2008-10-25: Celtic 4-2 Hibernian, SPL

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Trivia

Derek Riordan's return to Parkhead, but he did little in the game and got a yellow card for one silly challenge.
Cillian Sheridan's first start for Celtic, and he scored a fine goal.
Two of the goals were scored by our Central Defenders, if only they could defend as well as they attack goals!!!

Review

Torrential weather, second string team with many out, and a frustating set of tactics, yet a good value game. Having gone two up should have coasted it, but we didn't and Hibs came back to level to 2-2!!!! Anyhow, we overcame this to win 4-2, with a fine performance by Brown and also by Hinkel. Derek Riordan's return was a damp squid, and all he got on his return to face Celtic was a yellow card.

Teams

Celtic:-
Boruc, Hinkel, Caldwell, McManus (Loovens 46), Robson, Nakamura (McGeady 63), Scott Brown, Hartley, Maloney, Sheridan, McDonald (McCourt 87).
Subs Not Used:- Mark Brown, Donati, O'Dea, McGowan.
Booked:- McDonald, Hartley.
Goals:- McManus 32, Sheridan 36, Loovens 76, Scott Brown 82.

Hibernian:-
Ma-Kalambay, van Zanten, Jones, Bamba, Stevenson, Fletcher, Shiels, Murray, Rankin, Riordan, Nish
Subs Not Used:- McNeil, Hogg, Yantorno, Keenan, Thicot, Chisholm, Pinau.
Booked:- Riordan, Bamba, Shiels
Goals:- Nish 41, Fletcher 50.

Att:- 58,337
Ref:- C Murray

Articles

Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Match Pictures

KStreet

Pre-match
Match
MOTM
- Result – Brown S (Link to MOTM Winners 2008/09)
Post Match

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan:
"It was a deserved victory for us. How we got back to 2-2, I never know.

"It was terrific game. Our attacking play was immense at times.
"Hibs had good spells but apart from that I thought we were phenomenal.
"Scott Brown was absolutely terrific, he did everything. He's got the lot, he just needs to tidy up his passing sometimes."

Hibernian manager Mixu Paatelainen:
"I was pleased with the way we passed the ball and the way we created chances.
"Being 2-0 down at Parkhead is not an easy position to be in. To come back from that is a great achievement.
"Some of the goals we conceded were really sloppy goals to concede. I felt the two set-piece goals we conceded were absolute jokes. We must do better than that.
"There could have been more goals for us, unfortunately not."

Stats

CELTIC HIBERNIAN
Possession

63%

37%

Shots on target

Shots off target

Corners

Fouls

Celtic 4-2 HibernianBy Andy Campbell

BBC

Celtic maintained their three point lead at the top of the SPL after overcoming a determined Hibernian side.

Captain Stephen McManus fired the home side in front after 32 minutes shortly before Cillian Sheridan made it two.

Hibs pulled one back before half-time with Steven Fletcher's shot deflecting off Colin Nish into the net and Fletcher levelled just after the break.

Glenn Loovens headed Celtic back into the lead after 76 minutes and Scott Brown added Celtic's fourth late on.

Shaun Maloney stated Celtic's intention in the first minute when he combined with Scott McDonald before firing over the crossbar.

At the other end, Derek Riordan, who was making his first appearance against former club Celtic since re-joining Hibs, was given the chance to test Artur Boruc following a foul on Steven Fletcher.

From around 25 yards out, Riordan found the target but goalkeeper Boruc claimed comfortably.

Brown was presented with an opportunity after 19 minutes when Sol Bamba conceded possession midway inside the Hibs half.

The midfielder, who was playing against his former club, noticed goalkeeper Yves Ma-Kalambay off his line and attempted a chip, but the ball drifted over.

Hibs wasted a good opportunity to apply pressure to the Celtic defence on the counter attack when, in space on the right, Colin Nish's poor pass failed to reach any of his team-mates.

Riordan then drew an excellent one-handed save from Boruc with a deflected shot, the keeper having to adjust position to palm the ball out for a corner.

