| Match Pictures | Matches: 2019 – 2020 | 2019-20 Pictures |
Trivia
- Weekend league match,moved to Sunday 3pm kick-off due to UEFA Cup match past Thursday.
- UEFA Cup KO first leg match played during past week, next leg is next Thursday at home.
- Does this game finally win Celtic the league? That has been said already many times after various other games, but all is on the right road. It will then be nine-in-a-row! History being made.
- Sevco drew with St Johnstone 2-2 and they are in pain!
- Celtic now 12pts ahead of Sevco, although Sevco have one game in hand. Two Celtic v Sevco games left in the season.
- Jozo Simunovic became the 22nd Celtic player to be credited with an assist in 2019-20, not only do they have goalscorers all over the pitch, they also have an incredible amount of creators all over the pitch too, almost impossible for their opponents to identify every danger.
- Ajer scored; so now two in two league games.
- Big day for Taylor family, Greg Taylor playing for Celtic v his brother Ally Taylor in the opposition side.
- Celtic could be forced into playing two scheduled home games away from Celtic Park as the SPFL faces a post-split fixture headache. To avoid any potential controversy, SPFL chiefs will be hoping that two of the current top-six clubs drop out prior to the split after the weekend of Saturday 4 April.
- Motherwell: David Turnbull is getting closer to a Fir Park return but won't be a time frame on his rehab from injury. Good luck to him.
- Ex-Celt Gary Caldwell (and badly failed manager in 3-4 stints) said in Radio Scotland show that Sevco man-to-man are a better squad, which showed that he’s still a bit thick but more that he’s fishing for a media role up north. He’ll unlikely be used for any cerebral output.
- Senior SNP councillor has spoken of how he and party colleagues faced "sustained abuse and threats of violence" after plans for a fan zone for Sevco next to Ibrox Stadium were rejected.
- Ex-Celt Efe Ambrose has signed for Livingstone for 18mths. Good luck to him.
- Coronavirus hitting Italy: Various sporting events such as football matches called off.
- Boxing: England's Tyson Fury makes history and beats the US's Wilder to win the WBC world heavyweight title. The Gypsy King (as he calls himself) is now likley to fight the UK's Joshua.
- Rugby Union: Scotland beat Italy, England beat Ireland and France beat Wales. Ireland grand slam hopes over, France still on course for grand slam.
- Tabloids in freefall, recent reports that sales all down, and the downmarket gutter The Sun newspaper has lost £70m in past 12mths trading due to legal cases over phone hacking etc, and will soon have lower sales to its closest competitor, the equally vile Daily Mail. All newspapers are being hit, and there are decent journos & papers who are finding it hard (local or regional like The Scotsman etc).
Review
(columbo of KDS)
Super day.
No panic after losing the early goal.
Everybody contributed.
Some lovely football and really should have won by 7 or 8. Eddy and Griff could have had a hat trick each.
McGregor ran the show , Christie was great , Rogic was back to something like himself.
Some of the link up play from our forwards was a joy to watch.
We are in a great place.
(frank murphy of KDS)
Another great day out at Celtic Park. I won’t get home until 9:30 tonight but the double hit of us winning and the Huns drawing 2-2 makes it worth every minute of a long day.
But for wayward finishing we could have stretched our goal difference a bit. Just one minor concernfor me was seeing Bayo in the flesh again. He just does not look anywhere close to the level required to play upfront for us. Hopefully it won’t matter this season but we can’t invest our hopes in him especially if Eddy was to leave in the summer.
(ElSalto of KDS)
Sportscene is an absolute hun cabal
McCann´s face was etched in pain, he was raging
Thompson not much better
Every goal Celtic score is down to bad defending, every goal scored by Sevco is brilliant
Kamberi cut back for Aribo was "class, he just rolled it into his path and a great finish"
Taylor plays in Griffiths, "so many things wrong with this goal" ie bad defending
Whether we win this League by 12 or 20 points we´ll get scant praise
It will be all about the so called Sevco collapse
We have been fecking imperious since the New Year, thats why we´re ahead.
