Sunday Papers, 01/11/09

[Jinty]

Sunday Herald



Celtic 3 Kilmarnock 0: Confident, forceful, entertaining
Michael Grant

IN Tony Mowbray’s mind it has been an injustice that Celtic haven’t won more games with the effortless authority they showed in trampling all over Kilmarnock.

The embattled Celtic manager – he is learning that only in Glasgow can you be embattled and three points clear at the top of the league – has been sure of himself, sure of his team and convinced that they ought to have won more often. To hell with the crashing counter-evidence of missed chances and poor results. This was only Celtic’s third win in 10 home games under Mowbray and the sense of relief around Parkhead was palpable. Celtic fans simply want to stop worrying about their own results so they can sit back and revel in what’s going on at Rangers.

The day’s only blemish for Celtic was Aiden McGeady being disciplined again for diving. McGeady went down looking for a penalty under an innocuous James Fowler challenge in the second half and referee Willie Collum booked him. In August he was sent off by Dougie McDonald for “simulation” against Hibs.

Mowbray was measured in his comments, but felt Collum was unfair on his man: “Every time somebody goes down in the box, it doesn’t mean it’s a penalty or a booking. Maybe he is getting an unfair reputa­tion. There was some body contact. It was a big centre-half against a diminutive little guy. I didn’t think it was a penalty or a booking, either. It’s unfair on Aiden, I think.”

Mowbray’s stance was predictable, even if Fowler will be surprised to find himself described as big and a centre-half. He’s neither. Otherwise, Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies agreed with Mowbray’s general point: “I don’t think it was a booking or a blatant dive. Tony’s right, you don’t always have to show a card. It was a bit harsh.”

Overall, this was Celtic as Mowbray wants them: bright, confident, forceful and entertaining. After three home games without a goal the dam burst. Mowbray had been pleased with the midweek performance against Hearts, despite defeat, and saw this as a continuation. “I’ll let others decide how well or badly we’ve done so far this season. You can’t go from the worst start in 60-odd years to feeling pretty comfortable in two games. The general performance and the way we played was very similar to Wednesday.”

Particularly in the first half and towards the end they came at Kilmarnock from all angles. If Kilmarnock were not struggling to cope with Paddy McCourt’s devilment on the left, they were being swamped by Andreas Hinkel and McGeady on the other side, with Georgios Samaras marauding all over the final third of the park, leading the line expertly.

Kilmarnock didn’t do enough to close Celtic down and make them work, with left-back Jamie Hamill more exposed than most. The goals which had Celtic two ahead by half-time both came from down his side. At the first, a McCourt shot broke to McGeady and he beautifully slipped Craig Bryson before striking a shot which flew across the goal and crashed into the net off the far post. For the second, McGeady worked the ball to Hinkel on the wing and his excellent cross picked out Samaras to score with an emphatic, firm header.

It was clear that Celtic were enjoying themselves and there was a flourish to their play which was encouraging ahead of Thursday’s Europa League game in Hamburg. Samaras executed a wonderful flick which left Frazer Wright looking foolish and McCourt had the vision and technique to see a Samaras run and find his team-mate with a glorious 40-yard pass.

Goalkeeper Cameron Bell – first-choice Mark Brown, is on loan from Celtic and prevented from facing them – was excellent then and in the game as a whole.

Kilmarnock were engulfed, but they improved after the break. Kevin Kyle’s poor attempt to convert a close-
range header might have dispirited them, but when David Fernandez came on at half-time, the big target man suddenly had the support he had been lacking, and Jef­feries’ team were the better for it. Kyle had a couple of headers; Kilmarnock were far more of a presence in the second half and the game briefly became a little more competitive. Hamill chested a pass and sidestepped Landry N’Guemo before thumping a shot past a post.

Marc-Antoine Fortune came on for his first appearance since hurting his knee against Arsenal in August. He was introduced in a double substitution with Niall McGinn despite the fact the Northern Irish internation­alist was not listed in the official Celtic team sheet released before kick-off. Kilmarnock were soon able to confirm his presence. Hinkel rolled him a pass and McGinn took a touch with his left boot before applying a confident low finish with his right.

