Matches

Celtic blast in 6 to win the SPL!

Celtic blasted in six goals against Kilmarnock to clinch the title and get some revenge for our defeat in the League cup final.

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Celtic 2 St Johnstone 0 - Roll on Killie!

Samaras and Commons combined to give Celtic the three points against a well organized St Johnstone.

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Dundee Utd 0 Celtic 4 - Semi Final here we come

Celtic demolished Dundee Utd in the second half to progress to the Scottish Cup semi final.

Forster; Matthews, Rogne, Mulgrew, Ledley; Forrest; Wanyama, Brown, Samaras; Hooper & Stokes
Zaluska, Cha, K Wilson, Commons & McCourt

The first half of the game was very much end to end football. Right from the start Dundee Utd seen a weak point, Ledley at left back behind Samaras. With no support for Samaras Ledley was unable to deal with Dundee Utd who got several dangerous balls from that position in the first few minutes. Lennon seen the weakness so Mulgrew moved into left back, Wanyama moved next to Rogne and Ledley moved next to Brown.

The change helped Celtic cope with Dundee Utd better but Dundee Utd were still posing a threat. The best chance of the first half fell to Russell after Mackay-Steven got past Matthews. Mackay-Steven cut the ball back to the penalty spot, Russell choose his spot but Forster made a brilliant save to keep it 0-0.

Hooper, Forrest and Stokes weren't getting into the game much, Hooper could barely hold onto the ball and it looked like Dundee Utd were going to get the first goal.

But 30 minutes into the game Robbie Neilson got himself sent off after elbowing Samaras in the face. Dundee Utd's best man Mackay-Steven came off, this calmed down Dundee Utd's attacking threat but sadly Celtic's attack was still half a sleep.

The first half ended 0-0, Lennon would be happy to have a word with the team and get a chance to change their approach to the game to try and take advantage of the extra man.

Celtic came out in the second half like a brand new team. The passing was slick and Dundee Utd couldn't get much of the ball. It paid off on the 53rd minute when Mulgrew cut the ball along the 6 yard line, Hooper faked it leaving it for Ledley to poke it past Pernis.

Lacny came on for Gunning just after that as an attempt to put some pressure on Celtic. It almost paid off when he found space behind Rogne, but he put it just wide of the goal.

Celtic push forward to try and secure the game, Celtic won a freekick from Flood who took down Stokes. Mulgrew crossed the ball to the back post and it met the head of Samaras.

Armstrong came on for Willo flood who started well for Utd but in the second half we seen why he didn't feature for Celtic very often.

On the 78th minute Forrest made a fantastic run, he cut it back for Stokes who had an open net infront of him but he smashed it off the crossbar. Paddy McCourt came on straight after that, he was the perfect sub for Celtic because he opened so much space for other players.

He passed the ball along the 6 yard line but Samaras fired high and wide. Then he opened space for Ledley 10 yard outside of the box, he played the ball through for Stokes who slide it into the bottom corner.

Celtic then finished the game with a well taken penalty from Brown as Zaluska kept a clean sheet after coming on for the last few minutes.

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Celtic 2 Dundee Utd 1 - Celtic survive late scare

Forster; Matthews, Rogne, Mulgrew, Izaguirre; Brown, Wanyama, Ledley, Samaras; Hooper & Stokes
Zaluska, Cha, K Wilson, McCourt, Commons, Ki & James Keatings

The game was even for the first five minutes of the game as it went from end to end with Mackay-Steven being Dundee Utd's main man. But Celtic grabbed the game and started playing some great flowing football, every player was untouchable.

Celtic dominance led to a counter attack, Stokes dragged the ball towards the box against two Dundee Utd defenders, Hooper found space and Stokes played him through. Hooper had a 1v1 vs the keeper and put the ball into the top right of the net.

Dundee Utd kicked off and continued to play good football when they were on the ball but Celtic weren't letting go of the ball very easily. Izaguirre was playing very well and won a corner on the 16th minute. The corner was taken short and Izaguirre collected it, he crossed the ball into the box and Victor Wanyama met the ball with his head. The ball went across the goalkeeper and into the top left corner, surely it was one of the best headers this season.

Stokes wasted three freekicks in the first half which came to a positive close with a big scoreline looking likely.

The second half started and Celtic won a freekick only a few second's into it. This time Mulgrew decided to take it, he got the ball over the wall, it was heading for the bottom corner but Pernis made a good save.

A few minutes later Samaras cut inside and ran past two Dundee Utd defenders, he took a shot from outside the box but Pernis made another good save.

Celtic were well in control until Johnny Russell opened some space for John Rankin who slammed the ball in off the post from 30 yard. It was a great goal from Rankin and Forster never really had a chance to reach the ball.

The goal changed the game completely and Dundee Utd started to get a lot more of the ball as some Celtic players started to get slack.

Dundee Utd could have got a second when Dixon crossed the ball into the box, Daly got a head to it but Forster made a great save.

Stokes and Izaguirre came off, Samaras moved upfront and Ledley moved to left back as Ki and Commons came on.

Hooper was taken down on the edge of the Dundee Utd box by Scott Robertson. Commons took the freekick but the 6 man wall blocked it and Celtic failed to get anything from the rebound.

Celtic were glad to see the game end, it was a great first half performance but the second half wasn't the best but we held out for those important three points.

Celtic have not won 11 spl games in a row.

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Peterhead 0 Celtic 3 - Stokes Scores Hatrick

Thanks to a Stokes hatrick Celtic hammered rough Peterhead 3-0.