Teams
Celtic
- 67 Forster
- 05 Simunovic
- 02 Jullien
- 35 Ajer
- 30 Frimpong
- 18 Rogic Substituted for Elyounoussi at 74'minutes
- 42 McGregorBooked at 67mins
- 17 Christie
- 03 Taylor
- 09 Griffiths Substituted for Bitton at 82'minutes
- 22 Edouard Substituted for Bayo at 74'minutes
- 06 Bitton
- 10 Bayo
- 11 Klimala
- 13 Bauer
- 23 Bolingoli-Mbombo
- 27 Elyounoussi
- 29 Bain
- Brophy (6' minutes pen),
Kilmarnock
- 12 Branescu
- 26 Del Fabro Substituted for Taylor at 71'minutes
- 17 Findlay
- 19 Broadfoot
- 02 O'Donnell
- 08 Dicker
- 15 El Makrini Booked at 21mins Substituted forBurkeat 45'minutes
- 06 Power Booked at 57mins (and second yellow so sent off)
- 14 Hämäläinen
- 09 Brophy Substituted forKiltieat 65'minutes
- 27 Kabamba
- 05 Johnson
- 10 Kiltie
- 22 Millen
- 24 Koprivec
- 29 Burke
- 33T aylor
- 52 Connell
- Ajer (28' minutes),
- Edouard (33' minutes),
- Griffiths (62' minutes)
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Forum
MOTM
- Voting Thread
- Result Thread
- Winner –
Stats
Celtic
Kilmarnock
Possession
Home66%
Away34%
Shots
Home30
Away3
Shots on Target
Home13
Away1
Corners
Home7
Away2
Fouls
Home6
Away9
Articles
Celtic 3-1 Kilmarnock: Top billing for Neil Lennon's champions as they surge 12 points clear
Leigh Griffiths makes it 3-1 for Celtic. Picture: SNS
Leigh Griffiths makes it 3-1 for Celtic. Picture: SNS
Stephen Halliday
Email
Published: 17:27
Updated: 17:52 Sunday 23 February 2020
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/celtic-3-1-kilmarnock-top-billing-for-neil-lennon-s-champions-as-they-surge-12-points-clear-1-5094758On the weekend when scenes for the latest Batman remake were being shot in Glasgow, a familiar script unfolded at Celtic Park.
It had briefly looked as if an unexpected plot twist might emerge in the Premiership title race when, with Rangers leading against St Johnstone in Perth, Eamonn Brophy’s early penalty gave Kilmarnock a surprising early lead against the Scottish champions.
But those Celtic supporters who had been inconvenienced by the road closures around the ground, as the east end of Glasgow became Gotham City for a few hours, soon saw any fears of a slip-up on the march to nine-in-a-row disappear.
As their Old Firm rivals surrendered another two points in Perth, Neil Lennon’s side stormed back to maintain their relentless domestic form as goals from Kristoffer Ajer, Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths stretched their lead at the top of the table to 12 points.
With just 10 games of the league campaign to go, Celtic remain firmly in the leading role they have performed with such authority in Scottish football for so long.
Their recovery and ultimate dominance of this contest came after they were uncharacteristically slow out of the blocks.
It was Kilmarnock who were on the front foot first of all and they came close to making the breakthrough even before Brophy’s emphatically converted spot-kick.
With barely 60 seconds on the clock, Stuart Findlay saw his header from Stephen O’Donnell’s corner blocked, the ball breaking to Nicke Kabamba whose shot was deflected just wide off Callum McGregor, Celtic’s captain for the day in place of Scott Brown.
Perhaps the absence of their normal leader, so much of a driving force in their relentless gathering of silverware in recent years, was a factor in Celtic’s sluggish start as they fell behind in the sixth minute. Jozo Simunovic found himself on the wrong side of Brophy as the Kilmarnock striker bustled his way into the area, going down under a clumsy challenge from the big defender.
Referee Kevin Clancy had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and even penalty specialist Fraser Forster was powerless to keep out Brophy’s thunderous strike.
Celtic were jolted into a more accustomed style of play as they upped the tempo and set about camping themselves inside the Kilmarnock half.
Griffiths dragged a shot well wide after good build up work from Edouard and Tom Rogic, then as the pressure intensified Kilmarnock goalkeeper Laurentiu Branescu got down to his left to hold a 20 yard effort from Rogic.
As the visitors struggled to get out of their own defensive third, Branescu preserved their lead with a smart save from Griffiths, although it was a premium chance the Celtic striker would have expected to finish off.
Simunovic then almost spectacularly atoned for his part in Kilmarnock’s goal when he joined the attack and unleashed a wickedly dipping shot from around 30 yards which Branescu did well to touch over.
It seemed inevitable that Celtic’s incessant pressure would pay off and so it proved as they turned the match around with two goals in the space of four minutes. The 29th minute equaliser came when Kilmarnock were unable to clear a corner from the left, the ball knocked back across the six yard box by Christopher Jullien for Ajer to force home a shot with the aid of a deflection off Niko Hamalainen.
Celtic’s second goal was similar in its build-up and execution. This time, Greg Taylor’s cross from the left was headed back into the six yard box by Simunovic, presenting Edouard with a chance which he bundled in with the ball ricocheting off Kirk Broadfoot on its way into the net.
There was never any likelihood of Celtic relinquishing the control they had now taken on proceedings and any prospect of Kilmarnock finding a response effectively evaporated when Power was dismissed 12 minutes into the second half.
