Mowbray: “Ultimately not good enough”​

Celtic’s failure - yet again - to win at home saw the Bhoys surrender the lead at the top of the SPL table to Rangers this weekend.

On an immensely disappointing afternoon with few positives other than a clean sheet, and the welcome return of Barry Robson, Tony Mowbray’s men lacked any finesse up front. Strikers Scott McDonald and Georgios Samaras were starved of any quality ball from a midfield that, surprisingly, did not feature new acquisition Zheng Zhi.

Additionally, first-choice fullbacks Danny Fox and Andreas Hinkel again missed out, as Celtic struggled to find any momentum in what was billed as a must-win encounter following on from the bitter taste of Old Firm defeat.

Fox - presence sorely missed.​

While Mowbray was keen to look at the positives after the match – most notably the number of shots Celtic had on target – the sad truth was that this performance fully merited the boos from the Celtic faithful once the full time whistle had been blown.

McDonald and winger Niall McGinn both had excellent opportunities to break the deadlock; indeed, McDonald had a chance to win the match in the dying minutes. However, that would have been a bitter pill for Jim Gannon’s ‘Well side to swallow, having matched Celtic throughout the majority of proceedings.

McDonald - missed opportunities.​

Speaking after the match, Mowbray stated: “There’s an overriding sense of frustration at the lack of quality in the final third. The final pass wasn’t good enough. I don’t want to be too harsh, since it’s the first time we haven’t scored in the league. We had a lot of shots on goal, but it just wouldn’t go in. We huffed and puffed, and ultimately weren’t good enough.”

8 games in, and 17 points on the board. While there is in no way any suggestion of Celtic pushing the panic button, it is clear that the Mowbray revolution is only in the early stages. Much will have to be looked at in the coming months, ahead of a January transfer window that could well see plenty movement in both directions.

DM