They had to huff and puff but Celtic got the job done with a 2-0 win over battling St.Mirren last night at Celtic Park.
The visitors as expected sat it and made it difficult and we were reduced to speculative shots from distance for the most of the first half whilst the Paisley side went long and tried to catch us sleeping at the back on a few occasions.
Just before half time, Chris Jullien had a header cleared off the line and James Forrest cut inside and crashed one off the post.
Any suspicions that it was going to be one of those nights though were put to rest early in the second half though when Odsonne Edouard’s superb effort smacked off the post only for Mohamed Elyounoussi to scoop home the rebound on 49 mins and then five mins later James Forrest celebrated putting pen to paper on a new four year deal earlier in the day by once again cutting inside the box and executing a low drive that found the far corner.
The match petered out thereafter with Edouard uncharacteristically missing a sitter late on and Chris Jullien making a hash at a free sight of goal in the dying embers meaning that we couldn’t add to our tally.
With Rangers thumping Ross County 4-0 up in Dingwall we remain top by a solitary goal with both teams locked on 28 points.
Now it’s full steam ahead to the League Cup semi-final on Saturday for an unusual 5.30pm kick-off at Hampden Park.
This should be more or less a home game for Celtic with Hibs failing to sell anything like their ten thousand allocation and Celtic already selling out in excess of thirty thousand briefs.
Hibs form is well documented as they sit ninth in the league with only nine points from eleven games and only one league win all season which came on the opening day of the campaign at home.
Last night could have well have been sayonara to their hapless manager Paul Heckingbottom as they found themselves 2-0 down at home to Livingston but a penalty from ex-Celt Scott Allan and a late strike from the returning Martin Boyle rescued them a point and it would seem also saved the Englishman’s bacon for another day.
The League Cup has been kind to them this year with an unbeaten run through the group stages before toppling Greenock Morton 5-3 in the second round and then eliminating Kilmarnock on penalties at Rugby Park in the quarter-finals after a 0-0 stalemate.
But it’ll have to become borderline miraculous if it’s to see them beat us on Saturday.
Neil Lennon’s record in the competition isn’t great. In his first reign, he suffered final defeats to Rangers and Kilmarnock and also endured a horrendous semi-final loss to St.Mirren in a massive shock back in 2013. So let’s hope that type of form is arrested by Saturday evening as we attempt to reach our fourth consecutive League Cup final. Can you believe we actually reached 14 consecutive League Cup finals between 1965 and 1978? Shame we only won six of them.
Anyway, a victory should more or less guarantee an ‘Old Firm’ final in early December as Rangers play struggling Hearts the following day in the other semi. Hearts went down 1-0 to St.Johnstone at McDiarmid Park last night, failing to register a noteworthy shot on goal in the process as the doomed management of the forlorn Craig Levein lingers on.
Safe to say victories for both Glasgow clubs might result in the axe finally falling on the Edinburgh pairs respective management teams come Monday as both currently appear to be in a race to the bottom.
Time will tell. I predict a 2-0 win for Celtic in our match and a team I don’t like winning in the other one.
....Always A Tim! 