Never in a month of Sundays.
Hardly touched him.
A few moments later.
Nutjob
Stupid challenge to make.
This ref is strict. I mean, clearly he was getting booked and already on a yellow - fecking eejit.
Or so the conversation went as I watched O’Neill's ten men valiantly hold on for a 2-2 draw against a relentless Bologna.
Its painful to think Celtic were 2 up in this game and with a full battalion would have probably won the match quite convincingly but Reo seeing red didn’t help the cause. True, Trusty’s goal to make it 2-0 came when they were already a man down but in all honesty it’s difficult to express exactly how I feel. I mean sure I take pride in their result but it’s also a “what could have been?” for Celtic.
We will never know however the history books have been written and 2-2 it remains.
On the other side of the city it looks like Rangers continue to improve under Rohl. A strong Rangers team faced Ludogorets and whilst in the terms of their season the result is a little too late, a first win in Europe for the beleaguered blues shows they are still a force and can perhaps use this as a springboard for the rest of the season. They do have the “dead rubber” of Napoli ahead so who knows, with this win under their belts and confidence returning the Rangers might give their fans a European night to remember.
Saturday brought with it abandonments, most notably at Dundee Utd and Montrose. However, fans of the Highland league were hit hardest with four of the seven fixtures falling foul to the weather. What football that went ahead surely satisfied even the most difficult of palates.
Let’s begin with Falkirk (it's something I’ve never said before yet here it is 🤣) and their 21 year old wonder kid Barney Stewart, a young man with a bright future; and with no disrespect to Falkirk surely a name that’ll line up one day for a bigger club. Stewart having never scored before today managed to grab himself a hat trick against an awkward looking Hibernian team. His first a tap in (that looked suspiciously offside - both I and Falkirk Tv commentators were surprised it stood), before a well placed shot low past the despairing Hibs keeper, before Rocky Bushiri pulled one back for Hibs, giving them hope. However, the day belonged to Falkirk and most notably Stewart who scored in the 83rd minute to seal his hat trick before Grant Hanley put through his own net mins later to hand the hosts a 4-1 victory.
Aberdeen v Livingston looked like the perfect opportunity for the Dons (on paper at least) to continue their resurgence. All looked well for the Reds as Bilalovic stabbed home after some sloppy defending to give them a lead in the 9th minute. Kevin Nisbet then thought he’d put the home side 2-0 ahead before VAR ruled the goal offside. This seemed to spark renewed hope in the league's bottom side who managed to score twice through Susoho and Muirhead, and suddenly things started to look rosy for Livi. But alas this was a brief moment of joy as Nisbet then scored twice in the 4th and 8th minute of stoppage time in the first half to restore an Aberdeen lead.
The second half began with a sending off for Livingston manager Martindale who clearly upset the fourth official. And whilst I’m no lip reader I’m pretty sure he told Martindale to “run along old chap” or something like that, anyway, but as I said no lip reader. What followed was madness - two red cards, one for either side - Milne & Bokila and a double for Dons Keskinen. What now for David Martindale? Fans of the West Lothian club must already be planning their future in the championship.
Motherwell's 4-0 thrashing of Kilmarnock comes as no surprise. As we’ve already noted, The Steelmen are playing superbly under Jens Berthel Askou, and whilst Maswanhise looked less than impressed to be subbed (the manager likened the disagreement to “telling your son it’s time for bed”) there’s no doubting this is a team with a future, and if they keep their star performers who knows. I make no excuses for being a fan of their manager's style of attacking football.
Saturday did not however end well for one member of our happy circle, and I think it’s safe to say that the grumblings are getting louder down Anfield way. Listening to “606” on 5Live, seems many fans have lost patience with Arne, and in the cutthroat world of the EPL he may be walking the plank soon, and few tears will be shed.
Sunday saw the top three in action with Celtic travelling to Tynecastle for a top of the table clash whilst right in the mix the Rangers hosted Dundee, a club with their own worries to seek and in 9th place in the league, and worrying close to a relegation playoff.
The afternoon started brightly for Celtic. With their new striker, Cvancara, on show for the first time hopes were high after a superb free kick from the much maligned Nygren dropped under the bar into the net past a despairing Gordon. Hearts however are in no mood to lose that top spot and their first top flight title in over 60 years. A strike from Findlay early in the second half was no less than Hearts deserved. Celtic were already under relentless pressure and failed to find many openings to create even a semblance of a goal before a wonderful cross from new bhoy Cvancara was met by the inrushing Yang and buried into the net. Hearts 1 - Celtic 2. Despite Hearts pressure and wave after wave of attack Celtic and particularly Schmeichel, who pulled off a few world class saves, looked reasonably comfortable.
However as we know it’s a dangerous place to be 2-1 ahead and half an hour to go. Then came the controversy, the turning point. Hearts continued their push for an equaliser, and in the 76th minute Trusty found himself chasing Kabore, bringing him down perhaps 30 yards from goal. Initially referee McLean showed Trusty a yellow, which at the time seemed the correct decision as Scales was behind Trusty, therefore, he technically wasn’t the last man. VAR had different ideas and called McLean to the monitor and the initial yellow was upgraded to red and the American found himself heading for an early bath. The impetus was now with Hearts, playing against 10 men. With plenty of time left the attacking became relentless and whilst Celtic defended manfully a bullet strike from Braga sent the Georgie faithful into dreamland. Now for Celtic at least it was a case of damage limitation and despite 8 additional minutes the ten men held on for a point. Perhaps enough on any other day but with what was happening back in Glasgow enough so see Celtic slip to third in the SPL.
Rangers faced Dundee at Ibrox. The home crowd expecting 3 points they were made to work hard in the first half and with the scores 0-0 at half time this seemed a fair reflection as both sides had chances but both appeared wasteful in front of goal. The second half a very different story unfolded.
Barely 3 mins old and Astley brought down Rangers' Raskin, and as is his wont captain Tavernier slotted away the penalty to make it 1-0 to the Rangers and a 100th league goal for the defender. Quite the achievement. Rangers were however made to work hard for their second which came from the boot of Danilo in the 91st minute, sending the home fans into raptures: the icing on the cake delivered in the 94th minute - a cross by Raskin met by Gassama - in it went and up went the Rangers to second spot in the table. Now four points behind Hearts and Celtic slipping to third a further two points behind Rangers fans can be satisfied how their team have progressed under Rohl.
The title of course isn’t over. There’s plenty of twists and turns to come but from a Celtic view I cannot help but fear the days of Nancy will be costly come the end of the season. Indeed Motherwell in fourth are closer to Celtic than Celtic are to Hearts.
It’s football though and anything can happen. We’re all seasoned observers so there’s no chicken counting happening just yet. But I think it’s safe to say whoever wins the league this season will have had to work extremely hard for it. Right now my virtual cash is on Heart of Midlothian. It’ll take a good one or an implosion to knock them off their perch.
A week of “what could have been” for Celtic marred by indiscipline.
Winning against Utrecht on Thursday would of course be superb but I for one think a bigger achievement might be keeping eleven men on the pitch.
Late news: Livingston are to report Aberdeen for a racial incident involving Aberdeen players and Livingstons’ Bokila.
There’s no room for this behavior in football and anyone who’s found guilty of this whether that be player or fan should face the full brunt of the law.
🐼 Gary Robertson is the TPQ Scottish football correspondent.
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