Trivia
- Rangers won 2-1 at St Mirren, so we are still 3pts in front but now +4 in goals! All so close
- Samaras off injured after 15mins or so.
- JVoH scores again, second game in a row.
- Maloney back in training but injured again.
- O'Dea scores a goal and seeks to claim first team spot ahead of Naylor. Loovens still out injured.
- Champs Lge matches qtr-finals being played at same time today.
Review
A comfortable victory which should have seen us win by more. Only slight was to see Samaras go off with an injury which appeared to be innocuous. Didn't negatively impact us although we did take a long time to get a goal. After that we were generally in control, with some good play and fine goals. JVoH gets two in two games, Caldwell & O'Dea score, and McGeady scores with a good long range drive. Some fine play by Naka & Crosas in this game, with Boruc having little to do as a whole.
Harder task on Saturday against Hearts away.
Teams
Celtic : 4-4-2
Boruc,
Hinkel,Caldwell, McManus, O'Dea,
Nakamura (McCourt 82), Scott Brown, Crosas, McGeady (Mizuno 88),
McDonald, Samaras (Vennegoor of Hesselink 16).
Subs Not Used:- Fox, Wilson, Loovens, Ferry.
Booked : Scott Brown.
Goals : Caldwell 29, Vennegoor of Hesselink 62, McGeady 78, O'Dea 90.
Falkirk : Dani Mallo, McNamara, Scobbie (Holden 46), Barr, Pressley (Bullen 20), McBride, O'Brien, Arfield, McCann (Moffat 84), Higdon, Finnigan.
Subs Not Used: Olejnik, Cregg, Riera, Aafjes.
Booked : McBride, Finnigan.
Att : 57,669 [actually far lower with swathes of empty seats again]
Ref : W Collum
Articles
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan :
"That was good. I enjoyed that tonight.
"We got the first goal and I thought we took off after that and the players were terrific in the second half.
"We've come through a difficult section in the season and it is all right for us.
"Samaras has strained his quad, but there is some movement there, so that could be a good sign."
Falkirk head coach John Hughes :
"I thought we passed the ball well.
"We came here to take them on and, in the first 10-15 minutes, we were lively, but Celtic were just too good for us.
"Our season is not going to be decided by what happened here, although it did not help our goal difference.
"We need to start picking up wins, starting on Saturday against Kilmarnock."
Pictures
KStreet
Stats
CELTIC v FALKIRK
Possession
Shots on target
Shots off target
Corners
Fouls
Bhoys blitz Falkirk to stay three clear
09 April 2009
Provided by: The Irish Examiner
JAN Vennegoor of Hesselink netted his second goal in five days as Celtic comfortably maintained their three-point lead at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League last night.
Gary Caldwell blasted a 29th-minute opener after a slow start by the Hoops and both Vennegoor of Hesselink and Stephen McManus hit the bar just before the break.
Celtic controlled the second half and Aiden McGeady and Darren O’Dea netted after Vennegoor of Hesselink had notched his fourth goal of the season.
However, the victory came at a cost as Georgios Samaras limped off and Scott Brown picked up a yellow card which could rule him out of the last Old Firm derby of the season.
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan was happy with his side’s victory.
"I’m delighted with the way we played when we were 1-0 up," Strachan said.
"There were few chances before the goal but we played well after that. Sometimes you can be nervous when it’s only 1-0 but we didn’t look nervous.
"We had a lot of good performances. Aiden was special and I thought Jan was absolutely terrific. He was a threat."
Samaras limped off in the 14th minute after an innocuous challenge by Steven Pressley and Vennegoor of Hesselink, who ended a barren spell of more than six months during Saturday’s 4-0 win over Hamilton, entered the fray.
Celtic went ahead after referee Willie Collum harshly ruled that Kevin McBride pushed McGeady in the corner. Scott McDonald headed Shunsuke Nakamura’s free-kick across the face of goal and Caldwell blasted the ball home from close range.
The hosts got the cushion they wanted in the 62nd minute. Mallo missed Nakamura’s cross and Vennegoor of Hesselink bundled the ball home from four yards.
Celtic killed off Falkirk’s resistance as McGeady scored in the 78th minute when he beat Holden and fired into the bottom corner from 18 yards.
O’Dea further boosted Celtic’s goal difference in the dying moments by sidefooting home McManus’ cross.
CELTIC: Boruc, Hinkel, O’Dea, McManus, Caldwell, Scott Brown, Nakamura (McCourt 82), Crosas, McGeady (Mizuno 88), McDonald, Samaras (Vennegoor of Hesselink 16).
FALKIRK: Dani Mallo, McNamara, Scobbie (Holden 46), Barr, Pressley (Bullen 20), McBride, O’Brien, Arfield, McCann (Moffat 84), Higdon, Finnigan.
Referee: W Collum (Scotland).
© Irish Examiner, 2009. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH
The Irish Examiner
McGeady and O'Dea find the net as Celtic stay in clear
09 April 2009
Provided by: Irish Independent
AIDEN McGEADY and Darren O'Dea were both on the scoresheet as Celtic maintained their three-point lead at the top of the SPL with a comprehensive defeat of Falkirk at Parkhead last night.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink had to settle for a place on the bench after breaking a barren spell of more than six months during Saturday's 4-0 win over Hamilton.
Celtic took the lead when Scott McDonald headed Shunsuke Nakamura's free-kick across the face of goal and Gary Caldwell blasted home.
The hosts lost Georgios Samaras to injury during a slow start but Caldwell blasted home from close range following a soft free-kick in the 29th minute.
Falkirk, who saw Steven Pressley limp off, began positively but they survived two late scares when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Stephen McManus headed against the crossbar.
The hosts got the cushion they wanted in the 62nd minute when sub Vennegoor of Hesselink notched his second goal in five days. Mallo missed Nakamura's cross from the left, and the Dutchman bundled the ball home from four yards at the back post.
McGeady scored in the 78th minute when he beat a man and fired into the bottom corner from 18 yards. O'Dea further boosted Celtic's goal difference in the dying moments by sidefooting home McManus' cross from two yards.
Meanwhile, Rangers kept pace with a 2-1 win over St Mirren.
Goals from Kris Boyd and Maurice Edu — his first for the club — gave Rangers a comfortable half-time lead. But Andy Dorman got the home side back into the game when he latched on to Craig Dargo's excellent threaded pass and finished neatly past Neil Alexander after 56 minutes.
Nacho Novo could have restored Rangers' two-goal advantage when he raced on to a Boyd ball to go one on one with Mark Howard, but the Saints goalkeeper managed to block the point-blank effort.
(c) 2009 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd
Irish Independent