Trivia
Review
Poor. What else can be said for this game. We now throw it away! Ahead on goal difference after Rangers drew their midweek game, we drop two pts in this one as Rangers won the day before! Diabolical. Little positive from the game with few who did much. Boruc made a great save from an overhead kick from a Hibbee, but our players failed to muster many shots at goal. We should have done better than we did, and the Hibbees were playing a good game and really could have scored against us.
Toothless display which likely again loses us valuable pts away from home.
Teams
Hibernian:
Ma-Kalambay, van Zanten, Thicot, Jones, Murray, Rankin, Bamba (Hanlon 89), Chisholm, Stevenson, Riordan (O'Brien 90), Fletcher.
Subs Not Used: McNeil, Keenan, McCormack, Cropley, Johansson.
Booked: Murray, Rankin, Ma-Kalambay, Bamba, Riordan
Celtic: (4-4-2)
Boruc.
Hinkel, Caldwell, Loovens, Naylor.
Nakamura, Scott Brown (Maloney 68), Hartley, McGeady.
Samaras (Vennegoor of Hesselink 62), McDonald.
Subs Not Used: Mark Brown, O'Dea, Crosas, Flood, Misun.
Booked: Scott Brown
Att: 14,074
Ref: I Brines
Articles
***Celtic manager Gordon Strachan:
"It was like a training session, where you have waves of attack and try and score.
"We didn't have enough opportunities to blow the goal difference right away. The way it stands now, Rangers have it in their own hands, and fair play to them.
"I knew we played well, there was some outstanding contributions, we did what we did and had chances.
"But looking back over the season, if you score enough goals, then it's not a problem.
"We've not had the magic this year, maybe we're not hungry enough in the box – maybe they'll come next week.
"If Rangers go to Tannadice next week and win, you've got to hold your hands up and say well done.
"But we'll play Hearts and give it our best shot."
***It was these sort of comments "played well","outstanding contributions" which were patently untrue that did not help endear Gordon Strachan to some of the Celtic support throughout his tenure.When you have thrown away the League title having had a seven point lead twice it is not the time to come away with such futile and false comments.
Pictures
KStreet
Stats
HIBERNIAN v CELTIC
Possession
Shots on target
Shots off target
Corners
Fouls
CELTIC'S TRIBUTE TO FAMINE DEAD
18 May 2009
Provided by: Mirror
CELTIC stars yesterday paid tribute to victims of the Irish famine.
Players wore a Celtic Cross on their shirts honouring the dead during their 0-0 draw with Hibernian.
The cross, representing a bridge between Scottish and Irish cultures, is the symbol of the club's charitable arm.
The move was part of the first National Famine Memorial Day.
It has been earmarked by the Irish government to commemorate and honour more than 1.5 million people who either died between 1845 and 1851. Millions more emigrated.
Victims of the Great Famine were also remembered at a ceremony in Skibbereen, Co Cork, where up to 10,000 famine victims are buried in a mass grave. Celtic chairman John Reid said given Celtic's proud Irish heritage, the club is inextricably linked to the Great Famine and the subsequent immigration from Ireland.
He added:"The Irish famine resulted in death, disease and displacement of people on an unimaginable scale with the West of Scotland becoming a principal point of refuge.
"The famine is a lesson from history which should never be forgotten but from the despair and death of famine arose new hope, new life and a new future, part of that came in the shape of Celtic Football Club."
Blessings and special prayers were said at masses across the country yesterday and schools in the Republic will hold a minute's silence. Next year a ceremony will be held in New York.
(c) 2009 Mirror Group Ltd
Mirror
Celtic lack firepower and slip up.
18 May 2009
Provided by: Irish Times
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Hibernian 0 Celtic 0: “CHIP HIM, chip him,” muttered Gordon Strachan as he walked past the television in the Easter Road media room.
A replay of Scott McDonald’s 72nd-minute attempt at goal, blocked by the Hibernian goalkeeper Yves Ma-Kalambay, had prompted the Celtic manager’s rueful comment.
Publicly, and correctly, Strachan had earlier praised his players on account of their efforts, which gave them territorial dominance over Hibs.
He is painfully aware, though, that a failure to convert such play into any form of tangible reward may lead to the Premier League trophy returning to Ibrox for the first time since 2005. Rangers are now in a position they have dreamed about for four years and one which seemed fanciful even four months ago.
The arithmetic is simple: victory for Walter Smith’s men over Dundee United on Sunday means Rangers will be champions. After the latest drama-fuelled weekend Celtic trail their oldest rivals by two points with one game to play.
A draw for Rangers at Tannadice will not be enough if Celtic, holding the superior goal difference, simultaneously beat a Hearts team who have nothing left to play for. That this is now Rangers’ title to lose owes everything to a lack of invention and killer execution on the part of Strachan’s team. Several of the visiting players sat motionless on the turf at full-time in Edinburgh, unquestionably the combination of their energy-sapping work and the harsh realisation that title momentum now lies elsewhere. Physically and mentally, Celtic resembled a broken team.
“I said to the players in the dressingroom that I could not have asked any more from them,” said Strachan. “All we are missing is goals.” McDonald was the main offender with regards profligacy although clear-cut chances were at a premium. Celtic registered two shots on target and their own goalkeeper, Artur Boruc, made a single save during the 90 minutes.
“We were playing against a team which sits in, frustrates and doesn’t want to play the game,” said the Celtic defender Gary Caldwell. “It is not entertaining for the fans.” That, in truth, is the epitome of a disingenuous argument. The Hibs support seemed perfectly enamoured with their side’s efforts; it was hardly the hosts’ role to lie down and let Celtic trample them.
Hibs’ defence, in which their much courted captain Rob Jones was outstanding, are due credit for keeping Celtic at bay.
Caldwell headed the visitors’ finest opportunity of the opening half wide from all of four yards before McDonald miscued a shot when sent clean through on Ma-Kalambay.
As desperation set in among Celtic’s players and, visibly, their supporters, the creative talents of Aiden McGeady and Shunsuke Nakamura were not as prominent as Strachan needed. “We just have to win next week and keep our fingers crossed,” said Strachan. “It is not the situation we want to be in but we have put ourselves in it, so we have to deal with it ourselves.”
Guardian Service
HIBERNIAN: Ma-Kalambay, van Zanten, Thicot, Jones, Murray, Rankin, Bamba (Hanlon 89), Chisholm, Stevenson, Riordan (O’Brien 90), Fletcher. Subs not used:McNeil, Keenan, McCormack, Cropley, Johansson. Booked: Murray, Rankin, Ma-Kalambay, Bamba, Riordan.
CELTIC:Boruc, Hinkel, Caldwell, Loovens, Naylor, Nakamura, Scott Brown (Maloney 68), Hartley, McGeady, Samaras (Vennegoor of Hesselink 62), McDonald. Subs not used:Mark Brown, O’Dea, Crosas, Flood, Misun.
Booked: Scott Brown.
Referee:I Brines (Scotland).
(c) 2009, The Irish Times.
Irish Times