Tag: Scottish Premiership

Celtic smash seven past saints, the other results plus Cluj Champs League preview.

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Celtic got their title defence off to a flyer with a seven nil massacre of St.Johnstone at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon – Saturday afternoon at the time of publication.

In my last article, I had predicted a romp for Celtic based on the Perth sides woeful League Cup group section campaign throughout July which had seen them lost to newly-promoted Ross County though more pertinently to League One sides Forfar Athletic and Montrose.

Before the game, I listened to their manager Tommy Wright passionately defend his record at the club on BBC Sportsound which is telling as no one had actually called it into question and is more of a reflection of the pressure Wright must himself feel under and his frustrations at the fact they have lost nine first-team squad players over the summer with only a couple coming in and a striker badly needed.

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Joy for Christie and Johnstone but not so much for Tommy.

As much as I expected an inform Celtic, fresh from a 7-0 aggregate dismissal of Nomme Kalju in the Champions League qualifiers,  to put them to the sword I could never have predicted a 7-0 skelping which is the men from Perth’s worst result in 21 years and even eclipses the 6-0 scudding we gave them at McDiarmid Park last term.

Ryan Christie kept up his sparkling recent form with a hattrick. His first a beauty from the edge of the box and his third an even more spectacular finish with the one in the middle being a tad fortunate with Saints keeper Zander Clark not exactly covering himself in glory.

Mikey Johnstone had opened the scoring with a nice finish of his own after only nine mins and Ntcham, Edouard and Griffiths also delivered the goods with each executing fine finishes in the second half.

Hatem Abd Elhamed also made his debut and looked pretty good – let’s be honest if you can’t look good when your team is winning 7-0 then you never will – but sadly limped off in the second half. Let’s hope it isn’t too serious.

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Hatem in action.

A perfect way to start the title defence on a day in which our eighth consecutive title flag was fittingly unveiled by Liz McNeill and Sadie Chalmers, the wives of the legendary Billy McNeill and Stevie Chalmers, two immortal club legends who we lost earlier in the year.

Elsewhere over the weekend Livingston and Motherwell burst my coupon with a meandering 0-0 draw whilst Hibs stuttered before scoring late to beat struggling St.Mirren at Easter Road thanks to a Scott Allen goal. It’s early doors but from what I’ve seen thus far I’m not too impressed with Paul Heckingbottom’s English League One level purchases.  Last seasons Championship winners Ross County re-entered the top flight in style as they easily dismissed perennial relegation candidates Hamilton Accies 3-0 up in Dingwall.

Earlier on today Aberdeen won a rabble-rousing encounter at home to Hearts 3-2 with the Edinburgh side literally grasping defeat from the jaws of victory after throwing away 2-1 lead and seeing young 17-year-old Aaron Hickey sent off before Clévid Dikamona needlessly gave away a penalty which was converted by goal machine Sam Cosgrove before new singing Ryan Hedges blasted home a late winner.

Rangers also continued to provide further evidence that we have little to worry about this term as they struggled to a 2-1 away win at a Kilmarnock team coming off the back of a shambolic Europea League exit. Killie look like a pale imitation of the well-oiled machine Stevie Clarke had moulded them into last season but still dominated large swaths of the game and were unlucky to concede late to a Connor Goldson header.

But now let’s get back to our next European opponents in the 3rd Qualifying round of the Champions League.

They are of course CFR Cluj of Romania who have won back to back national titles and are managed by former Chelsea star Dan Petrescu.

He’s had great success on these shores before both as a player with Chelsea and in a coaching capacity with the now-defunct Unirea Urziceni who he led to a 4-1 Champions league groups stage hammering of Walter Smith’s Rangers back in 2009 at Ibrox.

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Cluj manager Dan Petrescu thinking about Celtic. 

Cluj themselves are currently enjoying the most successful period in their history having been formed way back in 1907 they only won their first top-flight title back in 2008 and very first national cup that same year.

They’ve won four more titles and three more cups since and have established themselves as the second biggest club in the country beyond the famous Steaua Bucharest.

So far this season they’ve won three and drawn one in the league and currently sit top of the division after hammering AFC Chindia Târgoviște 4-1 away yesterday. They’ve scored ten goals conceding only three in the process.