Steven Fletcher was almost in on goal after a neat through ball by Riordan but the Hibernian striker could not bring the ball under control as Celtic cleared the danger.

Within minutes, Celtic were in front asHibs failed to clear Shunsuke Nakamura's corner and McManus fired home from close range with his right foot.

McManus was then involved in Celtic's second, passing through to McDonald who flicked onto strike partner Sheridan.

The 19-year-old confidently took the ball beyond Yves Ma-Kalambay and passed into an empty net for his first goal for the club.

Undeterred by the deficit, Hibs continued to press forward and were rewarded on the 41st minute when Fletcher's shot from the right came off the head of Nish and flew into the net.

Dutchman Loovens was introduced after break with McManus failing to re-appear at the start of the second half.

Hibernian's equaliser came five minutes into the second half when Fletcher met Colin Nish's accurate back-post cross with a left-foot finish.

Celtic went back on the offensive but were foiled when Ma-Kalambay saved well from Andreas Hinkel and McDonald.

Maloney claimed for a foul after being challenged on the edge of the box by Lewis Stevenson, but the referee waved play on.

As the match entered the last quarter-of-an-hour, Barry Robson, who was deployed at left-back, saw his free-kick effort pushed around the post by Ma-Kalambay.

From the resultant corner, Maloney crossed for Loovens to head into the net, despite the presence of Lewis Stevenson on the line.

And Brown capped an excellent performance with a left-foot shot after Aiden McGeady's intelligent pass on 82 minutes.

"It was terrific game. Our attacking play was immense at times.

"Hibs had good spells but apart from that I thought we were phenomenal.

"Scott Brown was absolutely terrific, he did everything. He's got the lot, he just needs to tidy up his passing sometimes."

Hibernian manager Mixu Paatelainen:
"I was pleased with the way we passed the ball and the way we created chances.

"Being 2-0 down at Parkhead is not an easy position to be in. To come back from that is a great achievement.

"Some of the goals we conceded were really sloppy goals to concede. I felt the two set-piece goals we conceded were absolute jokes. We must do better than that.

"There could have been more goals for us, unfortunately not."

Celtic: Boruc, Hinkel, Caldwell, McManus (Loovens 46), Robson, Nakamura (McGeady 63), Scott Brown, Hartley, Maloney, Sheridan, McDonald (McCourt 87).
Subs Not Used: Mark Brown, Donati, O'Dea, McGowan.

Booked: McDonald, Hartley.

Goals: McManus 32, Sheridan 36, Loovens 76, Scott Brown 82.

Hibernian: Ma-Kalambay, van Zanten, Jones, Bamba, Stevenson, Fletcher, Shiels, Murray, Rankin, Riordan, Nish.
Subs Not Used: McNeil, Hogg, Yantorno, Keenan, Thicot, Chisholm, Pinau.

Booked: Riordan, Bamba, Shiels.

Goals: Nish 41, Fletcher 50.

Att: 58,337

Ref: C Murray

Summary by Dr Optomist of KStreet forum

First of all, great game to watch, and made it worth going out in the pissing rain to see it.

I thought we played well overall, Hibs did too. I didn't get a clear view of their first goal, but it was a bit flukish. Had we made it in 2-0 up we would have won by 3 or 4 goals. That goal changed the complexion of the game for about 15-20 minutes. The Hibs second goal, even though the defence could have done better (I thought Loovens was caught out of position), was a very well worked goal. Never doubted we had enough in the tank to win though.

I don't actually think we had anyone who didn't play reasonably well as an individual, granted Caldwell wasn't at his best by recent standards, Robson got done for the second, but I reckon we need to give him time to work on the position. Going forwards his distribution is far better than Naylor's, and his tackling is stronger. Just needs to work on the positional aspect. Loovens I thought was astray for the goal (Mick is generally very good at defending those types of ball in at the front post), but after that I thought he did very well, and showed good strength and pace at the back and up front.

