Red Imps stun Celtic

Red Imps stun Celtic

Celtic record what is possibly their worst ever result in a 1-0 defeat to Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps​

Efe Ambrose. He is the man who is guaranteed to cost you a result on a fairly frequent basis. There aren't many Celtic fans who seriously want him to ever pull on the Hoops again, yet he was selected to start this evening. An early booking was just a sign of things to come. He was turned inside out for the Red Imps' goal.

The first half's main highlight was Scott Brown floating in a high ball from a free kick on the left hand side of the pitch, with new signing Moussa Dembele putting the ball into the net. The Swedish referee ruled that the goalkeeper had been fouled and the goal was disallowed. A poor decision.

Frustratingly, Leigh Griffiths found himself on the right hand side of the attack after reaching the tally of 40 goals last season. His poaching instincts are wasted there and it showed.

Ryan Christie was given a start on the left hand side of the attack and offered nothing to show why he deserved to be there, continually failing to look up before he attempted to pass or cross the ball.

A difficult artificial pitch made it look like the two teams were trying to play football on a bouncy castle, with each and every misplaced pass bringing yet more frustration amongst the support. Scott Brown, a man who is trying to regain form after playing through injury last season, looked like he had never seen a football before. Bitton looked unfit and the excuse of the 29°C heat isn't enough of an excuse for the pitiful performance.

The second half saw Leigh Griffiths hit the bar twice, once from a shot after a cut back cross, the other time from a direct free kick from around 20 yards. The free kick's rebound off the bar fell to Nir Bitton, who had a touch like an elephant. The Imps defence quickly intercepted the ball and put it out for a corner.

It's a fine line between success and failure, but tonight it wasn't a fine line, tonight was a gaping chasm of embarrassment. Every other fan of every other club is wetting their pants with laughter and I don't blame them.

I feel utterly sick to my stomach. Brendan Rodgers has a lot of work to do to forge a team out of this group of players. Having said that, I still believe we will beat them at Parkhead and go through to the next round.

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Celtic:
1 Gordon
10 Dembele
6 Bitton
4 Ambrose
9 Griffiths
8 Brown
17 Christie
18 Rogic
63 Tierney
28 Sviatchenko
22 Janko

Lincoln Red Imps:

1 Navas Paul
3 Chipolina
7 Casciaro
6 Lopes
2 Garcia
88 Walker
10 Casciaro
14 Chipolina
5 Casciaro
20 Patiño Blasco
19 Calderón Vallejo