In Europe, the success story has continued as they bounced back from a 1-0 loss in Kazakhstan to Astana to win 3-1 at home to progress 3-2 on aggregate before then eliminating Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel 3-2 on aggregate also after gaining a 2-2 draw away following on from a tight 1-0 home win.

Their squad isn’t full of stars and indeed Petrescu has boasted that both Astana and Tel Aviv had superior budgets so they haven’t achieved what they have by simply splashing the cash.

Experience is heavy in the team.

Attacking winger Ciprian Deac is 33 and has 20 caps for Romania. Defensive midfielder Ovidiu Hoban is 36 and has 30 caps for Romania. Their Portuguese captain Camora has no caps for his country but at 32 has played 240 games for Cluj. Recently signed striker Mario Rondón is 33, has over 100 career goals at eight previous clubs and 13 caps for Venezuela.

Veteran Argentine midfielder Emmanuel Culio is in his second spell at the club, is 36 and has played for 15 clubs in total and has been described by Petrescu as ‘the best player in Cluj’s history.’ Though apparently, he’s struggling to makes Wednesday nights encounter with fitness issues. So that’s good.

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Cluj’s ‘greatest ever player’ in action.

Up front, the ones to watch out for are big striker George Țucudean who was the leading striker in the Romanian top flight last season with 18 goals from 24 games and his strike partner, Frenchman Billel Omrani whose also a six-footer.

They haven’t made any big-name additions this summer but held onto the majority of their squad with no significant departures. It’s certainly an ageing squad but also a successful one and very consistent.

Last season despite their domestic success Malmo eliminated them from the Champions League qualifiers and in a big shock, Luxembourg’s F91 Dudelange put them out of Europe all together at the Europea League play-offs stage 5-2 on aggregate.

Currently, in the UEFA association coefficients, Romania sits at 29, nine places behind Scotland which gives you an idea of the sort of impact or lack of that their clubs have been making in Europe recently.

But their recent form has been good and this will be a definite step-up from what we came up against in the first two qualifying rounds.

They lost only one home game in the league last season but did lose two of their three home European ties and at home in the semi-finals of the national cup to former Celtic European opponents Astra Giurgiu so there is hope for optimism.

I think it’ll be tight but as much as I’d like to go with the ultra optimism of a comfortable win I’m going to go for a score draw at the Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium on Wednesday night with us bringing them back to Celtic Park for a classic European home tie the following Tuesday.

It’s definitely doable and we’ll find out in the morning who we could potentially get in the Play-off round.

It’ll be the winner of Rosenborg vs Maribor, APOEL Nicosia, Young Boys or Slavia Prague.

The only one that makes me wary there is Young Boys. They won the league last season over Basel who’ve already eliminated PSV from the Champions League this season so safe to say that the Swiss champs will be pretty tasty.

Exciting times.

 

 

St. Mirren 0-2 Celtic: The title moves a step closer and could be wrapped up this weekend.

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Celtic were far from at their best but still had far too much for lowly St.Mirren as we grabbed a comfortable win in Paisley last night.

There was a raft of changes from Sunday with Oli Burke and Timothy Weah starting up front and on 16 mins young Timo headed in off the underside of the bar. It was marginally over the line but over the line it was and the landsman called it right.

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Timo keeps it real.

It should have been two when James Kellermann needlessly handled later on in the half and we were awarded a penalty but Olivier Ntcham did that ludicrous two-second delay thing halfway through the run-up and ultimately flopped it as his poor effort was easily saved by Buddies keeper Vaclav Hladky.

In the second half, Scott Bain produced a great save from a curling long-range effort from Cody Cooke and the wonderfully named Duckens Nazon was also through on goal but fluffed his lines and the ball was eventually scooped up by Bain.

Substitutes Odsone Edouard and Ryan Christie entered the fray from the midway point of the half onwards and both impressed with one rampaging run from French Eddy leaving several opposition players in his wake and Christie crowning his return with a fine finish from the edge of the box on 85 mins.

Just after some banger in the away end behind the goal threw an actual banger on. This led to Hladky indicating he’d been hurt in some way as my mind was cast back to images of Rapid Vienna keeper Herbert Feurer feigning injury in that infamous Cup Winners Cup tie against us in 1985 when he claimed to have been struck by a bottle that hand landed 20 metres away in an effort to get the game abandoned. In this case, the banger landed about 10-15 feet away but I’m sure Hladky got a genuine fright. Indeed in replays of the goal celebrations, it appeared that scorer Ryan Christie did too.