Bell pulled off some minor heroics to deny Celtic more goals in an aggressive spell of closing play. Three was merciful on Kilmarnock because even Jefferies conceded that Celtic ought to have had more.This time there were no boos.

[Jinty]

The Scotsman



Celtic 3 - 0 Kilmarnock: Job done as Celtic ease pressure
By Tom English at Celtic Park

GIVEN Celtic's travails – the poverty of some of their play this season, their troubles in three cup competitions and their awful run of two home wins in nine games – this was a triumph to be saluted to the high heavens.
It was the first time in four games that they scored a goal at Parkhead and only the second occasion in the entire season where they managed to deny the opposition a goal of their own at the one-time fortress of Parkhead. Marc-Antoine Fortune, the great budget-buster of the summer, made his return after two months on the sidelines and Celtic finished their day with three-point lead over Hibs and a four-point advantage over Rangers, who play at Tannadice today.

Job done, you might say.

Certainly, Celtic were a lot better yesterday than they've been recently. They scored three but could have had six and they won the game at a most gentle canter. They ended it by laying siege to the Killie goal, the visitors' having to hack the ball off their own line three times in the closing stages.

Maybe this is the springboard for something, maybe it is the confidence surge they were looking for. Clearly Celtic need a lift. Less than 19,000 turned up midweek for the Hearts game and there were many, many thousands of unoccupied seats again yesterday.

Tony Mowbray will be feeling a little better about life this morning. A few goals returned to his team at last, Aiden McGeady, Georgios Samaras, below, and the substitute, Niall McGinn, landing the telling blows, all of them impressive strikes in different ways.

And it must have come as a blessed relief to Mowbray that his wait for a breakthrough was pretty brief. The poor man has been carrying the weight of the world on his broad shoulders of late. At least he didn't go through the torture mill as he did on Wednesday. Yesterday, the first decent opening they created they scored from and in that moment of trickery from McGeady you could almost hear the exhalation, not to mind the jubilation, coming from the Celtic dugout. For Mowbray, it was pure relief.McGeady has a well-established reputation as an iffy finisher. He says as much himself. His goals-to-chances ratio is poor for a player who seems to be attracting the attention of the newly monied Alex McLeish at Birmingham. Here, though, his finish was a delight, the ball coming to him on the right hand side of the Killie penalty area. He went past Craig Bryson and Frazer Wright in the blink of an eye and lashed in a thumping shot that flew across Cameron Bell in the visitors' goal and went in off his post.

The mercy of an early strike has been rare in these parts this season and the cushion of a second goal soon after has been rarer still. That is what happened, though. Much to the delight, and possible surprise, of the faithful, Celtic went two-up around the half-hour mark and, wonder of wonders, it was Samaras, the chief villain of Wednesday who scored it.

Samaras had begun this game just as he'd finished the last one, with a touch of the hangdog demeanour about him. His touch was all over the place and that increasingly familiar contribution from the fans – the collective groan – rang around the place on more than one occasion. Still, he stuck at it and played well. He slid a ball in from the right that McDonald almost put into the Killie net – McDonald, now there is another angst-ridden figure – but the Greek had a chance himself soon after and he fairly buried it.

A botched header was the pick of his blunders against Hearts but there was no repeat on that front. When Andreas Hinkel crossed, Samaras was unmarked near the penalty spot. How Killie failed to spot him with his big hair and his red boots is anybody's guess but Samaras threw his head at the ball and sent it rifling past Bell.

This was better from Celtic. Clinical. But, of course, they wouldn't be in a bit of turmoil right now if they weren't vulnerable in certain areas of the pitch and the heart of their defence remains a concern.

