SPL

Saturday 1 May 2010

Match Report

In the end, Celtic ran out comfortable winners in a game which, for long periods, looked exactly what it was: an end of season football match with little at stake. The final score - with 3 late goals - perhaps flattered the home side a little, but the win was nevertheless fully deserved, and stretched Celtic's winning SPL run to 6 games under Neil Lennon's stewardship; doubling the previous best winning run this season.

Meaningless in League terms, certainly, but that thought wouldn't have been playing on Lennon's mind as he looked to reinforce his claim to the Celtic manager job on a more permanent basis next season. The complexities of managing a club of Celtic's stature will have been becoming increasingly clear to the young pretender as he elected to balance his desire for another 3 points today with the demands and expectations of the final Glasgow derby game on Tuesday looming over the horizon.

Lennon's tinkering with the starting line up today was, therefore, judicious and prudent. Boruc retained his place in goals, and Andreas Hinkel appears to have, thankfully, seen off the experimentation with Wilson at right back. The fleeting, doomed re-appearance and early demise of Rogne and Loovens last weekend meant that we were back to the only two remaining centre back options at the club - Thomson and O'Dea. The out of favour Braafheid replaced Lee Naylor, although it was unclear if this was tactical ahead of Tuesday night or if there is a problem with Naylor, who wasn't even listed on the bench.

Samaras took a turn on the left side of midfield, with McGeady on the right and Zheng Zhi partnering Scott Brown in the central midfield berth. Up front, Morten Rasmussen was handed a rare start - partnering Marc Antoine Fortune. Robbie Keane's relegation to the bench will certainly have been with Tuesday night's game in mind.

Celtic started brightly with both Samaras and Fortune prominent in the early stages in front of a crowd of around 25k. Rasmussen should have done much better with an early chance when the ball broke to him about 8 yards out, but he could only direct a weak effort straight to Ruddy in the 'Well goal. There was little else worthy of comment in the rest of the first half as both sides went through the motions without producing any great threat. Boruc did well to remain alert just before half-time, though, when he was forced to scramble a Motherwell corner off the line.

The half time interval gave us a chance to cheer a little bit of Celtic silverware success this season as the Youth Team paraded the Trophy won the other night at Hampden to generous applause.

The second half got off to a much needed positive start for the home side when, after the sort of bursting run that we haven't seen nearly enough of from him, Scott Brown saw his cross come chip sail over Ruddy, but come back off the post and beyond the lunging Rasmussen. Motherwell's respite was brief, though, as Aiden McGeady did well to work himself an opening at the edge of their box a couple of minutes later. He seemed to have initially undone his good work by getting the ball caught under his feet but it broke back to him off a 'Well defender and his quick glance up spotted Ruddy off his line and a beautifully judged chip saw it sail over the 'keeper and dip beyond him into the net.

Those looking for this to be the signal for more concerted Celtic pressure were to be disappointed as the second half slipped into a similar scrappy pattern to the first. Passes were going astray from both sides and Lennon eventually made his first change on the hour mark with the largely anonymous Rasmussen being replaced by Robbie Keane, who had to spend 5 minutes gently removing the cotton wool that Lennon had him wrapped in before coming on. Next off was Samaras, who had played generally well - replaced by Kamara. Personally, I'd have left Samaras on and replaced Fortune who, after a couple of early decent crosses into the box had barely contributed.

A single goal lead is never secure, no matter how toothless the opposition, so it was a relief when Darren O'Dea popped up to nod in a good McGeady cross on 78 minutes. The points were safe. Lennon knew that too, and he immediately hauled off McGeady and wrapped him up in Keane's leftover cotton wool. Replacing him was young James Forrest, making his first team debut and doubling his personal joy when a few minutes later he ran onto a Fortune through ball and fired the ball past Ruddy for his debut goal.

Robbie Keane, inevitably, put a slightly generous slant to the scoreline when he collected a ball at the edge of the box, turned inside a defender and stabbed home a fourth. Motherwell barely had time to spot the ball for kick-off and the final whistle blew, setting things up nicely for the final home game of the season against the huns on Tuesday.

This was far from being a vintage Celtic display, but a 4-0 win can't be sniffed at after what we've been through this season. The defence was barely troubled, apart from late on when Hinkel was on hand to clear a speculative Motherwell shot off the line. Zheng Zhi was competent and technical in midfield, without doing anything particularly exciting - but that's what he is: competent, technical and unexciting. Samaras never hid and was what he is: frustrating and delightful in equal measure - a genuine enigma. Some of his cross field passing in the first half was excellent, just as some of his pointless running straight into opponents and falling over was daft in the second. McGeady can be guilty of this too, but his was an important contribution today and, if rumours are to be believed, Tuesday may be his last opportunity to live up to his song, and make the huns look shite. Let's hope he takes it.

There is a school of thought that Rasmussen may be more effective in the late super-sub battering ram role than he is in starting for Celtic. That line of reasoning was given a boost today as he just wasn't at the races. Perhaps he just needs a good pre-season. We can only hope because the first hour today gave us a glimpse of Celtic without Robbie Keane, and it wasn't entirely pretty. Fortune, whatever he is, is not a goalscorer so some serious thought needs to go into this areas of the side next season if, as seems most likely, Keane moves on again.

So, all eyes turn to Tuesday night and the slightly strange experience of a gloating hun horde coming to Celtic Park already celebrating their Championship win and rendering the outcome of the game essentially meaningless but for the temporary bragging rights. It will be interesting to see what the crowd will be on Tuesday. A lot of Celtic supporters have already chucked it this season - as evidenced by the 25k - 30k crowds in recent weeks. Witnessing a gloating hun support in full, foul voice may not be the sort of thing to entice them back. Nevertheless, markers need to be put down. Lennon needs a hun win to further boost his longer term ambitions and Celtic need to grab that vital, elusive win over them this season. They might be Champions now, but we need to take the shine off their celebrations and lay down a marker for when hostilites begin in earnest again next season. Today was fine. Tuesday must be even better.

Celtic: Boruc, Hinkel, Thomson, O'Dea, Samaras (Kamara), Brown, Zhi, McGeady (Forrest), Fortune, Rasmussen (Keane)

ETims MotM: Aiden McGeady

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