The combative midfielder had already been booked in first half stoppage time for a foul on Ryan Christie and referee Clancy deemed his challenge on Jeremie Frimpong, who was injured in a clash with the Irish midfielder last month, as worthy of a second yellow card.
Mercifully for Kilmarnock, they were spared from being on the end of what could easily have been a rout as Celtic were wasteful in front of goal. They had to settle for adding just one more to their tally, Griffiths tapping in from close range after Edouard and Christie had combined superbly on the left to carve open the overstretched Killie defence.
The afternoon ended with brothers on rival teams as Ally Taylor, younger sibling of Celtic full-back Greg, made his debut for a Killie side whose hopes of a top six finish may be slipping away
BBC
By Martin Dowden
BBC Scotland at Celtic Park
4 hours ago From the section Scottish Premiership
Leigh Griffiths scores Celtic third goal
Leigh Griffiths scores Celtic third goal – his fifth in eight games
Celtic recovered from losing an early Kilmarnock goal to win handsomely and march 12 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
With Rangers drawing at St Johnstone, Neil Lennon's men took advantage as they bid to win a ninth title in a row.
Eamonn Brophy's penalty had initially rocked Celtic but Kristoffer Ajer and Odsonne Edouard had the hosts ahead.
Leigh Griffiths added a third shortly after Kilmarnock were reduced to 10 men following Alan Power's second yellow.
The champions have now won 15 of their last 16 home games, with 32 goals scored since the winter break.
For Kilmarnock it was a third defeat in a row and leaves them five points off a place in the top six.
Increased lead 'icing on cake' for Celtic
Reaction & how it happened
Are Celtic now unstoppable?
Celtic did what champions do. They had the opportunity to extend their lead in the table and continued their relentless and now seemingly inevitable march to the title.
That happened despite an early setback. Kilmarnock started brightly and forced early corners with Nicke Kabamba going close but his shot was blocked. However, their persistence paid off.
Jozo Simunovic dived in rashly but didn't win the ball cleanly. His attempts to recover resulted in Brophy being impeded inside the area and the Scotland forward tucked away the spot-kick impressively.
As that goal went in, St Johnstone scored against Rangers in Perth to ease the pain for Celtic fans – and soon things got even better.
Alex Dyer's side dropped very deep and ultimately could not hold out. They had no out ball and Celtic forced the issue.
Griffiths was denied after superb build up by Edouard. Simunovic then sent in a deflected effort that was tipped over by Laurentiu Branescu.
Any resistance appeared unlikely to last and was pierced when Christopher Jullien scrambled the ball back into danger from a corner and Ajer bundled home.
Tom Rogiv, Odsonne Edouard and Jozo Simunovic
Kilmarnock's approach increasingly allowed Celtic defenders to step out as they had little to contend with. It proved key as Simunovic nodded Greg Taylor's cross back to Edouard, who outmuscled Kirk Broadfoot to net the second.
The second half was a procession towards Kilmarnock's goal as Celtic searched for the crucial third.
That task became more straightforward when Power received a second yellow after tackling Jeremie Frimpong. It seemed rather harsh as the young Celtic wing-back seemed to have lost control of the ball.
Unsurprisingly, the third goal arrived. An incisive move down the left released Ryan Christie to the bye-line and he pulled the ball across for Griffiths to tap home.
Brilliant play looked to have created a fourth but Griffiths's strike was ruled offside, before he was then superbly denied by Branescu as time ticked on.
Celtic are flying and with a 12-point lead in the title race it feels like a huge task for Rangers to reel them in from here.
Man of the match – Odsonne Edouard
The young French striker is a class act and seems to thrive alongside Griffiths. Celtic fans will be desperate to retain him beyond the summer as he has everything.
His goal return is strong but it's Edouard's ability to be calm, to bring others into play that's equally impressive. He is strong, always in full control of the ball, and more often than not picks the right option. He is an absolute nightmare for any defender and when you consider his youth, he has room to get better.
He netted again today and produced another impressive display that went a long way to delivering another league win.
'I thought we were outstanding' – reaction
'It's the hardest thing in football' – Lennon on Celtic's winning run
Celtic manager Neil Lennon: "I thought Eamonn [Brophy] was offside, but our reaction to that was fantastic. It was a real magnificent performance. I thought we were outstanding.
"To be fair to Alex Dyer, he went with two strikers. But we dealt with that very well. I said to the players 'don't think it's easy what you're doing'. It's important we keep the momentum going."
Kilmarnock manager Alex Dyer: "We were doing alright – I thought we were in control. Then they started to play a bit, put us under pressure. We were sloppy for the goals, and scored maybe too early.
"The gameplan was to win the game, or at least get a point, but we came up against a side in really good form. I'm still happy with my boys – they worked hard and gave it all they've got after a hard week."