Post by Admin on Sept 25, 2011 18:30:07 GMT
Green Brigade steal the show as Celtic notch up home win
Sunday, 25 September 2011 11:54
Celtic 2 – 0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle: Celtic grind out victory but Green Brigade the ones on form
By ROSS BRADY at Celtic Park
CELTIC fought off a determined Inverness Caledonian Thistle side to reduce the gap at the top of the SPL to four points with a 2-0 victory at Celtic Park.
Joe Ledley gave Celtic the lead after 28 minutes with a 25 yard drive and five minutes later James Forrest sealed the win for the Parkhead side.
The result now leaves Inverness rooted to the bottom of the SPL table.
It was a frustrating opening ten minutes for the home side as the crowd seemed to be getting on the teams back early on. Every slip up by the defensive duo of Glenn Loovens and Daniel Majstorovic was greeted with the groans of the Celtic support but a lot of credit for those slip ups has to go to Inverness.
Inverness started the better of the two sides with Gregory Tade in particular looking sharp.
A various number of chances were created by the away side but the best fell to Tade. Fraser Forster slipped when coming for a long ball and Tade managed to latch on to the ball drifting behind the Celtic backline with ease. Forster reacted well to his error though and saved well from Tade’s shot in the end.
The drama seemed to be coming from off the field rather than on it though. As the ever noisy, Green Brigade, were sitting down in silence. The Green Brigade unfurled a quite astonishing EIGHT banners throughout the first half.
The banners included six different guidelines that the Green Brigade have been instructed to follow inside Celtic park such as “no lateral movement”, “no aggressive flag waving” and “no swearing”. Other banners included one saying “police state” and another directed at the Scottish government.
The first real opening for Celtic came when some neat play created an opening for the in-form Gary Hooper to have a pop from long range. Good build up in the middle of the park from Joe Ledley, James Forrest and Anthony Stokes.
Celtic took the lead after 25 minutes after the tenacious Beram Kayal won the ball in the middle of the park while Inverness was going forward.
The stand-in Celtic captain broke forward with the ball using some tricky footwork to beat the Caley defence before playing a square ball to Joe Ledley. The Welshman’s first touch was excellent giving him the space to hit a shot low and hard into the bottom corner of the net. Ryan Esson had no chance.
Celtic kept the pressure up following their opener and it was the home side’s best spell of the match.
A chorus of ‘stand-up for the Green Brigade’ rung around Celtic park as the rest of the fans showed their appreciation for the supporters group.
Ki Sung-Yueng, the South Korean who has arguably been Celtic’s best player this season found James Forrest darting through the Inverness defence with a superb pass. James Forrest’s finish did not disappoint as he used the outside of his boot to steer the ball into the corner. It was a fantastic finish from the young Scottish winger, one that Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes would have been proud of.
The two men left out of the team at Ibrox that Neil Lennon was so heavily criticised for managed to find the back of the net for their boss. Kris Commons on the other hand was again nowhere to be seen.
Inverness to their credit did not give up hope of coming away from Celtic Park with some sort of result. With the pace, strength and hustle of Gregory Tade up front I think Terry Butcher may have unearthed a real gem in his attack.
The ninth and final banner greeted the teams at the start of the second half which read: “Our songs are not sectarian. Our songs are not illegal. We will not be criminalised. We will not be silenced.”
Moments later the group burst in to full song and the rest of Celtic Park joined them producing a great atmosphere inside the ground.
Anthony Stokes should have gave Celtic a 3-0 lead early in the second half after good build up play down the right flank. James Forrest and Gary Hooper linked up well before laying the ball to Stokes for a chance that was easier to score than miss but the Irishman managed to blaze his shot over the bar.
Summer signing Mohammed Bangura came on for Celtic with half an hour to go. For the first real time since joining the club he got some decent time on the field to show the Parkhead crowd what he can do. He showed glimpses of genuine skill and talent without ever doing anything brilliant.
Graeme Shinnie broke down the left wing and delivered a fantastic ball in the box which was met by the diving head of Richie Foran but Fraser Forster palmed the ball away from close range.
Entertainment throughout the second half was very rarely seen on the field but instead found in the stand as the Green Brigade orchestrated a noisy home crowd. The atmosphere brightened up a second half that was otherwise stale.
The Celtic players showed their appreciation for the group by going over and applauding their corner of the ground.
Man of the match: There wasn’t a major stand out for the game but the performances of Joe Ledley and James Forrest must have pleased Neil Lennon. Gregory Tade showed glimpses of what he could do to opposition defences this season but my man of the match would go to James Forrest.
He took his goal excellently with the outside of his boot and when Celtic was going forward he was generally involved in the move.
Celtic: Forster, Matthews, Majstorovic, Loovens, El Kaddouri, Forrest, Ledley, Kayal, Ki Sung-Yueng (McCourt), Stokes (Samaras) and Hooper (Bangura).
Substitutes: Zaluska, M. Wilson, Rogne, Wanyama, McCourt, Samaras and Bangura.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle: Esson, Tokely, Proctor (Golobart), Shinnie, Ross, Tansey, Piermayr (Shinnie), Chippendale (Sutherland), Davis, Foran and Tade.
Substitutes: Tuffey, Golobart, Gillet, Meekings, Shinnie, Mckay and Sutherland.
