Hibs 1-2 Celtic – A tough watch but all things considers, a well earned victory
A miserable dreary and annoying windy Sunday turned into something of a Beautiful Sunday as Celtic restored our four point lead at the top of the table. The narrow but well deserved victory was secured but not without a fight after we came from behind to beat Hibs at Easter Road in what can only be described as a very ‘tough watch’ for the Celtic fans in the ground and the rest forced to watch on television.
The perverse empty seats madness in Scottish football was thankfully highlighted on a few occasions by Sky Sports today with the sight of thousands of unnecessarily empty seats clearly diminishing the atmosphere and the look for Scottish football to a wider audience.
If Hibs get relegated they’ve not have to worry about locking Celtic or the Rangers fans out next season to do what exactly? Please some loud mouth supporters who demand lower allocations while they are happy to give Hearts the entire stand?
Hibs may be bottom of the table at the moment, but we knew it was going to be a tricky game, especially given the horrendous weather conditions, and so it proved as the home side opened the scoring in the third minute, after a quick free-kick caught Benjamin Nygren sleeping and Sam Johnstone couldn’t stop the shot that was fired into the Celtic net.
From then on in we all knew that the players would have to show some real fight and desire if they wanted anything out of the fixture at a venue that has been tricky for Celtic in recent seasons.
Thankfully as we were soon level just two minutes later courtesy of a Kerr own goal after a terrific in- swinging Celtic corner. It was a freakish goal but it studied the Celtic ship in the Leith gales and the Bhoys went on to dominate the first half, perhaps without creating enough from their dominance.
The Champions certainly clicked into gear after the equaliser, but rarely threatened the Hibs goal, but it could have been all so different had Kasper Hogh had his shooting boots on, as he spurned two great chances to fire Celtic into the lead, with the Dane’s goal drought not looking like coming to an end anytime soon, unfortunately.
Kris Boyd on Sky Sports reckoned that the only reason Hogh is getting starts is because of the £11m price tag. Grudgingly you have to admit that he has a point. Martin O’Neill was more optimistic afterwards saying that Kasper just needs a goal to get things going for him. The manager reckons that Hogh will score twenty goals this season, so 17 to come from the big man.
One Celtic summer signing who certainly did have his shooting boots on was the hugely impressive Camilo Duran, with the Colombian firing Celtic into the lead on the stroke of halftime with a terrific curling finish.
That proved to be the winning goal, as a dreadful second half from both sides meant that the score remain the same, meaning that the Champions maintained a four point advantage at the top of the table.
Make no mistake this was a fixture that the Rangers and their Tuped over supporters were looking at hopefully as a likely banana skin for Celtic, so it’s an important win, one which Martin O’Neill described as the best of the season so far.
One negative from the day was the early withdrawal of Alistair Johnston who’d only appeared as a 52nd minute substitute after a long injured layoff, but he had to be replaced by fellow comeback defender Cameron Carter Vickers just twenty minutes after being sent on.
We can only hope it a precaution, and not anything too serious but the manager did tell Sky Sports that the Canadian once again felt something in his hamstring.
In the end, despite any negativity of the quality on show in a game played in difficult conditions, it was a well earned three points for the Hoops, all things considered.
We came into the game on the back of a demanding and disappointing European result, and ground out a result in atrocious weather conditions in a venue where often struggle. I think we will all be happy with the win and can now look forward to playing an in-form Dundee United at Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
