|
The game was quite an even affair in the first half with Sammy Morrow pounding the crossbar with a header and Alan Walker forcing a save from the Celtic number one following a powerful drive from all of 20 yards. Our best chance however fell to Richie Brittain who looked odds on to score when he stabbed in a shot from six yards only to see it come off Boruc's leg and go wide.
Celtic did have their chances as well though. Zurawski hit the bar and had another opportunity well saved by Roddie McKenzie after he was put clean through by Nakamura.
There did also seem to be a slight underlying niggle in the game. Stephen McManus should consider himself lucky to have not been given his marching orders for a shocking two footed lunge on Alan Walker. He retaliated 10 minutes later when he probably should have been sent of for a similar tackle on Celtic skipper Neil Lennon.
|
We lost it just after the break though when Shaun Maloney ripped down the wing and sent in a good cross which was deflected into Zurawski's path by Nakamura. He couldn't miss and Celtic went 1-0 up. Worse was to follow a few minutes later when Dion Dublin fell over his own fat feet inside the penalty area which gave Maloney the chance to send Roddy the wrong way and all but kill the game.
The game fell away somewhat and the only things of note were Colin Healy's introduction and Boruc scrambling away a dangerous looking cross from Derek Adams.
We played well in the first half and all but matched celtic for 45 minutes. We lapsed a bit at the start of the second half which you can't do when you have people of the caliber of Nakamura and Maloney around. Again we were perhaps unlucky to lose and definitely the scoreline sounds alot more comfortable than Gordon Strachan thought the game was. He praised our spirit in the first half in the after match press conference.