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- Australia tour
- First win of tour (lost first match)
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CELTIC (4-4-2)
Zaluska; M. Wilson (Cha 45), K. Wilson, Loovens, Mulgrew; Brown (Matthews 83), Kayal (Maloney 34), Ledley, Commons (Ki 45); Hooper (McCourt 64) Stokes (Murphy 71)
Not Used: Cervi, Majstorovic, Samaras
Goals: Hooper 16, Mulgrew 51
PERTH GLORY (4-4-2)
Vukovic; Neville, Van Den Brink, Mitchell, Howarth; Hughes, Burns (Quaqua 85); Dodd (Amphlett 83) Miller (McGarry 45) Stejokvski (Caniglia 54); Smeltz (Teggert 45).
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Glory for dominant Celtic in Perth
By: Mark Henderson on 09 Jul, 2011 12:42 Pre-season friendly
NIB Stadium, Perth, Australia
Saturday, July 9, 2011
CELTIC…2
Hooper 16, Mulgrew 51
PERTH GLORY…0
CELTIC registered their first victory of the pre-season tour of Australia with a convincing 2-0 triumph over Perth Glory on Saturday night.
Gary Hooper opened the scoring with a composed finish just past the quarter hour mark as Neil Lennon’s men started the match with real purpose.
A glancing header from Charlie Mulgrew after half-time sealed the spoils, sending the raucous Celtic support home happy.
With a week of intense training under their belts, following the first match of the tour against Central Coast Mariners, the Hoops started with a markedly greater urgency and soon had the home side on the back foot.
A raking pass over Kris Commons set Anthony Stokes racing into the box but the striker was unable to keep the ball in play with several defenders in close attendance.
Commons was involved once again, robbing his opposite number opposite number, Scott Neville, but watched as his low cross for Hooper was hacked behind for a corner.
And it was from corners that Neil Lennon’s men created their next chances, Scott Brown and Mark Wilson, forcing Danny Vukovic into two good stops with near-post headers.
Both Stokes and Commons came close from free-kicks as the Hoops upped the ante. It was one-way traffic and finally in the 16th minute it paid dividends.
Fast and fluent, Celtic had been playing some terrific stuff in the opening spell but it was from the direct route they went ahead. Glenn Loovens thumped a long ball over the top of the Perth side’s defence.
They dithered – Hooper didn’t. Beating the offside trap, he advanced on Vukovic, before coolly sliding the ball under the keeper and into the corner.
Ian Ferguson’s side finally mustered up a response when former-Celt, Liam Miller, found Mile Sterjokvski with a clever chip into the box but the midfielder fluffed his effort with only Lukasz Zaluska to beat.
Some good persistence from Miller gave him an eye of goal, shortly after, but he could only fire over.
The match had been an entertaining affair with plenty of attacking endeavour from either side for the bumper crowd to enjoy, however, a facial injury to Beram Kayal, following a mid-air collision, saw a four minute stoppage as the Israeli received treatment.
Frustratingly for the midfielder it forced him from the action. Shaun Maloney was his replacement.
That disruption sapped the pace out of the game and it was not until after the break that there was some tangible goalmouth excitement.
Maloney had been an energetic presence in the final third since his introduction, and another enterprising run down the left from the winger crafted a golden chance for Stokes – but the striker goalbound attempt was blocked.
However, it didn’t take long for Celtic to double their advantage. Ki, who had entered the fray at the interval, delivered an accurate free-kick into the box from the left and Mulgrew rose highest to flick a header into the far corner.
Conceding a second goal seemed to deflate the home side, who, to be fair, had emerged with more zeal at half-time, and they never looked like seriously troubling the Hoops for the remainder of the half.
Indeed, it was Celtic – despite several substitutions – that looked the more likely to add to their tally, with Stokes and Ledley missing the target after some fine sweeping attacks, and Paddy McCourt always looking threatening in the final third.
It wasn’t until the final few minutes until the visitors managed to trouble an assured Celtic rearguard again.
A ricochet on the edge of the area presented Alex Caniglia with a clear sight of goal but he dragged his shot wide, before Adam Teggert was foiled through some great recovery work from Glenn Loovens as he raced in on goal. It would be the final incident of the match.
With a confidence-boosting win, and another valuable 90 minutes under their belts, Celtic now head into Melbourne for their final fixture of tour down under.
CELTIC (4-4-2) Zaluska; M. Wilson (Cha 45), K. Wilson, Loovens, Mulgrew; Brown (Matthews 83), Kayal (Maloney 34), Ledley, Commons (Ki 45); Hooper (McCourt 64) Stokes (Murphy 71)
Not Used: Cervi, Majstorovic, Samaras
PERTH GLORY (4-4-2) Vukovic; Neville, Van Den Brink, Mitchell, Howarth; Hughes, Burns (Quaqua 85); Dodd (Amphlett 83) Miller (McGarry 45) Stejokvski (Caniglia 54); Smeltz (Teggert 45).
Website Man of the Match: Scott Brown