It goes without saying that we just don’t need things like this. It adds nothing to the atmosphere and is done out of mischief and nothing else most likely by a ‘fan’ probably not even legally allowed to drink. Manager Neil Lennon looked thoroughly pissed off with it and so was just about every other Celtic fan I know. There is a ned element to our support. Of course, there always has been but they are becoming more brazen and visible. It’s something we must tackle. How you may ask? God knows. It certainly won’t be an easy or quick fix that is for sure. We aren’t the only one with this issue. All clubs have it. But I don’t really do whataboutery.

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Hladky in agony. He recovered though.

Opposition manager Oran Kearney has since claimed he considered withdrawing his players from the pitch after the incident. I’ll bet the home fans want him to do that most weeks. Oh and incidentally the BT microphones picked up the Buddies fans hymn sheet all night too most of which featured songs about paedophilia. A great wee ‘family club’ apparently.

Anyway, we now sit on 76 points, 13 ahead of Rangers with six games and 18 points to play for so the league could be won this weekend if we defeat Livingston at home on Saturday and they lose at Motherwell on Sunday. Personally, I’d prefer to win it on the pitch but I’ll still be cheering on Steelmen.

I was encouraged by the return to action of Ryan Christie and the enthusiasm of young Timo Weah who clearly hasn’t spat the dummy despite not featuring much since Neil Lennon’s arrival. On the other hand, though the continued decision to deploy Oli Burke up front is mystifying. His strength is running down the flanks at pace and not in tight situations surrounded by opposition players with impeccable close control required. The boy has a first touch like an old Artex ceiling and just isn’t a finisher.

As for results elsewhere last night the ‘Well lost out on a chance of top six football via a 3-1 loss at Pittodrie to Aberdeen who go equal on 55 points with third-placed Kilmarnock. Killie drew 0-0 with Hibs at Easter Road in a stinker whilst Hearts went down meekly to 3-0 at Ibrox to Rangers.

Dundee and Hamilton Accies both continued their awful season long form as both lost away to St.Johnstone and Livingston respectively. With their 1-0 home win, Livi officially secured their place in the top flight of the SPFL next season. So well done to them.

Shame only one thousand hardy souls turned out to see them.

Celtic 2 – 1 Rangers: When the dust has settled!

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I was meant to stick up this post-match article yesterday but alas I partook in a little too much alcohol on Sunday during and after the match and was in no fit state.

Celtic of course claimed three points to move 13 points clear at the top of the league and with only seven league games remaining it’s all pretty much over bar the shouting.

There is plenty of shouting though. Most of it coming from Govan int he wake of the blue half of Ibrox’s 11th defeat in the past 14 encounters with the men in hoops.

To the game itself and Celtic came out of the blocks flying and laid siege to the Rangers goal. Allan McGregor produced a few decent saves and there was a feeling of inevitability about the whole thing. Morelos was effectively cut off up the park and their midfield was pinned back by our constant advances. As expected their right side was targeted with Tavernier a definite weak link in any defensive shape. I was slightly puzzled by the decision to start Jonny Hayes when the experience of Scott Sinclair or the breakneck pace of Oli Burke would have appeared more appropriate but in fairness, he put in a shift and as the half progressed his delivery from set pieces improved.

When a superb first-time pass from Forrest in his own half released Edouard you could only see it ending one way as the Frenchman put Joe Worrall on his back legs as he bore down on goal before finishing superbly.

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French Eddy makes his mark.

Celtic continued the onslaught thereafter and just after the half-hour mark and only four mins after the goal, Alfredo Morelos underlined his fantasy £25 million price tag by lashing out at Scott Brown and receiving his fifth red card of the season. The replays showed Brown had slightly clipped his heels but to claim that it was anything more than minor gamesmanship on the Celtic captain’s part is grasping at straws. Morelos is as predictable as he is overrated and just can’t help himself.

