2019-11-02: Hibernian 2-5 Celtic, League Cup

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Trivia

League Cup semi-finals, 5.30pm kick-off, Hampden Park
Sevco v Hearts in other match; Sevco won 3-0.
Celtic won their 30th consecutive domestic cup tie
First Celtic v Sevco cup final ever, to be played Dec 8
Neil Lennon has to date never won the League Cup as manager.
Celtic aiming for ten domestic trophies in a row.
The Scottish Youth Football Association is advising clubs in Scotland to stop under 11s from heading the ball.It's after a study last week showed footballers are at greater risk of dementia.
Rugby World Cup final in Japan earlier in the day: England v SAF, SAF won for their third title. Congratulations. Scotland and Ireland were poor. NZ won the third place match.
Sevco financial results out, 11m loss! Notes state they need £10m of investment to keep out of going concern
Hearts manager Craig Levein loses his job after string of very bad results.
Hibs manager sacked two days after this defeat to Celtic. So both Edinburgh managers cut.

Review

(mp of KDS)
Great win
Some great performances
Frimpong is player
Elynoussi quality
Eddie , Broonie & calmac very good too
How did madden miss the handball ffs, he is woeful. Made Julien leave pitch after treatment even though played was booked? Rule been changed again?

(badlands of KDS)
That was an entertaining game. Could have finished 10-5 with all the chances. This Celtic in a nutshell today. Scintillating in attack but really poor shape when we get turned. Thought Jullien and Ajer struggled at times.
Frimpong was sensational and his partnership with Forrest is very exciting. Elynoussi and Edouard tormented them at the back. Another cup final what a feeling. Would love to spank Rangers in the final and put them in their place.

Teams

Hibernian

28Maxwell
17James
4Hanlon
18Jackson
16Stevenson Booked at 81mins
7Horgan Substituted for Slivka at 68'minutes

· 14Mallan
· 6Vela Substituted for Kamberi at 45'minutes
· 23Allan
· 20Hallberg
· 9Doidge Booked at 4mins Substituted for Boyle at 76'minutes

Substitutes

1Marciano
3Whittaker
8Slivka
10Boyle
11Newell
21Naismith
22Kamberi

Goals

Hallberg (36' minutes),
Kamberi (58' minutes)

Celtic

67Forster
30Frimpong
2Jullien
35Ajer
23Bolingoli-Mbombo Substituted for Hayes at 45'minutes

· 8Brown
· 42McGregor
· 49Forrest Substituted for Elhamed at 67'minutes
· 18RogicSubstituted for Christie at 79'minutes

27Elyounoussi
22Edouard

Substitutes

1Gordon
6Bitton
15Hayes
17Christie
19Johnston
21Ntcham
33Elhamed

Goals
· Elyounoussi (17' minutes, 44' minutes),
· McGregor (21' minutes),
· Brown (56' minutes, 90' minutes)

Referee:
Bobby Madden
Attendance:
46,782

Articles

Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Match Pictures

Forum

MOTM

Voting Thread
Result Thread
Winner –

Stats

Hibernian

Celtic

Possession
Home45%
Away55%

Shots
Home7
Away20

Shots on Target
Home2
Away9

Corners
Home4
Away12

Fouls
Home11
Away9

Articles

Hibs 2, Celtic 5: Doubles for Brown and Elyounoussi fire Hoops into League Cup final
Celtic captain Scott Brown makes it 5-2 against Hibs in the Betfred Cup semi-final. Picture: Ian Rutherford/PA Wire
Celtic captain Scott Brown makes it 5-2 against Hibs in the Betfred Cup semi-final. Picture: Ian Rutherford/PA Wire
Moira Gordon
Published: 22:22 Saturday 02 November 2019
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/hibs-2-celtic-5-doubles-for-brown-and-elyounoussi-fire-hoops-into-league-cup-final-1-5038481Thirty cup games undefeated and one step closer to their tenth successive trophy, Celtic do not look in any mood to relinquish the stranglehold they still have on the Scottish game.

