CELTIC SHOW NO DROP IN DESIRE
Champions find a way to quell Killie resistance on day of double celebration
WITH the sun shining and supporters simultaneously celebrating a title win and the news that manager Brendan Rodgers had signed a new contract, it really was inconceivable that Celtic would drop points for a third successive home league game.
Yet for six second-half minutes after an equalising goal from Kilmarnock winger Jordan Jones, the prospect of another 1-1 scoreline to follow draws against Rangers and Partick Thistle was very real.
Rodgers’ concern was such that substitutes Tom Rogic and Moussa Dembele were being stripped for action when Scott Sinclair stepped forward to calm the nerves with a simple finish at the end of a set-piece move.
The strike was Sinclair’s 23rd of the season and the sight of Rogic and Dembele linking up menacingly with the club’s top scorer late in the game suggested that Celtic are ready to put the title celebrations behind them and commence a proper assault on the final leg of the Treble.
After ringing the changes for the midweek visit of Partick Thistle, Rodgers had decreed this as a day for getting back to business and establishing some momentum towards the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers later this month.
He restored the line-up which had clinched the title so emphatically at Tynecastle, with Dembele returning to the bench after some time out with a hamstring injury.
Like Thistle before them, the Kilmarnock players formed a guard of honour to welcome the champions on to the field. One can only wonder whether the likes of Hearts, Aberdeen and, indeed, Rangers will feel obliged to observe similar ceremony across the final six games of the league campaign.
But while Killie paved a way on to the park for their hosts, they were determined to block their passage to goal. Interim manager Lee McCulloch later claimed he had sent his team out to counter-attack but they fell straight into a formation designed to restrict space, with midfielder Gary Dicker dropping from his usual beat into a place at the heart of a back five.
McCulloch has had pitch markings laid out on the floor of his team’s Rugby Park sanctum to help convey his tactical message and at times it seemed like his players were under instructions to operate within the same tight dimensions of a dressing room, thus choking up Celtic’s route to goal.
The ploy enforced patience from Celtic but, ultimately, the crowd of defenders contributed to the concession of the opening goal.
Goalkeeper Freddie Woodman’s instincts had served him well as he turned Callum McGregor’s shot over the bar and his positioning was spot on as he stuck out a foot to deny Scott Brown.
The on-loan Newcastle goalie was then undone by the combination of an obstructed view and deflection as Stuart Armstrong picked the ball up 22 yards from goal and dispatched a shot that sent Woodman scrambling across his line in vain.
Killie did not crumble and remained resolute as Kieran Tierney half-volleyed wide. The Scott Boyd block that denied Armstrong a second typified their determination to keep the score down.
The visitors were a little more adventurous after the break but there was something loose about the way Celtic conceded.
Jones, the architect of the visitors’ sole shot of note in the first period, managed to keep his second effort of the game on target and benefited from a hefty deflection that carried the ball off to Craig Gordon’s left and into the bottom corner.
Centre-back Jozo Simunovic clearly felt that either Mikael Lustig or Brown could have closed down quicker and barked a rebuke in the direction of the duo, while Jones ran off to celebrate with the pocket of travelling supporters.
Rodgers responded by preparing Rogic and Dembele for service but before they could join the fray, the lead had been restored. Armstrong dispatched a free-kick to the back post, Dedryck Boyata headed back and Patrick Roberts’ return was knocked in by Sinclair.
The assist proved Roberts’ last contribution and, with Dembele on in his stead in the central attacking role, Celtic carried more threat.
Roberts’ quick feet and intuition make him a lovely link player but, although deployed at the top of Celtic’s formation, he is nobody’s idea of a central striker.
Dembele gave Kilmarnock a whole new set of problems and he made Celtic’s third with a powerful run and shot that deflected horridly up and over Woodman.
James Forrest was quickest to react, nodding the ball over the line from close range.
Rodgers had described Rogic as the ‘Magic Man’ ahead of his first appearance of 2017 in midweek and there were flashes of the Australian’s guile towards the end.