And with the possibility of a “giant killing” always on the table fans headed to stadiums across the country, some in hope rather than expectation but all with a sense that “this is the cup, strange results happen in one off games.”
The weekend opened with Championship strugglers Airdrie hosting Premiership St Mirren. With a mere 19 mins on the clock a Devaney rocket flew past Airdrie's Stone giving the keeper no chance and it looked like it could be a long evening for the North Lanarkshire men. Controversy in the 36th minute had many asking why VAR wasn’t in operation as the home side's Barjonas was wrestled to the ground by King inside the box only for man in the middle Clancy to wave away claims for a penalty, leaving home fans enraged and in my opinion rightly so. Rarely do I find myself agreeing with pundit Craigan but on this we do. If VAR was in operation that was a spot kick.
Second half however belonged to the men from the Albert Bartlett. Spurred on by a sense of injustice and resolve as well as a passionate home crowd Airdrie found their way back into the game, a Henderson shot eluding all, making it 1-1 - . . . and the first potential shock of the weekend could be on the cards. A combination of smart defending, top goalkeeping and wasteful finishing meant by full time there was nothing to separate the two and extra time would be needed, penalties if need be but a winner had to be found.
Always a champion of the underdog I was by this point routing for Airdrie but Saints' Idowu had different ideas and his shot slamming into the back of the net on the 115th minute the game was up for Airdrie. The home side deserved much more, they worked their proverbials off, matched St Mirren in all areas of the pitch and on another night with a different referee or VAR we could and probably should have been looking at Airdrie progression.
.
One match however that did go ahead saw league one leaders Inverness home tie with East Fife. The home side dispatching the visitors with ease and maintaining their grip at the top of the table. A comfortable 3-0 victory, three points clear, a job well done as they strive to push back to the Premier League. Bearing in mind they produced seven seasons in the SPL the last being only in 2017.
Saturday afternoon matches saw a Chris Kane double help Dunfermline take care of Kelty Hearts and almost 3,000 at Borough Briggs watched a five goal thriller where Partick took care of business coming out 3-2 winners against home team Elgin.
And so came Celtic …. A 5-30 kick off and with the renewed spirit of times past at Celtic, I mean what could possibly go wrong?
From the moment of kick off though the home team appeared nervous almost as if the weight of expectation was too much for them. Some sloppy defending (which has been the hallmark of Celtic's season so far) yet miraculously the score remained 0-0 at half time.
Now I’m not privy to what’s said in the dressing room at half time but I find it hard to believe MON turned around to “Super Liam” Scales and said “I want you to go out there and have your worst ever performance for Celtic Liam” . If those were the instructions he certainly obliged and in the 49th minute Dundee's 48 Ethan Hamilton's left foot shot from 20 yards curled into the net. In all honesty it was no less than the visitors deserved. Celtic 0 Dundee 1. Nervy times among the fans who did attend a half empty Celtic park, the result of a boycott and protest against the board. Indeed it wasn’t difficult to pick out individual voices and some choice words for the performance and for Dermot Desmond et al. That’s football politics and TBH I’d rather avoid that although I can assure you at 6-45pm I was questioning my life choices and whether or not the fans had a point.
The second half saw a slew of missed chances, off the line clearances and wasted opportunities. It looked very much like we were about to have our first cup shock of the weekend. A mini shock perhaps but a shock nonetheless. Despite end-to-end football the clock slowly ticked round to the 90th minute. Injury time. Cup favourites heading out, the Dens Park faithful jubilant. Stoppage time. Five minutes. Five precious minutes to save a season. Cometh the hour (or the 96th minute) cometh a new hero. In chaotic scenes somewhat reminiscent of Adam Idah's late cup winner against the Rangers, with time ticking away and all hope having packed its bags and waiting for the final whistle to end Celtic's miserable season a beautiful cross from Tounekti was audaciously back heeled into the net by the coolest man on the pitch, Celtic's deadline day signing Junior Adamu. The stadium erupted, he’d pulled us back from the brink, let’s get on and win this now Celtic. So they did, as very quickly into the first period of extra time McCowan found Tounekti who’s goal sent Parkhead into raptures and only some fabulous goalkeeping from the Dundee stopper kept the score down. Celtic prevailed and onward to the next round.