Not surprisingly thereafter Celtic continued to dominate with Allan McGregor producing a fine first-half save from a fierce effort from Tierney and then again in the second half when he kept out Sinclair – a half time substitute for the injured Hayes – after the English winger had played a wonderful one-two with Callum McGregor on the edge of the box.

Mikael Lustig then tried his luck from distance but his effort whizzed past and from that point onwards Celtic seemed to fall asleep somewhat. With our visitors on the back feet and down to ten men as well as needing a goal – or two if they genuinely harboured any real remaining ambitions to win the league –  this really was an opportunity to turn them over.

Instead, Celtic’s urgency evaporated and it looked like the cigars and brandy were out figuratively speaking.

From about the 60 minute mark onwards, Rangers came back into it and clearly sensed an opportunity. In a press conference yesterday Steven Gerrard claimed they dominated the game and were the better team for 55 mins. Absolute nonsense. The only reason they even came back into it is that we let them but still they were the better team for that final half hour.

Their best player Ryan Kent cut inside Boyata and finished well on 63 mins to put them back on an even pegging. Incidentally, Boyata had a bit of a nightmare all day and eventually limped off.

Rangers actually looked the more likely to score at that stage and Ryan Jack passed up a great chance to put them ahead when Kent cut the ball back to him from the byline but he hit it high, wide and handsome over the bar.

It was in the balance and you couldn’t help but wonder how the hell we’d got ourselves into this predicament when to our great relief that man Tavernier released a loose pass on the right flank and McGregor was onto it like a shot before releasing Edouard who set-up Forrest to slam home the winner on 86 minutes.

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Kent makes his mark.

There was one particularly hairy moment at the end – not including the fact Ryan Kent should have got a straight red for a shove to the face on Brown in the aftermath of the Forrest goal – when Ajer had to make an incredible challenge to prevent Joe Worrall from knocking the ball into an empty net after more good wing play from Kent who had tested Scott Bain with a stinging strike.

Ajer was a real lion for Celtic all day and especially in the final five minutes or so when we had to baton down the hatches. He really had to be though as Boyata was in bomb scare form all afternoon. His injury means he is probably out for the rest of the season and therefore it’s likely the last time we’ll see him in a Celtic jersey. To be honest that doesn’t really upset me. Boyata had his moments but produced too many calamitous ones for my liking and I wish him well for the future wherever he ends up.

The three points were achieved and I guess that’s what is most important but on the whole, I’m somewhat disappointed. We had a chance to really put Rangers to the sword and put Gerrard under massive pressure. Instead due to poor game management, we let their ten men back into it and now due to the circumstances, they have emerged with a moral victory of sorts. At least that’s the vibe they are giving off.

Once again it was a close one that required a late winner and I remain completely unconvinced that Neil Lennon should be our manager next season. Metting him later on that night in Tennent’s bar where he refused to get his picture taken with me and some friends – in fairness we aren’t the best-looking bunch of guys – has perhaps coloured that a little but in truth, I just think it reeks of lack of ambition and regression. Let’s not forget Hibs deemed him not good enough to remain as their manager only two months ago. And the football we’ve seen so far since his return has been enough but no more.

Of course, if he gets it – and barring a calamitous failure not to win the treble again I think it’s a stick on – I’ll support him but I don’t think anyone should be surprised if the overall quality of the product denigrates with the appointment over the next few years. As much as we loathe him now Brendan Rodgers was a consummate professional and highly thought of within the game. Lenny just isn’t on either count and there’s only so much you can claw that back with passion and commitment to the cause.

Of course, also hovering over the game is the usual nonsense talk about sectarian violence etc. There were six arrests in and around the stadium out of a crowd of just shy of 59,000. Talk about a storm in a teacup.

In the city centre, there were some battles and three Celtic fans have ended up in hospital, one of whom is in a critical condition. That’s horrendous and he has my hopes and prayers but trying to attribute that to a game taking place several miles way is stretching it.

Scottish Police Federation vice-chairman David Hamilton has waded in with nonsensical talk about how it’s worse than it’s ever been and has even said players need to improve their behaviour.  He also washes the police’s hands of it claiming they receive little back from the clubs. He forgets of course that the 59,000 or so supporters inside the stadium are all taxpayers, pay his wages and his force’s responsibility don’t stop at the doors of private property. You’re a public servant Hamilton. You’re not doing us a favour by doing your job.

