OLIVIER NTCHAM scored the early goal that settled Celtic at Broadwood yesterday and eased any concerns that the weather might help Clyde fulfil their dream of repeating that Scottish Cup upset from January 2006.
It was the French midfielder’s birthday yesterday and his goal was a particularly nice gift from him to the Celtic Support, especially those ones reading Celtic Noise after we tipped then off prior to the kick-off that the the wind at the Cumbernauld stadium was such that a 6/1 investment in a goal scored from outside the box was worthy of a few quid. It only took a few minutes into the game for that assessment to pay off.
Scott Brown got the second goal before the interval and had a lovely word or two to say to the Clyde player he’s muscled out of the way to get to the ball and score. Pretty it was not, but most of the travelling Celtic support were too cold to care. Even the drum player jacked it in for a long period of this match.
With St Johnstone away in the quarter finals, if Celtic win in Perth then the HCTS will come into effect for the semi-final and hopefully the final. The HCTS will not have been implemented this year in those circumstances (it would take a replay at McDiarmid Park for that to happen).
So if we’re in the semi-final against for instance the Rangers, will the HCTS ballot happen or will the supporters who went to Firhill, Broadwood and McDiarmid Park get any kind of priority?
Surely the supporters buses for the CSA, Affiliation and AICSC are all entitled to at least the same number of tickets that they got for the earlier rounds with the non attending support balloting for the rest?
The third goal yesterday was scored by Bayo and that at least gave us something from a non-event of a second half. His movement to get himself space for the pass was exceptional and – whisper it – looks like that’s been coached.
Ntcham was a player regarded as being moody. He’d play well when he felt like it but when it didn’t suit he’d retreat into his shell and contribute little. The days are gone now according to his skipper. Scott Brown reckons Ntcham’s had a new lease of life at Celtic this season.
“It’s about the team spirit. We are all together and everything is good. We keep winning, and I hope it will be like that until the end of the season,” the Celtic captain said to the media as reported by Scottish Sun, and on his goal he added: “It was a good win for the team and I was happy to get a goal. It was a good strike. Normally that ball goes in the stand, but thankfully this one went in the net.”
On Olivier Ntcham: “Oli loves it here, he’s enjoying playing, and showing his quality on the park. Everyone appreciates that and he tracks back too, which is what the manager wants.
“He played a little deeper today than he normally does with Callum McGregor being out and Ryan Christie being in the team, so he got a wee bit more of the ball.
“As soon as Oli gets it he’s got that drive to go forward. He can go past somebody, he’s got a goal in him, and has the vision to see a pass too. Oli is very confident on the ball and always willing to take it in any situation.
“He chips in with goals as well, and his finish here was incredible from where he was.
“He took a touch and whipped it in, and it’s one of those that either goes in at the back post, or someone gets a touch to take it in. That’s what he brings, but he’s also got that drive, he can play wee one-twos.
“His link-up play with Odsonne Edouard, Callum and Leigh Griffiths recently has been phenomenal.”
The 3-0 win against Clyde took Celtic’s record of consecutive cup victories to 33 stretching all the way back to Ronny Deila’s side losing that penalty shoot-out at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final in April 2016 after the game finished 2-2 after extra time. The 33 not out achievement is certainly something the players want to protect and extend.
“We are proud of our record in the cups and we want it to keep going. But the main thing is we focus on St Johnstone when it comes,” Broony stated.
“It’s going to be hard going up there. I know we played really well there the last time, but it doesn’t always work that way. St Johnstone have kicked on since that game, so it will be hard, and Tommy Wright has always got them well organised.
“For us, we just take it one game at a time, and now we’ve got a huge game against Hearts at Celtic Park. Hopefully we can get three points there and just keep kicking on game by game.
“We don’t look too far ahead and we’ll deal with St Johnstone when it comes up.”
And on the wet and windy conditions at Cumbernauld, the Celtic skipper made a valid comparison with the weather that they have to contend with at the club’s training base.
“We’re used to that sort of weather up at Lennoxtown! We’re in the middle of nowhere and we get that most weeks. It was good, a few of the lads who had not played recently or been injured got some game time.
“It’s good the manager chopped and changed his squad and a few of the lads got rested today. For us the main thing was to try and get through here with no injuries and a good performance as well.
“The pitch actually played quite well, it’s good astroturf, well looked after and a good wee stadium. The wind was tough, especially in the first half, as the ball would slow down and then speed up.
“We dealt with it all quite well, and in the second half we had more control and tried to slowly probe. Clyde got deeper and deeper as the game wore on and we eventually got the third goal.”
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