Zaluska; Cha, K Wilson, Mulgrew, Izaguirre; McCourt, Brown, Ki, Ledley; Stokes & Samaras
Forster, McGeouch, Wanyama, Matthews & F Twardzik

Peterhead's mentality going into the game couldn't be more obvious from the start and was shameful to watch. In the first 10 minutes they were fully dedicated to take the ball no matter what even if it meant taking the player out as well. But slowly Peterhead got tired and couldn't even get close to the ball.

Celtic kept on increasing the tempo and started to create some chances including some good runs from Samaras and a goal by Stokes that was waved offside. Their efforts finally paid off though when Samaras was released down the right wing, he swung the ball in for Stokes who tapped it into the net.

Samaras was possibly offside for the goal but I couldn't really see Peterhead complaining going in 1-0 down at the end of the first half.

The game was very easy for Celtic in the first half and the same thing continued in the second half, 10 minutes in Emilio Izaguirre played Stokes through who guided the ball into the bottom left corner.

Victor Wanyama came on straight after the goal for Joe Ledley who was elbowed in the head just a few minutes earlier. It clearly should have been at least a yellow but the Referee did nothing.

Stokes had a chance for his third 5 minutes later from a corner, he got the ball at the back post, he cut the ball outside to try and get a better angle but he blasted the ball a yard wide.

On the 70th minute Twardzik came on for Samaras who had a good game and could have got a goal for himself.

Stokes did score a 4th goal thanks to a great long ball from McCourt but even though Stokes was two yards online the linesman flagged him off.

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Celtic 2 Kilmarnock 1 - An early Christmas

Celtic are now only one point away from Rangers thanks to two great goals from Georgios Samaras.

Celtic only made one change for this game, with Ledley returning to the side for the Injured Majstorovic. The first half was quite poor as Kille and Celtic gave away a lot of silly balls but I think a lot of it was due to the very slick surface.

However Celtic started to get into their stride with Forrest taking a shot on the edge of the box, Bell couldn't hold it, Hooper chipped the ball but it just went wide.

The referee was quite inconsistent and was giving fouls for almost any challenge, it wasn't as bad as the Refereeing in Italy but it was close. A player was down in the box in the kille for an ankle injury and the referee blew his whistle when Celtic had the ball on the edge of the box. He then told Brown to allow Kille to kick the ball to Forster.

It looked like Celtic were going to go in 0-0 after a tough game but Cha wipped a good cross into the box and Samaras connected to it with his head and put Celtic in the lead a minute into extra time.

The goal came at a perfect time so for the second half Celtic came out with confidence and Kille were still making some bad mistakes.

Hooper got the ball 35 yards from goal, he played a good pass for Samaras who cut inside and slid the ball into the bottom corner and the half empty stadium burst into life.

Just before the goal Lennon brought on Kelvin Wilson for James Forrest, it was probably just to keep him safe for the big game on the 28th.

Samaras almost got a hatrick as he got the ball on the edge of the box, he turned to shoot but the Kille defender just did enough to put him off.

Bangura came on as a sub in the 65th minute for Samaras who got a standing ovation not just for the goals, he caused Kille loads of problems all day. Bangura however came on and disappointed making some really strange decisions but he hasn't had the time to settle into Scottish football yet.

The game was going well and Ki got a good chance as well thanks to some good play from Brown and Cha but he tried to make it fancy and missed the ball.

It looked like Kille had gave up but Racchi found some space around 30 yards out and shot the ball straight into the bottom corner. It was a little dodgy goal but it gave Kille a massive boost and they pushed to try and get another goal in the last five minutes.

The referee then made another strange decision, he stopped play again because a Kille player was down in the Celtic box, it was a head injury and it was the correct move. But he tried to stop Mulgrew I think it was, from getting a challenge into the drop ball.

Kille pumped the ball into the box for the last five minutes, Rogne came on for Ki and Celtic finished the game 2-1.

It wasn't an easy game but the three points is all that matters, we had some good performances today especially from the 30th minute onwards.

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Udinese 1 Celtic 1 - Euro dream over

Celtic went out of Europe after a great performance when Antonio Di Natale's strike canceled out Hooper's tap in a minute before half time.

I won't do the usual match report and give you every detail, I was having a drink and I usually do the report as the game is ending where my memories are fresh. Instead just a small morning overview of the night's events and see where we go from here.

Lennon started with a strange 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation with Samaras and Forrest providing the attacking width for Hooper. This tactic worked wonders early on especially for Samaras and Hooper. Samaras put Hooper through but he slid the ball just wide of the far post. But Samaras helped again by putting a great cross into the box which hit a Udinese defender for Hooper to tap in.

From there Celtic continued to play well against Udinese as the referee put in some really bad decisions. The referee was blowing for a foul every time a player went down from both sides. It was very strange to see compared to the Scottish referee's.

Just a minute before half time though, a sliced Udinese cross found it's way into the box and for some reason Cha headed the ball back into the middle of the box and Di Natale did his magic.

I can't remember a whole load from the first half except from some fantastic saves from Forster that kept us in the match. Also Cha almost got a goal after his strike from long range hit the post and bounced off the back of the keeper. But the keeper recovered well.

Stokes and Bangura came on for Kayal and Samaras, it looked like Celtic could have got a goal but time was against them and it finished 1-1.

Personally in this game, we deserved a draw I think we should have beat them at Celtic park and probably beat Rennes away as well.

Now we can really focus on our domestic game which should have a boost. I'm looking forward to the game on the 28th, Rangers have only been playing domestic teams but Celtic have got loads of big game experience this season. This might help us a lot when it comes to the game, we just need to make sure that we don't slip up against St Johnstone and Kille.

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