2011-08-03: Swansea City 2-0 Celtic, Friendly

Trivia

• Friendly game in Wales, ex-Celt John Hartson from Swansea guest of honour.
• Huns KO’ed from Champ Lge against Malmo same night!

Review

Not exactly a full first team, a bit mixed but nice to see Brown back. Sad to see us lose

Otis of KDS
Just back from the game – a bit of a bore-fest first half, but Broony, Kayal and Ki were good. Second half was essentially Broony, Ki, Mulgrew and the reserves…Nevermind all that, it was Otis jnr’s first Celtic match, and he was amazed at the noise so few Celtic fans could make, and the stand bouncing up and down during the huddle… and the guy behind us who had Tourrets everytime Samaras got the ball: “Put your f**in’ laces thorough it, don’t just f**in’ pas it to the f**in’keeper firfuxsake ya big f**in’ waste of a f**in’wink, get f**in’ back to f**in’ Greece ya f**in’ kebab dodgin f**in’ waster”.. and so on… and then the drunkedest man in Swansea fell backwards from doing the crowd huddle three rows and almost landed on Otis jnr. So it wasn’t much of a game, and wasn’t much of a result, but the wee fella was well impressed.

Teams

SWANSEA CITY (4-4-2):
Tremmel (Moreira 46); Tate, Williams, Britton (Taylor 65), Caulker (Dobbie 65); Sinclair (Beattie 76), Allen (Gower 65), Augustien (Moore 76), Rangel (Harley 87); Graham (Lita 76), Dyer (Orlandi 76)
Sub not used: Butler

CELTIC (4-4-2):
Cervi; Matthews (Towell 70), Majstorovic (Wanyama 46), Hooiveld, Mulgrew (F Twardzik 70); Brown, Kayal (Rasmussen 81), Ki, Commons (Murphy 75); Samaras, Hooper (McCourt 60)
Sub not used: Zaluska

Referee:
Attendance:

Articles

• Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Forum

• Match

Articles

Swansea defeat closes Celtic’s pre-season friendlies

By: Laura Brannan on 03 Aug, 2011 20:53 A disappointing 2-0 defeat against Swansea City in the Liberty Stadium closed Celtic’s friendly fixtures for the summer.

Two second half goals for the home side, from Angel Rangel and then substitute Stephen Dobbie, gave the Swans the edge and sealed the victory for the newly promoted Premiership side.

Celtic’s first chance of the match came on 14 minutes when Georgios Samaras chested the ball down in front of the box and made a turning pass back to Gary Hooper. The onrushing striker hit a first-touch shot but couldn’t keep it on target from 24-yards out.

Kris Commons came close four minutes later, making a run in from the right and unleashing an effort which was heading for the top corner. Gerhard Tremmel in goals, however, punched it over the bar to keep the score-line even.

Only 60 seconds had passed before Scott Sinclair threatened at the opposite end. Making space for himself, he had time to put Dominic Cervi under pressure but before he pulled the trigger, Jos Hooiveld slid in to clear the ball to safety.

After getting into an off-the-ball tussle with Kemy Agustein, Scott Brown then unleashed his frustration by hitting a powerful effort towards goal 10 minutes before the break but his shot was deflected out for a corner.

Two quick chances from Swansea in the closing stages of the first-half almost saw the home side take the advantage, but neither Sinclair or Nathan Dyer could hit the right side of the netting.

Celtic started the second-half with good intent, Samaras and Commons in particular linking up well, but the opening goal came from the home side just after the hour mark.

Despite Cervi doing well to block a free-kick, Rangel latched onto the loose ball and on 63 minutes the midfielder tucked it into the far, bottom corner of the net.

And with the Swans taking the lead they also looked to gain confidence. Dyer had a rifling effort saved well by Cervi before substitute Dobbie thendoubled their advantage.

The former SPL hit-man cracked the ball in off the inside of the far post and killed the game on 83 minutes.

Both sides made wholesale changes in the second-half but Celtic couldn’t find the final touch in front of goal to finish their run of friendlies on a high.

© 2011
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