9 in 9 for 9

Celtic 1-0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park,
K.O. 3pm, 1/11/14


John Guidetti's record at Celtic now stands at 9 goals in 9 games. Celtic's new on-loan no.9 scored yet again to seal the 3 points for The Bhoys at Celtic Park against a well drilled and dangerous Inverness Caledonain Thistle.

The first half started off in lively fashion for The Bhoys, with Guidetti, Stokes and Johansen linking up well early on to cause problems for the Caley defence. Twenty two minutes into the half, Lustig created Celtic’s best opportunity thus far. An out-swinging cross from the right hand side of the box was just too high for Guidetti, with Stokes unable to react in time behind the Swede. The ball trickled away harmlessly for an Inverness goal kick.

5 minutes later, Van Dijk threatened Brill in the Inverness goal with a thumping effort from 35 yards, but the stopper was a match for the effort.

Celtic improved as the half progressed; with Guidetti, Brown and Johansen all splitting the Inverness defence with some incisive precision passes in the final third. However, the Caley defenders remained focused to hold strong and keep the scores level as the half time whistle blew.

The sides returned unchanged for the second half.

Almost instantly from kick-off, Scott Brown was alive and alert to intercept a sloppy Inverness pass in midfield. He played a quick through ball into the dangerous Guidetti, but it was too heavy for the front man.

Celtic’s moment finally did come though. In the 48th minute Anthony Stokes played a clever pass into John Guidetti. Celtic’s man of the moment then twisted and turned in the box to create the space and smash home the opener past the helpless Brill.


John Guidetti to the rescue for Celtic again.

A mere two minutes later, Guidetti was causing havoc yet again in the opposition area. Using his strength to hold up the play, he was hacked to the ground by Ross Draper. The Celtic support could hardly believe their eyes as Craig Thompson waved away Guidetti’s protests.

Later in the half, Deila made Celtic’s first substitution, with Adam Matthews replacing Mikael Lustig at the right side of the defence. Mubarak Wakaso was replaced by Callum McGregor a few minutes later. Griffiths replaced a tired Guidetti after 78 minutes.

With five minutes left on the clock, Inverness turned up the heat. Winning a few corners and missing a few clear headers, the Celtic fans were on the edge of their seats. Zaluska was called in to action on a number of occasions and did brilliantly to keep Celtic 1-0 up.

There was a rare moment of respite then for Celtic. Anthony Stokes gathered the ball in midfield deep into extra time and brought the ball to the corner to kill the game. ​

Full time: Celtic 1-0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle

CELTIC (4-2-3-1) Zaluska; Lustig (Matthews 62), Denayer, van Dijk, Izaguirre; Brown, Mulgrew; Wakaso (McGregor 69), Johansen, Stokes; Guidetti.
Subs: Fasan, Ambrose, Scepovic, Griffiths, Kayal.

TalkCeltic Man of the Match: Lukasz Zaluska & John Guidetti