Anyway, no doubt that will grow arms and legs in the coming days and weeks as the SNP once again try to force through another ludicrous behaviour bill.

In the meantime let’s take in the highly original perspective offered on events by the good people over at ‘Gers TV’. Top notch stuff:

Celtic vs Rangers or US vs THEM preview!

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I was going to make the fatal mistake of titling this ‘Old Firm preview’ but everyone is outraged by that tagline nowadays so left it out.

Anyway, tomorrow afternoon bang on noon the blue half of Glasgow visit Celtic Park.

800 or so hardy souls will make their way to the stadium at 10.30am in the morning to support them with a deadline of 11am to get into the stadium before their little corner’s doors are locked and the barriers are removed to allow the home support to move in.

It seems harsh if you think about it from the perspective of the shoe being on the other foot but this is a situation of their own making so they can’t really complain. Of course, they will and indeed have anyway but then a warped perception isn’t exactly rare amongst Rangers fans. It was the holding company that went into liquidation apparently and not the club. Must have been the club that went into administration though as they got docked points etc but hey that’s all ancient history now isn’t it?!

Anyway to the football and this is a must-win game for our visitors. With a pretty luxurious 10 point advantage at the top of the league in our favour, anything but a win for Steven Gerrard’s team means that any slim hopes of a title challenge become dying embers with only seven games left thereafter and another trophyless season beckons.

The fixture has been pretty one-sided in recent years. We’ve won ten, drawn two and only lost one of the last thirteen. Aggregate wise it’s a pretty incredible 31-7 in our favour over those13 matches. Of course, this season things have been tighter with a dominant 1-0 win earlier in the campaign at home which saw Olivier Ntcham slam home the only goal and then on December 28th Rangers claimed their solitary win in the fixture since coming back up via a 1-0 win at Ibrox. Ryan Jack scored the only goal that day in a game where Celtic were decimated by injuries that saw us lose Tom Rogic, Leigh Griffiths and Izaguirre in the build-up with Edouard and Tierney only able to make the bench meaning Mikey Johnstone was deployed up front as a lone striker and McGregor was pitched in at left-back.

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Who can forget Lustig with the police hat?

We’ll be without Ryan Christie tomorrow but on the positive note Edouard and Tierney should be raring to go and there’s even a chance Benkovic, Tom Rogic and Ntcham – who have all been out with long term injuries – may also play a part.

There’s no doubt that Rogic, Tierney and Edouard were all missed from the starting line-up last time and their inclusions tomorrow should see a totally different approach deployed though of course with Neil Lennon now in charge that would have been the case anyway

There’s also the fact they’ll be in front of 58,000 or so ravenous Celtic supporters with an opportunity to take a vital step towards an 8th consecutive league championship.

For Neil Lennon, it’s a potentially vital match in his audition for getting the reigns at Celtic Park permanently for a second time. Him getting the job is something I have mixed feelings about but that is something that can be debated another day.

His own Old Firm record is pretty impressive having managed the club in 12 fixtures during his first tenure in the hot seat and he won six of them with two draws and four losses. That was against a very different and dollar for doughnuts I’d say a much stronger Rangers side than the one he’ll face tomorrow. Lenny’s record at Celtic Park is of particular note as he has won five of six with only one loss in the tie and an aggregate of 11-4 with four clean sheets. Rangers haven’t actually won at Celtic Park since October 2010. Long may it continue.

Lennon’s record as Hibs manager against Rangers was also pretty tasty having won two, drawn three and lost only one of his six fixtures in charge against the light blues.

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Neil Lennon enjoyed Hibs games against Rangers.

There’s no doubt he gets his teams up for these matches – I can’t imagine why – though so far under his second tenure I have been a bit underwhelmed by our play. Three wins and a draw isn’t to be sniffed at but we’ve needed goals at the death to win two of them and were particularly underwhelming against basement dwellers Dundee last time out on St.Patrick’s Day.

Rangers will come to sit in and play on the break with their big hope being Morelos. He is their greatest threat but also their greatest liability and in the white-hot heat of a partisan Old Firm (don’t crucify me) atmosphere, he could easily crack. If the Celtic defenders are cute enough with him there’s always a chance he’ll sabotage himself.

