TalkCeltic - The Ultimate Celtic FC Forum

celtic needed to win today to keep a safe gap at the top of the league with rangers due to play against aberdeen the next day. it was a chilly day and there wasn't too much to warm the fans up and it wasn't as if celtic had to put much effort in against a poor motherwell side.

apart from a rebounded hartson shot which hoops striker, chris sutton should have scored from, there wasn't much to shout about until the half hour mark when bulgarian captain, stilian petrov powerfully struck past 'well keeper, gordon marshall after some smart work by sutton.

young talent, aiden mcgeady skilfully skipped past the lanarkshire side's steven hammell, but marshall just managed to parry his effort.

the bhoys looked eager to finish the match as they started the second half, with a few half chances going begging.

there was some more smart play by mcgeady when a flashy back heel from found sutton, for sutton to find hartson, only for the linesman to stop for offside.

just below the hour,...

celtic were under pressure today, because a win against west lothian club, livingston would sent them three points ahead in their first match of the new year.

apart from the pre match huddle roars, the celtic atmosphere was disappointing, and my last game against aberdeen in october, which i though was a bad atmosphere, was good compared to this game. the livi lions aren't the biggest support and only brought around 400 fans, if that, but they managed to make a noise similar to the hoops fans , and the livi supporters would have been disappointed, and would have expected more from the celtic supporters.

to the match and the celtic players knew a win would send the three points ahead after their bitter rivals and had the same line up that beat hearts, 2-0 last week. rangers had only managed a last minute draw, and knew the livi lions wouldn't be pushovers under their latest manager, richard gough.

young prospect, aiden mcgeady, from a corner, crossed into the box for...

celtic's lead at the top grew to four points today as they won to make sure they started and finished the year at the top.

scottish goalkeeper, robert douglas was in goal for his first league apperance this season,while ex-coventry keeper, magnus hedman was out through illness while the jambos were missing aussie defender, patrick kisnorbo and dundee born, andrew webster.

hearts' defence was all over the place and early on at the start of the first half, young irish winger, aiden mcgeady leant on to alan thompson's smart pass to make it 1-0 to the bhoys.

but the edinburgh team weren't dead and buried and were pushing douglas to some well saved shots

ex-aberdeen defender, jamie mcallister hit a well struck free kick, which goalie, douglas was well positioned to save.

the jambos' dutch striker, mark de vries was then causing many problems in the celtic defence winning many high balls, but couldn't put the ball in the net, but so were the parkhead team and celtic were always very...

if this was your first time at celtic park, you would be very surprised at the poor attendance. it wasn't that the arabs fans didn't bother turning up, but that something was distracting the hoops fans from coming to celtic park. maybe they are bored of watching them win week in, week out and have gone christmas shopping instead or is it that celtic aren't as exciting as they used to be and are bored of them gatting a goal and just holding on that they find frustrating, think about it as if you are a irish celtic season book holder, would you really want to pay your £435 price for a season ticket, and then the price of the plane to scotland? or would you rather just leave it?
not many people from ireland would want your ticket because of how much it will cost just to get there on a plant just to see them against bottom of the league, dundee united. they'd rather see them against rangers or hearts or in the champion's league.

dundee united had a point to prove ahead of their...

celtic returned to the top of the SPL after a very convincing win on dnfermline's plastic pitch in front of a poor turn out by pars supporters.

the hoops started off with the same 11 that started aginst ac milan on tuesday in a very well fought draw against ac milan.

there were two talking points in the first half where the celtic supporters will have felt very hard done by. first what looked a clear goal was disallowed by referee hugh dallas and a penalty claim was waved away by dallas.

but that didn't matter too much, on 16 minutes a well worked corner was headed in by striker, chris sutton.
from then on celtic were in control and and just after the 30 minute mark, midfielder, stilian petrov struck an unstoppable effort past pars goalkeeper, derek stillie

a few efforts came close including towerng defender, dianbobo balde's effort.

celtic goalkeeper magnus hedman pulled off a few good stops early on in the second half.
john hartson came as close as it gets by shooting off...