‘Equaliser should not have stood’
CELTIC’s discontent was not only to be found in the stands. Goalkeeper Craig Gordon left Parkhead last night complaining bitterly that the goal which earned Ross County a point was offside.
stewart Murdoch’s 25-yard strike prompted fury from the scotland international in the 64th minute. He remonstrated long and hard with referee Don Robertson to no avail.
‘It is offside,’ insisted Gordon afterwards. ‘The guy is standing just the other side of the penalty spot and he ducks, so instead of a 25-yard shot it becomes a 13-yard shot where I haven’t been able to see half the distance it has travelled. It’s offside — simple.
‘The officials have not noticed it or, I don’t know, maybe they think I’m not going to save it anyway. But I would have done and it should have been offside.’
He was careful to avoid discrediting Ross County. Celtic were the architects of their own demise. Another insipid home performance ended in boos. Ronny Deila’s departure, it seems, can’t come soon enough.
‘It was a difficult week,’ added Gordon. ‘We wanted to come out and put on a better show. I’m moaning about the goal but we didn’t exactly do ourselves any favours.
‘I don’t want to come across as though I’m blaming the officials for the result because we had plenty chances.
‘We probably should have been more than one goal ahead but towards the end, it ended up like a game of basketball where neither team really had control.
‘We have to take responsibility for our performance and today again it wasn’t as good as we had wanted.’
Celtic travel to Tynecastle on saturday lunchtime. If Aberdeen drop points against Motherwell at Pittodrie in the later kick-off, Deila’s side can win a fifth successive title.
‘Hopefully,’ said Gordon of Celtic’s chance to wrap up the title. ‘We wanted to start well today to give (the fans) something to get behind to help us over the line.
‘We didn’t really do that, although in the first half we were probably better. We kept the ball well but we didn’t really create an awful lot of chances.
‘Ross County created a few and perhaps maybe could have taken one or two. (Liam) Boyce’s header in the first half and (Paul) Quinn taking a fresh air shot in the second spring to mind.
‘But we wanted to do so much more to go into the game and win it well to get the points.’
The loud booing reflected a mood of unrest. Celtic have been transported back 20 years in recent days.
A chorus of ‘sack the Board’ was absent yesterday but, with every poor performance, it edges closer.
The disconnect between Celtic’s directors and fans is not being narrowed by performances.
‘That’s where we are,’ shrugged the Parkhead keeper.
‘We probably wanted more from the season than where we are at the moment. It’s up to us over the last four games to get the job done and make sure we’ve won the title.’