WE COULDN’T BELIEVE OUR CHEERS
Bitton: Celts fans going wild when Accies scored gave us lift to nick a draw at Livi
IT’S all very well trying to block out the noise from elsewhere but Nir Bitton admits the Celtic squad need to play in ear plugs these days.
The big defender was trying to keep his senses on Livingston the other night but it was impossible to ignore the impromptu party kicking off in the stands at strange moments.
At 2-1 down, three sides of the Tony Macaroni filled with Hoops fans erupted as if they had just seen their side stick one in the back of the net.
The tension on the terraces evaporated and Bitton admitted he was a bit bemused as Celts were struggling to break down the fierce Livi rearguard.
But it quickly dawned on him what was going on.
If he listened close enough he could hear the sound of bottle crashing back in Glasgow, followed by the big bang of the latest Rangers implosion against Hamilton Accies.
It’s at the stage of the season where results elsewhere matter every bit as much as the ones in front of their faces and it’s impossible to drown out the din when events in another part of the country are having a knock-on effect miles away.
There was a similar scenario a few weeks ago. Celtic were a goal down to a shock Kilmarnock opener but rather than grumbles it was cheers coming from the Parkhead stands as word filtered through Gers were spilling points up in Perth against St Johnstone.
Bitton admits these explosions of noise are hard to ignore but they do provide a boost, even if the champions are determined to concentrate on their own job against teams who are hellbent on derailing their title bid.
The Israel international said: “I don’t know about other guys but I heard our fans roaring during the game, when we were 2-1 down, so I was I like, ‘What’s going on here?’
“Then I realised Rangers were playing so I thought something happened there.
“But during the game you don’t think about it, you concentrate on yourself and you concentrate on your game.
“We need to make sure that we stick to our game plan, stick to the thing that the manager wants us to do and we need to win as many games as we can.
“When you play for a club like Celtic you need to have belief.
“You play for a massive club, you’re always fighting for trophies, you need to have this winning mentality.
“We play the same style and we will always be on the front foot. We always try to win the game and it’s a special dressing room to be in.”
Bitton couldn’t hide his smile when he thought of the bounce in the ground after the Rangers news had filtered through but he’s deadly serious when it comes to the task in hand.
Livingston gave Celtic another almighty battle in West Lothian but it didn’t come as a surprise to the classy defender as he reckons the Premiership is packed with rivals determined to become have-a-go heroes.
Bitton said: “Every away game in the Scottish league is difficult.
“Everyone wants to stop us, everyone wants to beat us, to be the hero, and we need to accept it. We need to face it, we need to match it and we do that. But we do it every week and we just need to keep going.”
That’s exactly what Celtic do. They keep going to the death and they eventually break down defences while shattering the spirit of their rivals – whether it’s the ones in front of them or others far away.
Sometimes it’s down to ability. On nights like Wednesday against Livingston it took a more basic instinct.
Bitton said: “We always believe in ourselves but we gave away
two goals and we had to chase the game.
“After we scored the first goal I felt quite comfortable.
“I felt we were going to have a good night but then we gave away two goals so we had to chase the game.
“But you have guys on the bench who can change the game for you. And they did it.
“It is not the best place to come and play. I prefer this surface more than St Johnstone’s ground.
“We knew before the game it was going to be dirty. There was going to be a lot of fighting and a lot of the dirty side of the game. We needed to match that.
“We played some good football through the game, we created enough chances to win again.”
The point at Livingston proved priceless as it widened the gap to 13 points but Celtic still weren’t content.
Livingston shook Neil Lennon’s side out of their comfort zone and there were lessons to be learned after conceding a couple of cheap goals.
Bitton said: “We gave away two goals and we got punished so we need to make sure it’s not going to happen again.
“There’s no excuses for us, we knew what we were coming for and, as I said, we played some good football. We created enough chances to win.
“We didn’t but we got the equaliser in stoppage time and we need to make sure we cut the sloppiness.”
Celtic might be ignoring the noise but they can just about hear the faint sound of the fat lady clearing her throat.
I heard the fans roaring and thought ‘What’s going on here?’
NIR BITTON ON WHAT HE HEARD AT 2-1 DOWN TO LIVI