JAMESY – 5/10 – Takes a lot to stifle Jamesy and they usually come in pairs with perky nipples. Today there were flashes of the flash as we were treated to some exploratory wingplay first half; foiled by the save of the game from putting us ahead. But you have to credit their defence for the way they managed to close down our right channel well enough that by the hour Jamesy was running up cul-de-sacs or turning into traffic.
DUNCAN IDAHO – 6.5/10 – All that time spent bumbling about the park, looking just happy to be there. Then he remembered: he was Celtic’s number 9 and his number was about up. So he stepped it up. Bang, bang! And no chitty for The Bairns. Timed on the edge of perfection for his first tap-in, touch of grace (meant it?) to glide between defenders seconds later and slot home the roof-raising third.
Around that scintillating awakening… Meh, really. But those quality inputs define price tag arguments. So… does he now deserve a start? Clue: the answer’s similar to the one for, ‘Does your average Zombie understand that bestiality is not recognised as civilised behaviour?’
BRIAN DE – 3.5/10 – Appeared bright enough early on with his usual guile embossed with a will to chase back and aid young Uncanny, albeit in the style of a Honduran market stall bootleg Daizen. Then his terminal fault kicked-in and it was back to Main Character Syndrome Palma, swanning around with the movie-star rueful grins and ‘sonofabitch’ hand-smacking shtick. This time last year we had a player in there, eager to dazzle on the big stage.
Now we’ve got a happy-go-lucky drifter, skipping along on the coat-tails of the main acts. Doubt we’ll see him back in the limelight for a while…