And this Betfred Cup semi-final was the perfect example of why they are so difficult to shift. At times utterly unplayable, Celtic were also forced to roll their sleeves up and display a resolve as Hibernian tried to claw their way back into the match. But, with strength in depth and an enduring thirst for success that has not been quenched by their treble treble, the holders simply know how to keep opponents at bay and win the games that matter.

In the end Hibs must be content to have made it out of the match having conceded just five. They might claim that it could have been much better, with Odsonne Edouard offside at Celtic’s second goal and claims for a penalty in the second half waved away when Scott Allan went down, but the truth is that it could also have been a lot worse.

Celtic clattered the upright on a couple of occasions and forced a few quality stops from goalkeeper Chris Maxwell and, while Hibernian looked more dangerous the more ragged the game got, at no point did the champions ever lose control.

To have any chance, Paul Heckingbottom’s men had to keep things tight for as long as possible. On Wednesday night in the Premiership they had gifted Livingston a two-goal lead but managed to pull it back. Against a side of Celtic’s calibre such generosity was always going to be more severely punished.

The threat of a goal had been obvious in the opening period, as the likes of Edouard and Mohamed Elyounoussi got into the groove quickly and although they were denied a spot-kick opportunity in the 16th minute, when a ball into the box from the Southampton loanee was blocked by Paul Hanlon’s outstretched arm, the inevitable had simply been delayed.

Less than a minute later both men were lined up waiting at the back post when James Forrest darted in from the right and sent over a perfect delivery which Elyounoussi headed just under the bar, and past Maxwell.

At that stage the Easter Road side looked rattled and Christopher Jullien was the next to test their mettle as he sent a header goalwards. But this time Maxwell was able to pluck it from the air before more damage was done.

But Celtic had their foot on Hibs’ throat and did not look inclined to remove it.

Elyounoussi was in gallus form and dribbled into the box before attempting to stab one through Tom James’s legs but the right-back, who was having a difficult evening trying to thwart Celtic’s attacking might, was relieved to see that one skid just wide of the post.

But Callum McGregor, pictured inset, got a second in the 21st minute. It was laced with controversy as Edouard was offside when Jullien sent the ball over the top but, unguarded, he squared it for the Scotsman to tap home.

Wave after wave of Celtic pressure, where initial blocks were picked up by team-mates coming in behind or on the overlap, suggested it could get messy for Hibs before they could even reach half-time sanctuary but, in a surprising turn of events, an unusual lapse from Celtic gave them some hope.

In the 36th minute, Hibs capitalised on chaos in the Celtic defence as Kristoffer Ajer tried to clear but the ball ricocheted off a team-mate and squirted through a gap. Melker Hallberg followed in unchecked and slotted it past Fraser Forster.
Celtic's fans will face a clash of cultured when they encounter Lazio's Ultras in Rome this week. Picture: SNS.
Celtic warned: When in Rome… be careful

Any hope it gave Hibs was quashed by Elyounoussi in the 44th minute. A Tom Rogic pass out wide found Edouard, who had again drifted off his markers and into space, and he laid it on a plate for the Norwegian international to finish and reestablish the two-goal advantage.

There were changes at the start of the second half as Heckingbottom, whose position has been widely questioned following a poor start to the season, sent on Flo Kamberi to try to salvage the game and his job.

The Swiss striker did give him a goal but by the time he delivered it, Celtic had scored another and put the game to bed. It came from Scott Brown, who had passed a late fitness test to start the match, as he hooked a shot home from close range after the ball dropped nicely for him from a corner.

Hibs’ would not lie down, though, and two minutes later showed some resilience when Kamberi expertly headed home. But Brown was not done writing his own tale, wading in with his first double since December 2014, bursting forward in the final minute to rattle his initial shot off Maxwell but making no mistake with the rebound.

Celtic: Scott Brown puts Hibs talisman in his place as he sets up third Old Firm final – after turning down Australia switch

Alan Pattullo
Email
Published: 19:12
Updated: 19:17 Sunday 03 November 2019

If things had panned out differently, Scott Brown could have been lining up alongside Scott McDonald for Western United in their derby victory over Melbourne Victory at the weekend.

