Tonderful
Beaming Brendan hails century Celts
BRENDAN RODGERS hailed Celtic for hitting a century of league points last night – and admitted they should have had a ton of goals to go with it. The Hoops boss watched his side put three past Aberdeen in the first 11 minutes
From Back Page to sit on 99 goals for the season. Dedryck Boyata, Stuart Armstrong and Leigh Griffiths netted before Jonny Hayes pulled one back.
Rodgers and Co are on course to break the 103 points total achieved by Martin O’Neill’s side of 2002.
The proud gaffer said: “It’s an incredible achievement. Our targets going into the game were could we get 100 points? And could we get 100 goals?
“The way we started by getting three, I thought we might get the four goals we needed. One of our targets in pre-season was to get 100-plus goals so hopefully we can go on and achieve that in the final games.
“To get 100 points with two games remaining shows the level, the quality and, most of all, the focus of the team.
“I think people are waiting for the game where we go soft and lose our focus. But that’s not the case.
“We are preparing every single day for every single game, to train the best we can and win. The players are doing it really well.
“It was a brilliant win for us. Pittodrie is a tough place to come but we had a great start to the game. We scored three very good goals and looked a real threat any time we went forward and broke their defensive line.
“The context of the game changed a little bit when they got it to 3-1. But I’m really, proud of our team because we had to withstand it against a team who went very direct.
“If we were a little bit better with our final pass on counter attack, we might have scored another two goals.”
Celtic’s first-half supershow also provided an ominous dress rehearsal for the Scottish Cup Final between these teams on May 27.
But Dons boss Derek McInnes believes his team showed why the Hampden clash won’t be a Treble-winning formality for the Hoops.
He also blasted referee Steven McLean for failing to award his side a penalty when keeper Craig Gordon collided with Graeme Shinnie in a second-half flashpoint.
He said: It was a penalty kick every day of the week. It’s a foul every day of the week in any other area of the pitch.
“Gordon’s hesitant and Shinnie’s managed to get a touch and Gordon clatters into him.
“It’s a big decision and we needed a big referee to give it and we didn’t get it.
“At that time we could have cranked it up even more.”
McInnes also handed Hayes a special mention for a sensational display which provided the catalyst for Aberdeen recovering from a start which could have become a total humiliation.
He added: “We were on the ropes there, we needed an adrenaline hit and wee Jonny gave us that.
“He was absolutely magnificent, he was the best player on the park and I thought the better players on the pitch had red shirts on.
“Jonny carried the fight and the players needed that shot of adrenaline. What a goal he scored, it was different class. It was a really calm finish, he usually smashes them but he curled it into the top corner.
“You can’t give Celtic three goals of a start and expect to get something from the game but if you analyse it we could have done. There’s a lot to be encouraged by.
“Celtic needed to feel us and know we were there. They needed to know in two weeks they are facing a confident Aberdeen team – and that’s exactly what we’ll be.”