Brown, even goal aside, was fantastic. Worked hard, and played some very good long passes to feet. Who said he can't pass? Naka I thought was fine for the first half hour (his disappointment at mis-kicking the corner for the goal was quite funny). When Hibs got the first goal, the need for Naka lessened, as the pace upped tempo. Aiden gave us more running. Cillian Sheridan I thought, while he does have a look of Craig Beattie about him at times, is a good, if raw talent. He took that goal very well. Hinkel I thought played one of his best games of this season. Very composed and reliable. McDonald and Hartley worked hard without being wonderful.

As a team however at times, we looked disjointed, in part down to the fact that we had a few changes, in addition to Mick's injury. We lost shape too easily after the first goal.

The second goal for me summed up the difference between CL and SPL football. Four touches, three passes it took between Mick and the eventual goal by Sheridan. In the CL you can rarely do that so easily, and concentrated possession is far more important.

All in all, a good day out.

ONE OF THE BHOYS

27 October 2008

Provided by: Mirror

CELTIC 4 HIBERNIAN 2 Clydesdale Bank ALL THE LATEST FROM SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE McCourt joy after he gets first action

PADDY McCourt insists he has never had second thoughts about turning his back on Premier League football to sign for Celtic.

On the day that Derek Riordan returned to Celtic Park as a Hibs player, the Irish winger finally made his SPL debut, albeit for just five minutes.

But while Riordan, who plays a similar role to the former Derry City player, eventually decided he had made a mistake by signing for the Hoops, McCourt has no regrets about turning down a signing offer from West Bromwich Albion to move to Glasgow.

He said: "I never had any doubts that I made the right decision.

"It's been great even when I've not been in the team or even close to being in the team.

"I've always been treated great and I knew myself what I had to do. I knew long before I signed if I had gone anywhere else it would still have been the same. I definitely knew it was going to take three or four months.

"I'm in the third or fourth month now so hopefully I'm going to get more time on the pitch."

The Northern Ireland international has had to live down big comparisons with countryman George Best and admits that he suffered a culture shock when he realised just how good his new team-mates were compared to the standard in the Eircom League.

He conceded: "Sometimes from the outside looking in you don't appreciate how good the lads are. It's when you see them and work with them on a daily basis they're really top players, really top professionals.

"They don't leave anything to chance and that's taken me a wee bit by surprise.

"Everyone at the club has impressed me, there's not a bad player here."

Although he recognises part of the reason his chance has finally come was down to injuries to Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Georgios Samaras and Chris Killen, McCourt is hoping that like fellow Irishman Cillian Sheridan he can make an impact in the weeks ahead.

He said: "I knew when I signed here I knew I had to knuckle down and get my fitness up. I've been working hard every day, hopefully now it's the pay-off."

Sheridan marked his first start with a well-taken goal and McCourt reckons he and his rookie team-mate can make an impact at a time when the club has a dearth of strikers.

He said: "I thought Cillian was outstanding. He was a real handful and he took his goal well. I think he's got a great chance.

"Like myself, Cillian has struggled with injuries but when he's been fit and well he's always been in training with the first team. I think the manager likes him and I think he's done himself no harm."

While Rangers fans have attempted to turn McCourt into a joke figure because of his lack of games by trying to rig a vote to make him player of the month, the winger reveals that it was an early injury which has seriously hampered his progress until now.

He said: "After about four days I picked up an abductor injury and was out for two weeks and missed the trips away. When I came back I was doing double sessions.

It's been hard but I'm not far away now. It's still going to be hard to break in as a regular starter but hopefully that will happen."

Hibs striker David Nish admitted his disappointment was not being able to take something from the match after battling to overcome the two-goal lead Celtic set up through goals from Stephen McManus and Sheridan.

Insisting he scored his side's opener by getting his head to a shot by man of the match Steven Fletcher who grabbed the equaliser, he said: "It's disappointing when you come back to 2-2 and give it away the way we did."

Mirror