Greg Taylor on Saturday admitted that he was quietly confident that Celtic would prevail in the run-in and emerge with the silverware just as things turned out with the Scottish Premiership title and Scottish Cup both being won to complete a brilliant double in what was a difficult season for the club.
“At no point in the season was it not in our hands,” Greg Taylor noted (as reported by Scottish Sun) at Hampden after Celtic’s 1-0 victory in the Scottish Cup Final over theRangers. “We still had (the)Rangers to play at Celtic Park after the draw at Ibrox, so I was still quietly confident.
“Of course at that point in the season there were a few sticky games and a few disappointing results. But we peaked at the right time, got a lot of bodies back fit and have had a really strong squad and strong finish.
“We were saying in the dressing room that the Cup final was a pretty accurate reflection of how the whole season has gone. It hasn’t always been pretty, but we’ve got a really strong mentality in the group, a winning mentality, and in the biggest moments we’ve turned up.
“I thought in the first half we controlled a lot of the ball without doing a lot with it, in truth. The pitch was a bit dry, albeit a really good surface, and there wasn’t a lot of clearcut chances in the game, but in the big moment Adam gets the goal.
“We were a bit done and out on our feet so I’m glad it didn’t go to extra-time. I looked at the clock and it was showing 83 or 84 minutes and I was like, ‘Ooft, my legs are pretty done here!’.
“It was a hot day and a tense occasion. We had the chance to beat our biggest rivals, win a cup and make it a really special season, not just the league title, and we did it.”
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That’s a better and more accurate description of the game than the nonsense that is coming out of the losers’ dressing room. They were NOT the better side, Celtic edged the first half and they had slightly the better of it in the second half but neither side created a clear cut chance of note. The only real chance came from the powerful Paulo Bernardo run and shot, which their keeper spilled and Adam Idah’s striker’s instincts gave him the opportunity to win the cup for Celtic.
Had that happened at the other end of the park in the 90th minute Celtic could have had no complaints because the game was tight and one incident separated the sides. That’s the real story of the 150th Scottish Cup Final.
Celtic had a couple of penalty shouts that weren’t even looked at by VAR, the kind of incidents that they’ve been giving all season to theRangers. They had a goal ruled out – CORRECTLY – for a blatant push on Joe Hart’s back by Rankin – but are moaning the place down as a result. For heaven’s sake, even Bobby Madden reckons it was the correct decision to rule out the goal because of the foul on Joe Hart.
A lot of bleating about the Rangers goal being disallowed on Saturday. Never thought I'd say it, but I agree with Bobby Madden; this baulking happens when players are deliberately seeking to block goalkeepers at corners and defenders are out to stop them. pic.twitter.com/K36aZ4XgKR
— Lisbon Lion (@tirnaog_09) May 27, 2024
