It is nor often that insomnia can be brought on by laughter and happiness, but that’s what happened, I imagine, to quite a few of us last night. Jeering, gloating, Schadenfraude were all in evidence last night, and quite a few of us teetotallers and prohibitionists maybe even treated ourselves to a wee night-cap before turning in!
First of all, well done to St Mirren and Jim Goodwin in particular! They are a compact side, but as they said themselves, they probably did not have as much talent as their opposition, but they did have mental strength particularly when they conceded so late and we all feared the worst. Well done too to Livingston, and we can look forward to these League Cup semi-finals in January. Not that I am too bothered, but I have always had a soft spot for St Johnstone who are the only team of the four who have not won the Scottish League Cup.
Last night’s commentators? That ruggedly handsome (sarcasm!) Alex Rae did to his credit put a brave face on things, but I wondered when Stephen Craigan was going to burst into tears in that second half. And that was after a first half of sheer sycophantic grovelling! I retain my admiration of Michael Stewart, however. That guy does know his football.
Last night was of course good news for Celtic. A couple of days ago, I predicted that our rivals might crack. I think I heard something like a crack last night, but it is all totally dependent on Celtic winning their games. We must NOT now crack. In particular it would be an awful shame if we were to blow up on Sunday, and lose the Happy Christmas that St Mirren offered us last night. It is now nearly a decade (March 2011 to be precise) since any club from Ibrox won a major Scottish trophy and it will indeed be a full decade before they can win anything – and that is before we start arguing about dead clubs, resurrected clubs, new clubs and so on. All this will prey on their minds, make no mistake about that. They might now begin to wonder if they will ever win anything. Let us encourage them in that uncertainty.
And so the ball is now in Celtic’s court. The psychological momentum is beginning to tip in our direction in a way that was almost unimaginable a fortnight ago. Do not throw this away, Celtic! Win the Scottish Cup on Sunday! Please! And then we can think about the Scottish League after that.
Wendy (Eh! why is he calling himself Wendy? Simple! Oh, wen di Saints, oh wen di Saints, oh wen di Saints go marching in…)
David Potter
