That was some afternoon! There had been serious doubts about the wind in the morning, but a slight calming down by lunchtime and the game went ahead. Some of us were lucky enough to get a glimpse of Brendan Rodgers who may have done a little to earn some forgiveness by his appearance.
Brendan Rodgers returns to Celtic Park today. pic.twitter.com/3SOKbRUhvL
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) January 29, 2022
It would gave been interesting, though, if he had been asked to draw the lottery as Joe Ledley did. Joe said all the right things and deserves his small niche in Celtic history in the same way that Wim Jansen deserves a somewhat larger niche for his stopping the ten in 1998. Tribute was duly paid to him. RIP Wim. Nice also to see CaleyMac helping Ange to bring out a wreath. But how will history judge Brendan?
Before the game, I happened to meet a Senior Member of Staff of The Celtic Star, and we talked sagely for a while, but Ross County were now behind and depression filled the air. However, inside the North Stand was less blustery and a cup of coffee helped, and then some young lads got animated, and a few minutes later got animated again to indicate a 3-3 score line.
Someone shouted the good news to our players doing their warm up and those who understood English looked happy. Someone else told Mr Anderson, the referee, and I’ll swear he smiled! He certainly did not break down and cry.
What. A. Game. 😰
Matthew Wright’s last-gasp equaliser saw Ross County hold Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers to a 3-3 draw in a thrilling clash at the Global Energy Stadium 💥 pic.twitter.com/x5BFSEpHAM
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 29, 2022
You would need to be middle aged to remember the last time Dundee United won at Parkhead (1992, I believe) and they certainly did not look like winning today. Dundee United wins at Parkhead were about as rare as Jim McLean’s jokes. For a long time however, they looked for all the world as if they were going to earn a draw, as Celtic did everything but score. (And I feel I have said that last sentence quite a lot in Celtic v Dundee United reports over the years!)
Ange did not shrink from ringing the changes at half time, but we were still not getting enough quality ball into the box against a Dundee United side who were well marshalled and organised by the infamous Callum Butcher.
Nir Bitton could be described as unfortunate. He also has to be described as silly. His first booking was deserved and acknowledged by Bitton himself, but then he pulls a man down! (And, literally “pulls”!). No point in blaming Greg Taylor for losing the ball! Nir should not have done it. He must now face the consequences, and that is a shame for I thought he was both playing and captaining well!
Most of us were now resigned to a draw and a failure to take advantage of what happened at Dingwall, but then for once we got round the defence and sent a good ball across to Abada who finished well.
Rarely can I remember an eruption like that one. 90 minutes of pent up frustration released by 60,000 makes a lot of noise, and how lovely it was to see the players joining in, not least the young Ben Doak! What a day for him!
Our superstar from Portugal 🇵🇹 💚 pic.twitter.com/UPTOYG3vTq
— Homer (@_EAMONFLYNN) January 29, 2022
And how reassuring to know that the players get as emotional as we do! How nice to see so many happy smiling faces in the bus park, the toilets and the Celtic Way! Truly, we are a club like no other!
More prosaically, the upshot is that we are now just two points behind, and on Wednesday night, we can do something about that! Several caveats though! As Ange said tonight, the important thing is to top the table at the end of the season, not in February, and after Wednesday night, we have trips to Fir Park and Pittodrie, neither of them very easy! There is a long way to go yet. 15 League games and that is a lot of football. Today however is a great step forward.
“I thought our fans were fantastic today. It would have been easy for them to get on our back. There was a willingness there to push the players on. I can only imagine what it’ll be like on Wednesday night.” Ange Postecoglou
O’Riley impressed again, Juranovic had one of his poorer games and possibly Scales was better, the central defenders were good, James Forrest did some good things but appears a little more timid than he was before his injury and the unanimous opinion on Giakoumakis is… that we are not sure. The jury is still out, but the verdict must be delivered soon. We need to score more goals!
That roar 🗣️
Celtic could go top of the cinch Premiership with a win over Rangers on Wednesday night after Liel Abada’s last-gasp strike gave them a 1-0 win against Dundee United 👀 pic.twitter.com/9oJHfiF7h1
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 29, 2022
But a good day and a great atmosphere. Who do we play on Wednesday?
David Potter
Not sure nir deserved the first yellow, he clearly gets the ball, it changes direction substantially also, second one was similar antics to the game against hearts. Maybe it’s for the best, he’s looked off the pace when defending, decision making has been rushed, McCarthy can do that role and I’ve a feeling that Calmac will be back for the game on Wednesday.