Christie defiant despite blunders costing Celts
RYAN CHRISTIE insists Celtic won’t get on a run unless they stop blowing holes in their own stumbling feet.
The frustrated Parkhead ace can scarcely believe his team are back under scrutiny following the loss of more title ground at the weekend.
Christie and his team-mates slipped up in a 2-2 draw with Hibs despite, in the eyes of the playmaker, controlling the majority of the contest.
Celtic simply were not clinical enough at either end of the Easter Road pitch.
And the Scotland star didn’t hide from that truth or that bad errors are inflicting self-harm.
For the majority of the first half in Leith the champions were in control.
In the final 20 minutes they finally turned large swathes of possession into a couple of goals from Odsonne Edouard’s penalty and an injury-time strike from Diego Laxalt.
Had Celtic done all of their jobs defensively beforehand those efforts would have won the game.
Instead, frailty and mistakes during a desperate 10-minute period prior to the hour meant they only salvaged a draw
Christie was left gutted. Scott Bain saved a penalty conceded by Scott Brown yet sleepy Celtic allowed Jamie Murphy to gobble up the rebound for 1-0 and they were two down when Kevin Nisbet escaped brittle defending to net.
Neil Lennon’s team had only themselves to blame and Christie said: “At half-time I was thinking we had dominated the first half. I thought it was just a matter of time before we scored and went on to win.
“But then it went 2-0 to Hibs and I’m thinking, ‘How on earth are we 2-0 down in this game?
“It is frustrating. Obviously Bainy did so well to save the penalty but we didn’t react to the follow up which is annoying.
“Then their second is just so simple from a free-kick. A great finish but we could have done much more to stop it.
“Every time we make a mistake we’re getting punished. Everyone is frustrated by it.
“It was annoying not to get a goal before half-time and then it takes us so long to finally get on the scoresheet.
“I felt we created plenty of chances and their keeper was excellent. So that says a lot.
“We showed a bit of fight to get back into it at 2-2 and if the game had had an extra five minutes I think we would have gone on and won it.
“But we shot ourselves in the foot. It was frustrating to find ourselves 2-0 down and having to claw our way back into it. After our first-half performance we felt we should have won.”
Christie accepts it’s not a one-off. Celtic’s frailty has cost them dearly in the title race as well as in Europe and he says it needs to stop.
Scoring twice at Easter Road wasn’t enough to win the game.
Bagging three against Aberdeen at Pittodrie still only earned another draw last month.
Lazy defending cost them two more