Just before the break, Killie had a chance. A big chance. And what is more, it fell to the very man they would have wanted it to fall to. Namely, Kevin Kyle. Gavin Skelton was the one who put the cross into the box and nobody picked up big Kyle, who was allowed to stand free near the six-yard box. Alas, for Killie, Kyle managed to put his point-blank header wide of Lukasz Zaluska's post. How good a chance was it? Well, when Kyle messed up he went and gave the woodwork a slap in anger. Safe to say, he knew he should have scored.

And there was more of the same not long into the second half. This time it was Bryson who put in the cross but, again, Kyle failed to execute, putting his header over. Once more, he berated himself. Soon after, he had a third attempt, but at least the Celtic defenders got close to him this time and gave him a reason for putting it over.

Kilmarnock didn't get much of a look-in after that. McGeady got his booking for a supposed dive and that will be a talking point this week. Should all such incidents be punishable by a yellow card? We say no, it's not that straightforward. Referees can get too trigger happy when it comes to diving. This was an example of it.

For the remainder of the game, Celtic banged on the Killie door so often that a third goal was inevitable and it arrived after a Hinkel pass put McGinn through. The Northern Irishman stuck it away in the corner with aplomb. It was his first goal for Celtic, Mowbray almost managed to smile when it went in. Almost.

[Jinty]

The Scotsman



Why window shopping might not be the answer for Mowbray
By Andrew Smith

THE January transfer window has been built up as the potential cure-all for the ills afflicting Celtic. But it has the potential to cure none, as Tony Mowbray knows all too well. The other week, the Celtic manager made the rather bland statement that he would be delighted if he could get ten new players in who were better than those currently available to him. Is there a manager anywhere who wouldn't say the same? This, however, was presented as him saying he needed ten players.
The reality is he knows January could come and go, as it did last year, without any squad augmentation at the club. Mowbray accepts that he will have to "juggle the balls" and marry up the numbers coming in and out. It is not how he would prefer to operate.

"I don't like letting good players go by," he says. "If we don't need a right or left winger at the moment and there is a real diamond of player, an 18-year-old superstar you think you can get, then I'd want to do the deal and then have my conversations with Aiden (McGeady] or Shaun (Maloney] or Niall (McGinn] or Paddy (McCourt]. You have a top player in and can sell him when you are ready, not to juggle the balls. It is different from most financial men. They want to know 'why are you buying him, when you've got him and him?' I just like buying good players. Look, (Marc-Antoine] Fortune's been out for nine weeks. You can't write that script but then people want to know why you are not winning."

Mowbray says summer windows are when to do real business because then there is a pool of out of contract players who "might fit into your jigsaw". He believes loan deals are more likely at the turn of the year. "You have to buy players you like, really trust. Because if you bring in players for the sake of it, fans and everyone else will soon make judgments that the signings ain't no good, are a waste of money," he says.

"If you bring people on loan, with a fee to sign them, that allows you and them to see if they can acclimatise, cope with the pressure of playing with the club, and if they can't you have only paid a little percentage of a full fee on a loan agreement."

Mowbray says he and his scouts have been "looking hard" and found players they like. But they haven't made the calls because he is wary of the interest going public and his club being used to create an auction for a player. "Until you make the calls, you don't know if the price is in your range," he says. "And yet the longer you leave it, you might find that when you ask the question it turns out the deal is too expensive, and then that is one option gone with time running down. It is not easy."

By this Thursday, Celtic effectively could be out of three competitions. Only a win in Hamburg on Thursday will prevent Europa League prospects going the way of Champions League and Co-operative Insurance Cup hopes. Despite the 1-0 home loss to the Germans a fortnight ago that strengthened the impression European football is proving a distraction he could well do without, naturally he will not give up on it.

"I think there was enough opportunities for us at Celtic Park to have us believing we can go to Hamburg and win," he says. "You ask why has Celtic's record in Europe been so good over the years? How do you get results against Milan and Barcelona and the like?

"The general consensus is that staying in the game as long as you can is the key – then you get a break, a deflected shot or a set-play. You have to be defensively well set up and I'd like to think we've been defensively well set up in all our European games. Have we got the breaks in front of goal? Not really. I'm trying not to make excuses, but generally the team have been very competitive. The margins between winning 1-0 and losing 1-0 are very fine."