For me, though it’s all about the Celtic and what we do and player for player we are superior especially with an almost full catchment to choose from so I’m hoping for a quick and powerful start and obviously an early goal. I expect it to be tight though and we’ll need to be patient.  Under Brendan, if it’s okay to even mention his name again yet, I was pretty confident of not only winning almost every time we played them but of posting a big score and we often did ie: 5-1, 5-1 4-0 and 5-0. Recent encounters and events off the pitch though have rained in those expectations but there’s always hope that we can give them a doing.

My prediction…….2-0.

My hope………..10-0!

Dundee 0 – 1 Celtic: A desperate display on St.Paddy’s day but we go 10 points clear.

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Celtic took a giant stride towards capturing an eight consecutive league title yesterday with a last gasp victory over lowly Dundee at Dens Park.

To say the least this was not vintage Celtic – indeed it’s difficult to remember the last time we saw anything I’d call vintage Celtic – and we were seconds away from recording one of our results in years but in the end we prevailed with a last gasp winner which is something we’ve made a habit of recently.

For 90 minute we toiled against a Dundee team who were very blatantly set-up to defend, absorb pressure and try and hit us on the break when they could.

Our passing was slow, our build-up play unimaginative and we seemed to lack any real hunger or energy for the game. Considering that we’d had an eight-day rest since the last match and had only played two games in 15 days there really is no excuse for this.

Dundee posed little to no threat and were happy to sit in which we should have expected considering we are 8-0 up against them over our last two encounters and their precarious position at the foot of the table.

They actually had a few decent opportunities in injury time which was a mammoth six minutes. However, both of their breaks led to nothing via poor final balls and indeed with literally seconds remaining it was the men in hoops who prevailed as record singing Odsonne Edouard played a one-two with James Forrest who had rampaged to the byline before cutting it back to the big Frencham to place it home with side foot finish from close range.

I celebrated wildly with my customary St.Paddy’s Day pint of Guinness in hand as we extended our lead at the top to an almost unassailable 10 points with only eight games to go but that acute moment of joy covered up 90 minutes of sheer frustration. We just weren’t at it and that’s been pretty much the case since Lenny’s arrival. The performance mirrored our displays away against Hearts and at home to Aberdeen last week. Insipid and uninspired are just two of the words that come to mind when describing it.

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We toiled but got the result in the end.

We had actually won our previous 35 straight meetings with Dundee and hadn’t recorded two back to back 0-0 results in a decade so if French Eddy hadn’t slammed home late then it would have been safe to put the result in the disaster category.

But it’s done now and we won. There isn’t much more you can say about it.

The international break now looms this weekend and with the Old Firm game taking place the following Saturday fingers crossed we get through the Euro qualifiers with our squad largely intact.

Good news is Callum McGregor was back and for the first 20 mins of the game at least he certainly seemed to make us tick again. He really is a vital player for us now and of that, there is no denying. Big Filip Benkovic also appeared off the bench and he’s a class act and easily our best defender so hopefully, he’s raring to go in a fortnight. Word is that Tom Rogic could also be returning too and all that married to Kieran Tierney’s recent return to regular first team action we should be in far better fettle than we were for the last encounter with the light blues at Ibrox back in December.

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It was another blue day for Stevie G.

Of course, we gained the opportunity to go 10 points clear due to Rangers’ latest slip-up as they made it no wins in three via a 1-1 home draw with Kilmarnock.  Literally, in the space of eight days, their season has imploded thanks to draws at Easter Road, a cup exit at home to Aberdeen and yesterdays result. Steven Gerrard continues to try and deflect via claims that his players need more protection – as do the Killie players also it would seem going by Connor Goldson’s scything late challenge on goalscorer Conor McAleny – and a hammering against us at Celtic Park in 12 days would really turn the screw.

That aside the likes of Aberdeen and Hearts continued to slip up throwing away the chance to close the gap on the Ibrox men and improve their chances of European football next year in the process.

Anyway, the first Euro match for Scotland comes at 3pm on Thursday in the footballing hotbed that is Kazakhstan and in the surroundings of Astana a ground we are pretty familiar with having played the local team there a few times in Champions League qualifiers in the past few years. Fingers crossed the national team transfer their Nations League form into the qualifiers and that our Bhoys get out unscathed.