GORDON AGONY
Knee injury leaves Celts No1 fearing the worst
CELTIC goalkeeper Craig Gordon is fearing a lengthy lay-off after damaging the medial ligament in his left knee in yesterday’s 1-0 victory over Hibernian.
The Scotland No 1 will undergo a scan to survey the extent of the injury suffered in a collision with Efe Ambrose towards the end of the first half.
While the problem is to the knee that forced Gordon to miss over two years of football from April 2012 to August 2014, it is not the same serious injury.
Brendan Rodgers also revealed that Leigh Griffiths, who scored the game’s only goal against his former club, is a doubt for the Europa League clashes with Zenit St Petersburg next month.
The striker was forced off after half an hour following a recurrence of the calf issues that have dogged his campaign.
‘Craig’s looks a bit more serious in terms of his knee,’ said Rodgers, who won his 73rd game in 100 matches in charge of Celtic.
‘We need to have a look at that in the scan, so it looks like he could be out for a period of time. I think it was Efe’s weight and he has twisted his MCL.
‘It looks like Leigh’s calf. He’s had issues and problems there. It’s a shame and it has been a bit of an ongoing issue. Frustrating for us and frustrating for him.
‘He comes back and does really well against Partick Thistle to get the winner. Starts here and gets the winner and has then got injured, so it is unfortunate.’
The absence of 35-year-old
IT was an evening for the celebrations to be toned down as Celtic recorded a first victory over Hibernian in three attempts this season.
Leigh Griffiths was match-winner for the visit of his beloved boyhood team, scoring for the first time in his career against Hibs and offering muted revelry.
Then, within a few minutes, he was banging the turf in agony and trudging off in frustration, realising that he had been sucked back into the cycle of despair over his troublesome calf.
On his 45th birthday and the occasion of his 100th game in charge of Celtic, Brendan Rodgers offered downbeat reports. Griffiths was a doubt for the last-32 Europa League ties against Zenit St Petersburg next month.
Yet there was greater concern over Craig Gordon, who Rodgers revealed potentially suffered a long-term knee injury when landing badly following a collision with Efe Ambrose.
The Scotland keeper will find out today the extent of his lay-off. The Celtic manager, who sent third-choice Conor Hazard on loan to Falkirk, is likely to swiftly upgrade goalkeeper in his transfer window to-do list for the week ahead.
Adding to the worries at the striker position was Moussa Dembele’s laborious return to duty. Neil Lennon described Griffiths as the £10million forward who was the only difference between evenly matched teams.
In doing so, the Hibs boss might have been asking why no transfer fuss over the Scotland striker and so much about Dembele recently?
The prospect of Griffiths spending a few weeks on the sidelines again will add another layer to the deliberations if there is any last-ditch swoop for Dembele in the coming days.
After two cracking 2-2 contests between these sides, this one never threatened to hit those heights. With Dembele starting a third successive game on the bench, Griffiths led the line and was on free-kick duties. His first and last set-piece led to a scarcely believable failure from Celtic to take a 15th-minute advantage.
Ofir Marciano dug out a stunning one-handed save to paw a powerful Griffiths swerver out of goal, only for the keeper to watch floored and helpless as Scott Sinclair pounced. Or so he thought.
Celtic’s top scorer met the ball four yards out at an awkward height, contributing to the fluffed effort that cracked off the empty goal’s crossbar and post. Still, it was a shocking miss for anyone — never mind someone with Sinclair’s class and scoring record.
Brandon Barker has no such sparkling statistics in that department and is still looking for his first Hibs goal after 23 appearances. He saw plenty of the ball early on and his pace took him flying clear of Kristoffer Ajer. A push from the Norwegian really should have forced Barker to the ground for a sure penalty award. The decision to remain upright was rued when Gordon thrust out his right boot to deny the Manchester City flyer.
Celtic, and Griffiths, were handed a 27th-minute lead by the helping head of Paul Hanlon. The defender attempted to clear a Kieran Tierney cross but the ball landed kindly at the feet of Griffiths, who slammed home and celebrated in understated fashion the heinous act of scoring against the Easter Road team.
Griffiths has endured a frustrating season. His distress and upset was plain to see as he had to admit his day was over just a few minutes later.
Without a goal since a November strike against Motherwell in the Betfred Cup