Celtic Natural drop-off

As the Forrest fire ripped through Thistle in the opening ten minutes it seemed it would be a case of how many. Our own failings made the contest closer than it should have been. The comfortable second half was forgotten as we clung on for the final eight minutes and only a last-ditch tackle by Kieran Tierney saved us from an undeserved replay.

Our manager spoke of being measured on last season’s historical achievements. It is harsh on the players to expect them to repeat this. A natural drop off in performance, injuries and teams being better against us all have contributed to our relative struggles.

Saturday is where we are and I’m comfortable marvelling at Tierney punching the air after a replay-saving tackle.