Celtic 1 - 1 Falkirk: Aidan McGeady's struggles sum up Celtic's season

IT REMAINS unclear, in this warped transfer culture, just what Aiden McGeady's true value is.

For all those who maintain the Celtic winger is worth far in excess of the 8million Birmingham City appear willing to start the bidding at, there are as many who will consign suggestions that 14million will be wafted before the Parkhead board to the realms of fantasy.

On Saturday's evidence, McGeady's worth to his manager Tony Mowbray is unquantifiable.

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To be fair to the Republic of Ireland international, he hasn't had many afternoons like this. He could not, in short, have made more wrong choices in the course of the 90 minutes had he tried.

As Mowbray introduced Niall McGinn and Paddy McCourt in a vain attempt to claim three vital points at Falkirk's expense, only the manager's knowledge that McGeady is capable of brilliance at any point in a game saved him from a rare walk to the substitutes' bench. The 23-year-old had been generally wasteful in Celtic's previous outing, the Old Firm match, but it was his late trickery and creativity which prompted a Scott McDonald goal.

Mowbray's regular insistence that McGeady must not be allowed to depart Celtic during this transfer window surely gained perfect, if unwanted, momentum here. The hosts created virtually nothing of note despite concerted spells of territorial dominance. Albeit the manager cannot currently call on Shaun Maloney and Scott Brown because of injury, Mowbray is a smart enough analyst of football to know when a team is worryingly short on guile.

Publicly, though, he continues to back his players. "The team was fine," he said. "If I thought there was major surgery required I would be more concerned but we are functioning fine. I have every confidence in this group of players."

In this age of such scrutiny, few would blame Mowbray for keeping his concerns in-house. Ironically, he was more critical of his team earlier in the season amid a spell of narrow victories; what the former Hibs and West Bromwich Albion manager would give now for half a dozen scrappy wins in succession.

The Celtic support, clearly, remain unconvinced. They were an angry lot at full-time – the fact so many of them hung around to voice displeasure was significant – after a further two points were dropped in this title race.

Yet anger was not reserved for Celtic's players. The referee Alan Muir was berated for not awarding the hosts a penalty in the dying minutes when Marc-Antoine Fortune was apparently toppled by Brian McLean.

Even Eddie May, the Falkirk manager, had sympathy. "I think Celtic should have had a penalty," he said. "We got a little bit of luck; I have seen them given here."

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May's view was at odds with McLean, who said Fortune had gone down unchallenged. Mowbray refused to enter the debate, leaving his full-back, Andreas Hinkel, to admit frustration with officialdom. "Some situations, again, were very strange for me," said the German. "We had enough chances (to win] but it is strange for us that week after week we have some strange decisions against us.

"You always try to give your best as a player, then something happens; I think it is not just one situation, week after week it is happening."

Hinkel believes Stephen McManus was fouled in the build-up to Falkirk's goal – the centre-half continued his miserable season by limping off shortly afterwards – but more attention should be diverted towards Darren O'Dea. The Irishman, who has recently returned from an ill-fated loan spell at Reading, got himself into a dreadful mess in trying to clear, leaving Carl Finnigan to slot home from 14 yards.

Celtic's quest for salvation and the appearance of the teenager Josh Thompson as McManus's replacement hinted more goals were to come. There was only one, however. Georgios Samaras collected a fine Marc Crosas pass before supplying a typically clean, angled finish.

Falkirk's outstanding defence, it must be noted, played a part in Celtic's toils. Samaras had only a single other opportunity, which he headed nearer to the corner flag than the goal frame.

For Mowbray, there was only the solace of a promising debut from the South Korean Ki Sung Yueng; the midfielder should benefit when Landry N'Guemo's returns from the African Cup of Nations and Brown to fitness, allowing him to take on a more advanced role.

"Somewhere along the line," Mowbray said. "We are going to score a lot of goals."

For that to happen, Celtic simply cannot afford their star player to have many more afternoons such as this.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Brian McLean (Falkirk)

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Perhaps fortunate not to concede a late penalty after a tangle with Marc-Antoine Fortune, but any award would have proved the harsh culmination of an outstanding afternoon. Marshalled the visiting defence excellently, as was typified by a last-gasp tackle on Zheng Zhi only seconds from time.