Celtic 1 -1 Falkirk: Groundhog day for Celtic as fans' fury grows

Published on Saturday 16 January 2010 20:57

FOR the last 20 minutes of this fractious and, frankly, bonkers afternoon, Celtic pounded Falkirk, dominating possession, creating chances and, as is their wont, blowing each one in turn.

Desperation came to Parkhead yesterday. Desperation on the field and significant anger off it. Try as they might – and by God they tried – the home team could not sucker Falkirk with a late winner and got booed by their own people as a result. Not for the first time either.

Dear oh dear. Celtic now trail Rangers by nine points, albeit with a match in hand. They're bringing huff and puff football to new levels here.

Tony Mowbray, calm as could be in the aftermath, spoke of "positives" and of things being fine. "If I thought the team needed major surgery then I'd be sitting here concerned," said the Celtic manager. Andreas Hinkel offered more on that front. "We always control games and make chances but we give away simple goals," said the German. "It's happened so often this season."

Falkirk deserved their point. For a team at the bottom of the league they came here with a spirit and a skill on the break that belied their position at the foot of the SPL. They defended stoutly, Marc Twaddle and Brian McLean were excellent, rode their luck, had a formidable physical presence in new boy, Enoch Showunmi, and made things hideously difficult for Celtic.

The day bordered on the farcical at times. How farcical? Well, get this. Celtic were without Glenn Loovens and Danny Fox at the back, two of five certain starters who missed the game. After half an hour, Stephen McManus, unloved by his manager but captain for the day because Celtic are so short on leaders right now having sold two of them – Gary Caldwell and Barry Robson – during the week, left the field injured. Darren O'Dea became the new skipper. Yes, the same O'Dea who was making his first appearance of the season following a miserable loan period at Reading, the same wobbly O'Dea who had gifted Falkirk the lead not long before.

But the strangeness didn't end there. Celtic's centre-back pairing was now the undercooked Irishman and the 18-year-old debutant, Josh Thomson – fourth and fifth choices respectively. Thomson, to be fair, performed very well, because it wasn't easy out there. The atmosphere was tense, the patience of the faithful growing thinner and thinner as the day went on. You might even say that the testy vibe was established before a ball was kicked, when a group of Celtic fans high up in the stand unveiled their handiwork for all to see.

Put simply, it was a giant sign with a toilet in the middle of it, with January 2009 written above it and the legend "Desmond, Reid, Lawwell. Don't let it happen again," written below. This was, of course, a reminder of last year's transfer window, when Celtic bought just one player, Willo Flood, and ended up losing the title. The locals, clearly are getting pretty jumpy – and no wonder. Four players left Parkhead last week and only two have arrived. One of them, Ki Sung Yeung, made his debut yesterday. And, playing deeper than he would have wished, it was a promising first start that might have brought a goal when he struck a thunderous second-half free-kick from distance that was tipped away brilliantly by Robert Olejnik

Falkirk didn't show an ounce of fear. True, they packed their defence tight when Celtic were in possession but they also panicked the lives out of the home team at times. When they opened the scoring, nobody could have argued that it was a shock for by then they'd already had a Pele header kicked off his own line by Hinkel. Their breakthrough came after 19 minutes and it was a calamity for O'Dea who failed to deal with a breaking ball and allowed Carl Finnigan to drill a low shot past Artur Boruc.

At that moment, the tension in the ground gave way to anger. Shortly after the goal, Falkirk came close to scoring a second when Ryan Flynn's curler was beaten away by Boruc, a second cue for angst in the stands. Things eased, but only momentarily, when Marc Crosas picked out Samaras on the left side of the box for the Greek international's goal, smashed home with a ruthlessness that has become so rare around these parts.

The normal way of things soon continued, though. Chances came and went. Zheng Zhi headed past a post, Ki's 30-yard rocket was saved by Olejnik, who then denied Aiden McGeady. There was more, too. Ki delivered a peach of a cross to the back post but Marc-Antoine Fortune failed to do anything with it, then Samaras glanced one wide and Pat McCourt had a shot saved. In between that lot, there was a penalty claim, when Fortune spun McLean and then hit the deck a tad too easily looking for the decision that never came. Eddie May, the Falkirk manager, thought it was a penalty, rather bizarrely. Mowbray wouldn't commit either way.

For Celtic, then, groundhog day. The manager says everything is fine. The growing points gap between themselves and Rangers would suggest otherwise.

MAN OF THE MATCH

The Falkirk back four were very good all afternoon. Marc Twaddle and Brian McLean could have won this, but we give it to Robert Olejnik instead, based on some superb saves. He really looks a top goalkeeper nowadays.

QUICK FACT

This was the first time in almost 23 years that Falkirk have managed to avoid defeat at Parkhead.

TALKING POINT

The penalty that never was. Did Brian McLean bring down Marc-Antoine Fortune? Certainly, McLean didn't think so. He encouraged referee Alan Muir to book Fortune for diving.