A move to the A-League, which he was giving serious consideration to this time last year, would have been interpreted as semi-retirement after years at the sharp end of football with Celtic.

He knew that and concluded now was not the time, signing a new two-year deal with the champions shortly afterwards. Which is why we found him still in his element on a grimey Saturday evening in Glasgow as he drove his side into a Betfred Cup final we now know is against Rangers next month.

It’s an occasion Brown would have hated to miss out on had he chosen to head down under. He has only ever played in two Old Firm finals, winning one and losing the other.

His former club Hibs are the latest team to wish he had accepted the offer to head to warmer climes, Scott Allan the latest opponent.

Brown’s modus operandi was clear from the opening minutes when he crashed into Allan, his one-time Celtic teammate, and won a 50-50.

They duelled enjoyably for the rest of the evening, the Hibs midfielder coming off worse as he watched Brown take a stranglehold on the area of the park and the game. There’s little question which of the two admittedly very different midfielders would enhance Scotland’s cause right now.

It even threatened to get feisty between the pair towards the end, but they embraced warmly after the final whistle, Allan perhaps accepting that he had, like so many opponents across the years, been put back in his box by the 34-year-old Brown.

It does feel as if the Celtic skipper gets it too much his own way at times. At one point the game was stopped by referee Bobby Madden to let him tie his bootlace. But there was little denying he had earned the right to strut towards the Celtic supporters at the end after augmenting a typically influential performance with not just one goal, but two.

Brown and Mohamed Elyounoussi are two very different players but they dovetailed well on Saturday, scoring four goals between them (Callum McGregor got the other) and even combining for Celtic’s fifth in the final minute. It was expertly tucked away by Brown with his left foot after his initial right foot effort had been blocked by Chris Maxwell.

Both Brown and Elyounoussi will be vital for different reasons when Celtic face Lazio in Rome in Thursday’s Europa League group fixture. The former won’t allow anyone to bully him while the latter’s guile can unpick defences and he can also provide a goal threat – Elyounoussi scored with a header and a tap-in on Saturday, his sixth and seventh goals in 10 games since joining on loan from Southampton.

He has also contributed four assists as he grows increasingly at home in the Celtic starting XI after being used sparingly at Southampton, where Fraser Forster, also now on loan at Celtic from the club, could empathise with his plight.

“Obviously he had a tough year last year as well, it is amazing what a bit of love and confidence can for you,” said the goalkeeper.
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“Ever since he scored that first goal he has not looked back. He keeps chipping in and contributing and that’s fantastic for us he is doing that.

“It is just a positive, multiplying effect. Last year he did not really play much football at all. He has come here and you need that run of games in the team. It’s hard to come in and be expected to do it from day one. But he’s come in, had a few 90 minutes under his belt and scored and had assists. His confidence can only grow and grow if he is doing that.

"I am absolutely delighted for him," he added. "I know more than anyone how hard it was for him last year. And he just looks like a completely different player.”

As Forster acknowledged, this semi-final was a strange game. When Hibs got the ball on the ground, they caused Celtic some problems and yet, had two chances just after half-time hit the net rather than posts, it might have become truly ugly for the Easter Road side and, more specifically, their already under pressure manager Paul Heckingbottom.

When James Forrest was taken off by Neil Lennon in preference for the more defensively-minded Hatem Abd Elhamed after 66 minutes, it prompted a shout from behind the press seats: “C’mon Hibs, they are shi**ing themselves!”

It was 4-2 to Celtic at the time.

Florian Kamberi’s half-time introduction did help ignite Hibs for a spell, and he added a fine headed goal to Melker Hallberg’s opportunistic effort eight minutes before half-time.

Are such bursts of spirit enough to save Paul Heckingbottom? Is a two-goal comeback against Livingston last midweek, and now this, fending off total collapse, what owner Ron Gordon is looking for?

The two forthcoming league games against St Johnstone and Motherwell are sure to tell us more about the manager’s long-term prospects.

