Seven talking points after a freezing day at Fir Park

WHAT were the main talking point after today’s goalless draw at an absolutely bitterly cold Fir Park?

1. THE BOTTOM LINE. Okay we didn’t win and failed to score despite being up against 10 men for an hour. However the fact that Celtic are now 10 points clear, with one game in hand. Our away fixtures against Aberdeen, Rangers and Motherwell has provided a haul of 7 points and we have extended our lead at the top. Last Saturday we were told there was a title race. Title race? What title race?

2. MEN OF STEEL. Aggressive Motherwell had Kipre sent off for kicking out at Scott Brown. Their fans jeered and abused Scotty Sinclair before he’d even touched the ball. Their manager confronted Scott Brown in the tunnel before police intervened. No doubt their PR chap Grant Russell will have been running around the media room with his lap top trying to sell the Broony cheated narrative. He didn’t. The guy kicked out at him and when you do that you give the referee a decision to make. Fine margins as Jozo Simunovic found out last week. If you aim a kick at me and I see it coming, I am likely to react. That’s all Broony did.

See this…

Kipre red highly debatable. But the Andy Walker "pathetic" slur aimed at Scott Brown was shameful & unprofessional.
Unsurprising Derek McInnes later waded into to attack the Celtic captain for a referee's controversial https://t.co/hGdcFmGWhb's coverage of the SPFL stinks!

— Brian McNally (@McNallyMirror) March 18, 2018

3. BAIN IS THE MAIN MAN – the battle for number one jersey at Celtic took another twist today as Scott Bain retained his place in the team following on from his impressive Ibrox performance. Doris de Vries was fit but sat on the bench watching as Bain made a few good stops in the first half then was untroubled in the second half. Bain was given a warm reception by the Celtic fans as he took to his goal in the first half and is becoming a favourite among the support. Dorus has never earned that state, sadly.

4. KT STOPS BY. Injured and ruled out of the clash today with a calf injury, KT was present with the supporters in the Celtic end cheering on the team. We could have been doing with him on the park though. Brendan Rodgers said in one of the papers this morning that he tries to give players some time off and they head down to London or over to Paris or whatever. However with Kieran, his idea of a day off is to go and see Celtic. He’s one of our own.

Kieran Tierney behind me at the game today , such a lovely lad ???????? pic.twitter.com/mNWJVfIDB1

— carol o'connor ???? (@carolk23) March 18, 2018

5. THE MOTHERWELL PIE. Overly greasy, not warm enough and something ugly from within split down my jacket. Sort of sums up our day at freezing cold Park.

6. International R&R – Celtic now have a under two weeks before resuming domestic football as next weekend sees international matches. KT is out of the Scotland squad, Broony has retired but James Forrest, Stuart Armstrong and Callum McGregor are likely to feature in next Friday’s friendly against Costa Rica. We’ll not be counting the sleeps ahead of that one.

7. Interesting discussion on they way home about an article posted elsewhere on the Timternet which revels in Graeme Murty apparently having the worst home record at Ibrox in a hundred years or so. Plenty of disgust at this appearing on a Celtic site, lock stock and barrel buying into the same club narrative. Next we’ll be hearing about how great it is that Neil ‘Same Club” Doncaster is getting promoted to the SFA.

UTLR.