Referee: Willie Collum.
Sunday, 25 September 2011 11:54
Celtic 2 – 0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle: Celtic grind out victory but Green Brigade the ones on form
By ROSS BRADY at Celtic Park
CELTIC fought off a determined Inverness Caledonian Thistle side to reduce the gap at the top of the SPL to four points with a 2-0 victory at Celtic Park.
Joe Ledley gave Celtic the lead after 28 minutes with a 25 yard drive and five minutes later James Forrest sealed the win for the Parkhead side.
The result now leaves Inverness rooted to the bottom of the SPL table.
It was a frustrating opening ten minutes for the home side as the crowd seemed to be getting on the teams back early on. Every slip up by the defensive duo of Glenn Loovens and Daniel Majstorovic was greeted with the groans of the Celtic support but a lot of credit for those slip ups has to go to Inverness.
Inverness started the better of the two sides with Gregory Tade in particular looking sharp.
A various number of chances were created by the away side but the best fell to Tade. Fraser Forster slipped when coming for a long ball and Tade managed to latch on to the ball drifting behind the Celtic backline with ease. Forster reacted well to his error though and saved well from Tade’s shot in the end.
The drama seemed to be coming from off the field rather than on it though. As the ever noisy, Green Brigade, were sitting down in silence. The Green Brigade unfurled a quite astonishing EIGHT banners throughout the first half.
The banners included six different guidelines that the Green Brigade have been instructed to follow inside Celtic park such as “no lateral movement”, “no aggressive flag waving” and “no swearing”. Other banners included one saying “police state” and another directed at the Scottish government.
The first real opening for Celtic came when some neat play created an opening for the in-form Gary Hooper to have a pop from long range. Good build up in the middle of the park from Joe Ledley, James Forrest and Anthony Stokes.
Celtic took the lead after 25 minutes after the tenacious Beram Kayal won the ball in the middle of the park while Inverness was going forward.
The stand-in Celtic captain broke forward with the ball using some tricky footwork to beat the Caley defence before playing a square ball to Joe Ledley. The Welshman’s first touch was excellent giving him the space to hit a shot low and hard into the bottom corner of the net. Ryan Esson had no chance.
Celtic kept the pressure up following their opener and it was the home side’s best spell of the match.
A chorus of ‘stand-up for the Green Brigade’ rung around Celtic park as the rest of the fans showed their appreciation for the supporters group.
Ki Sung-Yueng, the South Korean who has arguably been Celtic’s best player this season found James Forrest darting through the Inverness defence with a superb pass. James Forrest’s finish did not disappoint as he used the outside of his boot to steer the ball into the corner. It was a fantastic finish from the young Scottish winger, one that Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes would have been proud of.
The two men left out of the team at Ibrox that Neil Lennon was so heavily criticised for managed to find the back of the net for their boss. Kris Commons on the other hand was again nowhere to be seen.
Inverness to their credit did not give up hope of coming away from Celtic Park with some sort of result. With the pace, strength and hustle of Gregory Tade up front I think Terry Butcher may have unearthed a real gem in his attack.
The ninth and final banner greeted the teams at the start of the second half which read: “Our songs are not sectarian. Our songs are not illegal. We will not be criminalised. We will not be silenced.”
Moments later the group burst in to full song and the rest of Celtic Park joined them producing a great atmosphere inside the ground.
Anthony Stokes should have gave Celtic a 3-0 lead early in the second half after good build up play down the right flank. James Forrest and Gary Hooper linked up well before laying the ball to Stokes for a chance that was easier to score than miss but the Irishman managed to blaze his shot over the bar.
Summer signing Mohammed Bangura came on for Celtic with half an hour to go. For the first real time since joining the club he got some decent time on the field to show the Parkhead crowd what he can do. He showed glimpses of genuine skill and talent without ever doing anything brilliant.
Graeme Shinnie broke down the left wing and delivered a fantastic ball in the box which was met by the diving head of Richie Foran but Fraser Forster palmed the ball away from close range.
Entertainment throughout the second half was very rarely seen on the field but instead found in the stand as the Green Brigade orchestrated a noisy home crowd. The atmosphere brightened up a second half that was otherwise stale.
The Celtic players showed their appreciation for the group by going over and applauding their corner of the ground.
Man of the match: There wasn’t a major stand out for the game but the performances of Joe Ledley and James Forrest must have pleased Neil Lennon. Gregory Tade showed glimpses of what he could do to opposition defences this season but my man of the match would go to James Forrest.
He took his goal excellently with the outside of his boot and when Celtic was going forward he was generally involved in the move.
Celtic: Forster, Matthews, Majstorovic, Loovens, El Kaddouri, Forrest, Ledley, Kayal, Ki Sung-Yueng (McCourt), Stokes (Samaras) and Hooper (Bangura).
Substitutes: Zaluska, M. Wilson, Rogne, Wanyama, McCourt, Samaras and Bangura.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle: Esson, Tokely, Proctor (Golobart), Shinnie, Ross, Tansey, Piermayr (Shinnie), Chippendale (Sutherland), Davis, Foran and Tade.
Substitutes: Tuffey, Golobart, Gillet, Meekings, Shinnie, Mckay and Sutherland.
Referee: Willie Collum.