“We need to put this (defeat) to bed now,” said skipper Paul Hanlon. “It was a chance to get to a cup final, but it’s gone now and it’s important to start putting points on the board in the league.

“I think it’s down to small margins,” he said, when asked whether he’s confident Hibs can start moving up the league.

“We’ve had a lot of draws in there. But we’ve definitely dropped our standards in games, like Livingston when losing two quick goals really put us on the back foot.

“We need to cut it out right away and put in a 90-minute performance, which we haven’t done for a while.”

BBC

By Richard Winton

BBC Sport Scotland

From the section Scottish League Cup

Mohamed Elyounoussi scored twice in the first half to put Celtic in control

Celtic won their 30th consecutive domestic cup tie – beating Hibernian in a frantic game at Hampden – to set up a Scottish League Cup final in December with either Rangers or Hearts.

Neil Lennon's side, winners of this competition for the past three seasons, were comfortable by the break after Mohamed Elyounoussi's brace either side of goals from Callum McGregor and Melker Hallberg.

Captain Scott Brown scored twice in the second half, with Florian Kamberi's consolation in between proving futile.

The defeat does little to ease the pressure on Hibernian boss Paul Heckingbottom. Although this was a first loss in seven matches, the Englishman's side have not won in 90 minutes since 3 August.

For Celtic, though, victory means they will compete for their 10th consecutive domestic trophy in the final at this venue on 8 December.

'Hibs face own cup final next week'
Who did you vote man of the match?

Celtic ease into fourth final in a row

In truth, few would have envisaged any outcome other than the one that unfolded at Hampden. Hibernian's results have been wretched, with the Easter Road side without a regulation win in 13 games, while Celtic have lost just twice in 25 outings this term.

And that expectation was franked inside the opening quarter as the holders roared into a two-goal lead. Celtic had claimed unsuccessfully for a penalty when Elyounoussi's corner cannoned off the arm of Paul Hanlon but the reprieve lasted just a few seconds, the Norwegian attacker heading in a James Forrest cross from six yards out.

And a second followed in short order, French striker Odsonne Edouard gambolling onto a Kris Ajer ball, shimmying into the box, and nudging inside for McGregor to finish from close range.

At that stage, it appeared that a humiliation could be visited upon Hibs. Heckingbottom's side were shambolic defensively and allowed Celtic to play at will. Each time they advanced, a goal looked likely.

But for all their troubles, there is some resolve in this Hibs team, who came back from two down at home to draw with Livingston in midweek. They hinted that a repeat might be possible when they hauled themselves back into the semi-final by taking advantage of some Celtic sloppiness. The ball squirmed from a Boli Bolingoli challenge into the path of Hallberg, who slid past Fraser Forster.

That flash of hope disappeared almost as soon as it arrived, though. Edouard once again was the provider, this time unselfishly setting up Elyounoussi to force in for a 3-1 interval lead.
Elyounoussi stat

Something had to change if Hibs were to have any chance of winning a place in December's final. Kamberi came on for midfielder Josh Vela – while Celtic swapped Bolingoli for Jonny Hayes – but the alteration could not stem the tide.

Elyounoussi scudded an angled effort against an upright and Forrest did likewise, before Celtic killed the tie. Hibs goalkeeper Chris Maxwell came to claim an Elyounoussi corner but, perhaps spooked by the presence of Christopher Jullien, he spilled the ball into the path of Brown, who gleefully rammed in.

Kamberi delivered an immediate retort, adroitly glancing in a teasing Tom James ball, but it did little to dampen the Celtic celebrations. And those were amplified further when Brown exchanged passes with Elyounoussi before fizzing a strike beyond the exposed Maxwell at the second attempt.

Hibs proved no match, then, for Celtic. Can either Rangers or Hearts prevent them taking the first step to a potential quadruple treble in next month's final?
Man of the match – Mohamed Elyounoussi

BBC Scotland's Brian McLauchlin at Hampden

Kamberi made a positive impact for Hibs when he came on and was by far the most effective player for the Easter Road club, but his performance did not compare with several by Celtic players.

Posted at
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up.