| Match Pictures | Matches: 2010 – 2011 | 2010-2011 Pictures |
Trivia
- Last match in the pre-season.
- Not full strength but near enough
Review
Not full strength but near enough, but another disaster and ends a really bad pre-season. McCourt impresses again and Fortune scores, but little else good to day.
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18/07/2010 Friendly Seattle Sounders 20:00 A 2-1
22/07/2010 Friendly Sporting Lisbon 01:00 N 1-1
28/07/2010 UEFA CL SC Braga 20:00 A 0-3
31/07/2010 Friendly Olympique Lyon 14:00 N 2-2
01/08/2010 Friendly Arsenal 16:20 A 2-3
04/08/2010 UEFA CL SC Braga 19:45 H 2-1
08/08/2010 Friendly Blackburn Rovers 15:00 H 1-2
TeamsFriendly Match
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Celtic Park, Glasgow
CELTIC….1
(Fortune 16)
BLACKBURN ROVERS…2
(Dunn 12, Judge 64)
CELTIC (4-4-2) Zaluska; Hinkel, Rogne, Misun, Mulgrew; Fortune (Hutchinson 73), Towell, Crosas (Cha 68), McCourt; Murphy, Hooper (Rasmussen 25)
Not used: Cervi, Twardzik, Conroy, Hooiveld, Thompson
BLACKBURN (4-4-2) Robinson; Salgado, Givet, Jones, Chimbonda; Emerton (Doran 73) Linganzi, Dunn, Morris (Judge 62); Blackman (Hoilett 60), Kalinic (Gunning 73)
Not Used: Bunn, Nelson
Articles
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
KStreet
Articles
(official site)
judge condemns celtic to narrow defeat Mark Henderson
CELTIC completed their run of pre-season friendlies with a narrow 2-1 defeat to Blackburn Rovers.
A tremendous free-kick from David Dunn gave the Premier League side the lead in the 12th minute, before Marc-Antoine Fortune levelled the match with a clever finish four minutes later.
The match swung from end-to-end, but Alan Judgegave Rovers the victory with a low shot on 64 minutes.
Lennon had used the opportunity to field a mixture of youth and experience ahead of the big kick-off in the SPL next Saturday.
Into the staring XI came the likes of Richie Towell, who made his Celtic Park bow for the top-team, Paddy McCourt, Milan Misun, Thomas Rogne and Marc Crosas.
The visitors made a bright start with David Dunn and Amine Lingazi seeing plenty of the ball in the centre of the pitch.
And only a superb save from Lukasz Zaluska from Nick Blackman’s powerful header denied them taking an early lead.
At the other end Mulgew had an opportunity to test Robinson with a free-kick from distance, but his effort didn’t have enough venom to trouble the Blackburn stopper.
On 12 minutes the English side opened the scoring in spectacular style. After Celtic conceded a free-kick 30 yards out, Dunn stepped up and sent a wonderful swirling shot into corner of the net, giving Zaluska no chance. It was a trademark strike from the midfielder.
The goal seemed to sting Lennon’s side into action. McCourt drifted in from the left and sent a low effort wide of the near-post.
And in the 16th minute they drew level with a well-crafted goal. McCourt cut inside and slid a delightful pass through for Fortune, who beat the offside trap and coolly lifted the ball over Robinson into the far corner.
The match was now more of an even contest as Celtic’s younger players began to grow into the game. Gary Hooper was close to reaching a through ball, but was beaten to the ball by the defender. The ensuing challenge forced the striker to leave the field, and he was replaced by Morten Rasmussen.
Celtic continued to press and Misun nearly gave the Hoops the lead in the 21st minute when he met Towell’s corner at the far-post, but he was unable to direct his header under the bar.
Former Real Madrid full-back Michel Salgado then burst forward on the right and evaded two challenges to dig out a low shot from an acute angle. However, Zaluska had his near-post covered.
A brilliant piece of skill from McCourt created another golden opening at the other end. After leaving Dunn for dead on the touchline, he fed Towell. Rasmussen collected the Irishman’s through ball but never made a clean connection to his attempted chip.
Fortune had been having a productive day, cutting in from the right and after Towell had teed him up, he fired over from the edge of the area.
There was a moment of anxiety for the Celtic forward when he fell awkwardly in a challenge with Phil Jones, but he was able to continue after treatment.
Towell, who was growing in confidence and influence as the game wore on, had the final effort of the half, with an ambitious low shot from distance which never troubled Robinson.
Celtic were very nearly caught cold after the restart. A long ball to the back-post was collected by Nikola Kalinic. He stepped inside Misun, but Zaluska was out quickly to block his shot.
The Hoops hit back immediately. Daryl Murphy reached the byline and drilled a low ball into the box. Rasmussen got the slightest of touches but couldn’t divert the ball into the net.
In the 53rd minute Dunn nearly bettered his first-half goal with a disguised chip from 35 yards which landed on the roof of the net.
Strong midfield play from Crosas then set up a quick Celtic counter-attack. Fortune crossed from the right and only the intervention of Robinson denied Rasmussen a certain goal.
Towell was certainly impressing with a dynamic, all-action display and hecame close to capping off a dream debut. Collecting a return pass from Murphy, his side-footed effort wason target but was blocked.
A moment of indecision in the Hoops defence handed Blackburn the lead again in the 64th minute. Both Hinkel and Rogne waited for each other to make a clerance, allowing a grounded Kalinic to scoop the ball out wide for Alan Judge who finished expertly inside Zaluska’s near-post.
Buoyed by the goal, the Premier League side threatened to extend their advantage through efforts from Salgado and Brett Emerton.
It took Celtic a while to recover from the blow of conceding a second goal and their first chance to restore parity was when Cha came close to getting on the end of a deep Mulgrew cross.
Ben Hutchinson did well to set up Murphy inside the box and the Irishman’s well-struck shot brought out a good save from Robinson.
Junior Hoilett had been a real danger since entering the fray for the visitors with his electric pace. In the 84th minute he raced down the right and picked out Aaron Doran in the middle, and the midfielder's first-time shot flew over.
Hutchinson nearly snatched a draw for the Hoops, racing through the middle and flashing a shot that went inches past the far the post.
That was to be final chance of the match. Despite the defeat, Lennon would have been pleased to see many of his players get more game-time under their belts before the big kick-off next week.