LENNY & THE CROWN JULES
Lenny wins 10th trophy on spin and says: Only three of my Bhoys played
NEIL LENNON last night hailed a heroic Hampden triumph for Celtic – despite admitting only three of his players turned up for yesterday’s Betfred Cup Final.
Lennon secured a 10th successive major trophy for the champions after French defender Christopher Jullien netted the only goal of an
FRASER FORSTER was dubbed the Great Wall by Barcelona seven years ago.
And yesterday Forster cemented his place further in Celtic folklore with a performance that almost single-handedly delivered the Betfred Cup to Parkhead for the fourth season in a row.
It doesn’t matter that Rangers battered them for the vast majority of an utterly engrossing contest at rain-soaked Hampden.
All that really counts is Steven Gerrard’s men, for all their superiority, simply could not find a way past this giant of a man and even when they got a penalty kick in the 62nd minute he would not be beaten.
Forster stopped Alfredo Morelos’ effort to deny the Colombian for the fifth or sixth time – just as he’d done with a wonder save from Ryan Jack early on – to keep Celtic hanging on to the lead Christopher Jullien had snatched just three minutes earlier.
Neil Lennon’s men were reduced to 10 when Jeremie Frimpong was sent off for the concession of the penalty.
But Forster threw arms, legs, everything he owned to keep the ball out of his net and when it was over he deserved his team-mates’ adulation.
All Gerrard could do was console his players. They’d done everything but put the ball in the net and their long wait for meaningful silverware goes on as their rivals made it 10 trophies on the bounce.
The build-up had been frenetic and hyped but how the players delivered.
When all the talking stopped and the team lines were issued, there were two glaring omissions from the respective starting line-ups.
In the blue camp, Steven Davis’ foot injury had not healed sufficiently and he was nowhere to be seen. The green corner was without Odsonne Edouard, who did make the bench but had been expected to start after missing the previous three matches.
Davis and Edouard had proved invaluable to their teams’ causes as they hurtled towards each other yesterday, knocking over almost everyone in their paths at home and in Europe.
Both sides were packed with attacking intent as they strode onto the sodden Hampden turf on a raw Glasgow afternoon, floodlights on under the bruised sky, welcomed by a pyro display the Green Brigade and Union Bears could only dream of.
That was before flares were lit in the Rangers end shrouding the arena in thick smoke. And when the haze cleared it was Rangers who went at it like men possessed.
They won two quick corners, the second of which Connor Goldson headed over, and the centre-back should have done better in the third minute when he nodded a James Tavernier free-kick wide after Morelos had been felled by Callum McGregor.
The holders were finding it hard to get into their stride and Lennon was on the touchline urging them to calm down. They finally got forward to create a half-chance, shot wide by Lewis Morgan in the ninth minute, but four minutes later the Celtic support had their keeper to thank for keeping them level.
Forster’s leap to his left to claw out a Jack thunderbolt was out of the top drawer and had the midfielder holding his head in disbelief.
It was a further indication though that Gerrard’s team were bossing the contest. Rangers were hungrier, harrying their opponents out of possession and using the ball better on the slick surface. Their desire almost undid them in the 18th minute, Scott Arfield and Jack clattering into each other, allowing McGregor to release Johnny Hayes down the left, although his cross was dealt with by Goldson.
Rangers came close again and this time Forster didn’t look so clever. Tavernier found Morelos with a raking diagonal and although his shot was straight at the keeper he let it squirm through him and it needed a timely clearance by Hayes to prevent Joe Aribo tapping home the rebound.
For all their dominance, Rangers hadn’t cracked Celtic and, at the other end, Kris Ajer should have done better than head Ryan Christie’s corner over from eight yards. It was breathtaking and chaotic at times but with more composure Morelos would have looked up to find Ryan Kent inside the box after he’d skinned Ajer as the half hour approached when the angle was always favouring Forster.
An injury to Jack, sustained tracking back and tackling Morgan, allowed Lennon to hold an impromptu team talk on the touchline and it was needed.
It did nothing to stop the flow of traffic towards Forster and he made another sensational stop, with his right leg this time, to deny Morelos after he, Aribo and Arfield had worked the opening down the Rangers right.
They might have been second best by a distance but Celtic still went up
the tunnel level. Lennon hooked the anonymous Mo Elyounoussi and replaced him with Mikey Johnston. It made no difference – Rangers continued to swarm all over them.
Tavernier shot over, Morelos came close, his shot swerving just outside the post before a clash with Scott Brown led to huge penalty appeals, ignored by Willie Collum, who was just about keeping a lid on it.
Ten minutes after the restart, Forster threw out another huge hand to deny Morelos from a Tavernier free-kick. It was 5-0 to the keeper at that point but 0-0 on the scoresheet.
Two minutes later, Edouard appeared for Morgan. Within a minute he’d drawn a foul from
Goldson and within a further 30 seconds, his team was in the lead.
Christie’s free-kick was fired over from the left and eluded everyone until it dropped at the feet of Jullien, who steered it into the bottom corner.
The Frenchman was inches offside but it wasn’t given.
Shell-shocked, Rangers rallied and in a crazy 62nd minute, with the ball ping-ponging around the box, Frimpong hauled down Morelos.
It was a clear penalty and the youngster was red-carded. Tavernier handed the ball to Morelos but he smashed the ball just to Forster’s right and the keeper made yet another superb stop. It was spellbinding stuff.
Lennon brought on Nir Bitton for
James Forrest and shifted Ajer to right-back. And the 10 men should have finished it in the 68th minute.
Edouard sent Johnston clear through but, one on one with Allan McGregor, he slipped his shot wide.
Gerrard turned to his bench, bringing on Jermain Defoe for Kamara. But the next chance fell again to Morelos, who almost hit the scoreboard, his effort flying over.
And just after the board announced six minutes of injury time, Morelos slammed another effort inches wide. He had suffered the day from hell.
The man who denied him had an afternoon gifted from the gods.