Our Treble was in trouble till Paddy weaved his magic
First win is ‘sheer joy’ for boss Caldo Dgdgddgdgd dgdgdgdgdd gdgdgddgdg gddgdgdgdgadsfads Celtic goal hero Lustig credits Roberts with keeping Invincible season on track
GARY CALDWELL has admitted he felt “sheer joy” after grabbing his first win as Chesterfield boss – at the seventh time of asking.
The former Celtic, Hibs and Scotland defender had endured a nightmare time at the English League One side since taking over in January.
He even had a pop at his own fans last week and advised them not to show up if they were just going to complain.
But after Reece Mitchell’s goal secured a 1-0 win at Swindon to break his duck, Caldwell is convinced they can still survive – despite sitting eight points from safety.
And ahead of tomorrow night’s clash at mid-table Walsall, Caldwell said: “The celebrations show what it means to the football club, to myself, the staff and the players.
“It shows we’re very much still in this fight and we will keep going.
“That will turn out to be a big goal for this club in the coming months and years.
“I don’t think you can describe those thoughts at that time and if anyone can then they’ve got a better vocabulary than me. It was just sheer joy and happiness that it went in.
“They deserved it for the effort they put in but you’re also trying to give them information on what to do for the last minute to win the game.
“It’s a feeling I’ll never be tired of getting.” MIKAEL LUSTIG set his sights firmly on Celtic’s first Treble in 16 years after sparking the fightback to keep their clean sweep bid on course.
But the Swede reckons it was the half-time introduction of Patrick Roberts that made the big difference as his side came from 1-0 down to see off St Mirren 4-1 in the Scottish Cup.
Lustig netted the vital equaliser from the winger’s free-kick and the on-loan Manchester City kid had a hand in two other goals after replacing Gary Mackay-Steven.
The full-back said: “Paddy was brilliant. He was involved in three of our goals. It was him who did good things and the game opened up.
“We have some guys who have always been in the starting XI and scoring. But if someone gets injured someone else comes in and does their job. That is really big for us.”
Lustig’s goal just before the hour cancelled out a shock early opener from Harry Davis who stunned Parkhead with his 12th-minute strike and Moussa Dembele also hit his own crossbar with the Saints leading.
The Hoops came through in the end thanks to goals from Scott Sinclair, Dembele and Leigh Griffiths and can now look forward to a return to Hampden for next month’s semi-final with Rangers where they lifted the League Cup on their last visit.
Celtic remain undefeated in 34 domestic games – with the reigning champions now just 180 minutes from winning all three domestic trophies. And 30-yearold Lustig said: “We have a big chance to make the Treble. We have two tough games left.
“We have been to Hampden this year and played really good football and hopefully we can continue that.
“All credit to St Mirren. There aren’t many teams who come up here and are really disciplined and actually play really good football. It is really strange that they are at the bottom of the Championship.
“They played a really good game. In the first half, we weren’t that good and obviously it was close to being 2-0 but after that we showed our class.
“It was really important to get our first goal and the second soon after that. We played really good football in the end.
“It’s always going to be like that if we don’t get the first goal.
“But we have guys who are going to score goals. Even if they had got to 2-0 we could still have managed to win.”
Saints scorer Davis admitted it could have been a different story if Dembele’s attempted clearance had ended up in his own net instead of coming back off the underside of the bar. The on-loan Crewe defender got to the rebound but couldn’t get his header on target.
“He said: “When the ball came off the bar I tried to keep it in.
“It was spinning out of play and I was in line with the post so there was no chance I’d have been able to score from that angle. If it had gone in it could have been a different story.
“The players are gutted after we stifled them in the first half. We were disappointed with how the game went in the second half but fair play to Celtic who showed their quality and opened us up.
“They were very clinical and we have no complaints but it was a big turning point in the game when we hit the bar.
“If that had gone in it would have put a bit more pressure on Celtic but the two goals in a minute killed us off.
“Celtic have a lot of quality players and you just have to do as well as you can against them but they found more space and had more joy in the second half.
“I’ve won twice at Wembley in the League Two play-off final so I’ve played in big occasions before but it was a great experience to score at Parkhead.”
Rodgers was full of praise for the battling Buddies, whom he reckons are the best team the Hoops have played in Scotland.
Saints boss Jack Ross was proud of his men but said: “The first emotion is disappointment because we did come here to win and progress to the semi-finals.
“People might think it was foolhardy but that was our ambition. We were halfway towards doing that so it’s disappointing we haven’t achieved what we wanted to.
“But when you put that aside, there is pride in how we performed and in how well we made Celtic have to play to win the game. They are a very good team and very powerful when they are in full flight.
“They are very difficult to stop and that was the case once they got that first goal. You don’t know how it would have panned out the one that went off the crossbar ended up in the back of the net.
“We still would have had to withstand a lot of pressure. Celtic had introduced Griffiths by that stage and changed the dynamic of the game.
“To win here you need to play very well and have good fortune. That moment was possibly that little bit of fortune we needed. If it had gone in we possibly could have progressed.
“What Rodgers said is a compliment for the players. They should take satisfaction from that, realising what a good team they are.”