in football, it would have to be said that things look optimistic, even for pessimistic fatalists like me who remember the “frisbee” years of 2005, 1983 and 1980 when we threw it all away.
First of all, full marks to Ross County for everything. A good performance, and a well organised outfit who deserve all the credit they get, and show that there really is no excuse for the likes of Aberdeen and Hibs who have a budget many times more than Ross County but who cannot get a team.
So well done Ross County, and also a good performance from Kevin Clancy as well. It was not a difficult game to control, but he made it obvious by that early yellow card that he was having no nonsense. And the pundits, Stiliyan Petrov and Stuart Kettlewell talked a lot of sense with Stiliyan clearly a supporter, and telling everyone about how Henrik Larsson cured his nerves!
And so to Celtic. There were several worrying things, mainly the midfield performance in the second half where we failed to take a grip of the game. Callum McGregor was not his usual dominating self and made a few mistakes, and Reo Hatate should have been hooked earlier than he was. Passes went astray, and Ross County obviously took strength from that, whereas they had hardly been in it during the first 45.
The game should have been put to bed long before half time when we had all the pressure, but that goal that was scored in the first half was a good one, and Jota deserved the second one near the end, when a huge sigh of relief was heard all over the world where Celtic supporters gathered.
Relief is indeed the predominant emotion, for that could have been a huge banana skin especially after the distressing events at Motherwell yesterday. Relief at the moment, and not yet triumph, but triumph may be here soon.
David Potter
SCENES IN THAT AWAY END 🤩
Jota doubles Celtic's lead over Ross County! 📈 pic.twitter.com/erhdNsGmof
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) April 24, 2022