Now thing I feel I have to comment on “the penalty that was a penalty but was instead offered up as a free kick”. I’m an old man, I’ve watched football pretty much all my life and how Graham's push Inside the box on “Stan” Cvancara was judged so quickly by VAR to have not been a penalty And for them to release the VAR ruling to the fans (via Premier Sports) at Half Time. Baffles me. Did they realise they’d made a mistake and needed to cover it up quickly? I don’t want to go down the “paranoid fan” road here but if it quacks, walks and looks like a duck chances are it’s a duck. Either way in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t make any difference. It would be nice to see consistent refereeing and for two incidents, exactly the same, in two games to be met with similar outcomes . . . Scottish referees yeah!
The other I have to question was the boot in Kieran Tierney's face. The Dundee player received a yellow for this yet other times straight reds have been showing for such dangerous play. Did Murray mean it? You’ll need to ask him but once again the referees should be asking themselves some very delicate questions. Tierney was poleaxed and had to be substituted. Incredibly dangerous reckless play. I wish Kieran a speedy recovery. ❤️🩹
Sunday saw the Rangers out to avenge their 1-0 humbling by Queens Park at Ibrox during the Clement period.
What followed was an emphatic victory for Danny Rohl's men. What a difference a year makes. An eight goal demolition followed including a hat trick for Rangers captain James Tavernier sending the boys in blue through with ease to the next round. A tortuous afternoon for Queens Park but one that will be fondly remembered by Rangers' Ryan Naderi who scored his first and second goals for the club. The pick of his and of the whole match being his bullet header in the 8th minute to start the party for the Ibrox men. A kid of 22 with a very bright future ahead. A shrewd piece of business by Rangers. Remember the name.
To wrap up the weekend we were blessed with a match on Terrestrial TV as Stenhousemuir took on Falkirk at Ochilview. Granted, not a match of high quality but I’ve seen worse 0-0 draws this season. The action was relentless and as the scoreline suggests there was nothing to choose between the Premiership side and League one Stenhousemuir. Extra time settled the argument though and a strike from Falkirk's Spencer in the 104th minute seemed to crush the spirit of Ochilview and Falkirk quickly added a second in the 108th minute from the head of Barney Stewart.
No shocks but some very close calls, plenty of goals, talking points and a few controversies.
The quarter final draw was made soon after the airing of the Falkirk victory, and their reward a home tie against either Dundee Utd or Spartans but the tie of the quarter final has to be the Glasgow Derby when the Rangers host Celtic.
The full draw is as follows
St Mirren v Partick Thistle
Falkirk v Dundee United/Spartans
Rangers v Celtic
Dunfermline v Aberdeen/Motherwell
Falkirk v Dundee United/Spartans
Rangers v Celtic
Dunfermline v Aberdeen/Motherwell
Ties to be played on or around 7/8th of March
TBC . . .
🐼 Gary Robertson is the TPQ Scottish football correspondent.
As ever, Gary, a fine round up of the soccer scene in your part of the world
ReplyDeleteA celtic fan complaining about VAR?
ReplyDelete" Did they realise they’d made a mistake and needed to cover it up quickly? I don’t want to go down the “paranoid fan” road here but if it quacks, walks and looks like a duck chances are it’s a duck"
Must have missed Trusty booting Butland in the head a wee while back and VAR doing nothing, not to mention blatant Rangers pens being denied v Celtic. As for VAR being biased, how long was it between red cards domestically again? VAR are definitely biased overwhelmingly in Celtics favour ( play til celtic score)
And why did no Celtic fan complain about the Refs or VAR when Rangers were at the foot of the table? Only howling I hear these days is because we're above them lol
Good piece though Gary, enjoy the banter!
Hard to beat soccer banter!!
DeleteComedy of errors at Stamford Bridge last night. Thought we were dead and gone!
DeleteSaw the highlights Barry as we were watching the Man Utd game against West Ham. That Leeds idiot who gave away the penalty should be fined by the club. What does he expect the ref to do in that situation? Needless penalty as there was no threat to the goal.
DeleteLuckily for Leeds Caicedo saved the day . . . twice.
Great result for Leeds - they look to be staying up.