[Jinty]

The Scotsman



Managers rush to McGeady's defence
By Tom English

BOTH Tony Mowbray and Jim Jefferies defended Aiden McGeady after referee Willie Collum booked the Celtic midfield player for diving in the Kilmarnock penalty area midway through the second half. McGeady, dismissed for simulation against Hibs in late August, went down easily in an incident involving James Fowler.

"Sometimes it doesn't need to be a penalty or a booking," said Mowbray. "You're looking for commonsense. It doesn't always have to be a definitive decision. If he has a reputation (for diving] then it's unfair on Aiden. There was some body contact (with Fowler]. It's a big centre-half versus a diminutive little guy. He's a fast, fleet-footed player who dances between opponents and big centre-halves – and I was one myself – sometimes use physicality to tackle him. I don't think it was a booking and we should have just got on with the game. But I'm not blasting the referee."

Jefferies nodded in agreement. "I agree with Tony. It wasn't a booking," he said. "It was not as blatant a dive as the referee made it out to be. You don't always have to book a player in that instance."

The managers were in agreement on all fronts, in fact. Jefferies held his hands up and said his team were lucky to escape with just a three-goal loss. That said, he mentioned that Kevin Kyle was in the away dressing room cursing himself for not scoring a hat-trick of headers. "Celtic were really up for it today and they were excellent," said the Killie manager.

"We've scored a few today," Mowbray pointed out, "and that makes it easier for everybody. There isn't a lack of confidence in the team."

[Jinty]

Sunday Times


Celtic strike back after midweek misery - Celtic 3 Kilmarnock 0
Douglas Alexander at Celtic Park

TONY MOWBRAY tried to reason with the media last Friday after Celtic’s annual general meeting but he would be better responding to any agendas against him, real or imagined, with results such as this. As always, Kilmarnock provided obliging opposition on a day when Celtic’s manager required a convincing victory to dispel the growing doubts about him — particularly at home, where his side had won only twice in their first nine league matches.

As in Wednesday’s Co-operative Insurance Cup defeat by Hearts, plenty of chances fell Celtic’s way but the difference, as Mowbray pointed out afterwards, was that they took three of them. Nevertheless, this victory could and should have been more emphatic. Celtic were able to create opportunities at will, with a sluggish Kilmarnock rearguard attempting to play too high a line, particularly in the first half. They also began the match without a natural left-back as Jamie Hamill was pressed into a role in which he never looked comfortable and it was no surprise to see him switched back to his midfield habitat after Garry Hay came on for Conor Sammon at half time.

That improved the visitors, but the damage had already been done. With a little more understanding and precision to their attacking, Celtic could have had far more than the two goals they had accumulated by the interval. The defining image of the first period was Georgios Samaras squaring or crossing the ball just beyond Scott McDonald, underlining that they often seem to operate on different wavelengths.

It did not matter once Aiden McGeady teased Frazer Wright and Craig Bryson with his now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t shuffle, before spurting beyond them and pulling his shot into the far side of the net from the right. McGeady continues to tantalise with such moments of end product and if he could produce them more often there surely wouldn’t be a debate in Ireland as to whether he or the combative, but limited, Stephen Hunt starts the World Cup playoff matches against France. McGeady looked far more effective with the astute and scrupulous Andreas Hinkel behind him, although Mowbray acknowledged Mark Wilson’s performances had not made it easy to drop him.
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McGeady was also involved in the only controversy of the afternoon midway through the second half. He was booked for diving by Willie Collum, the referee, as he went down under James Fowler’s challenge in the box. It was a decision which provoked a debate between the two dugouts, although it ended in agreement. “I get on well with Billy [Brown] and Jim [Jefferies], they are good people,” said Mowbray. “It doesn’t have to be a penalty or a booking, there has to be an element of common sense. Why does there have to be a definitive decision?” Jefferies, his Kilmarnock counterpart, backed this argument. “I agree with Tony, I don’t think it was a booking. I don’t think it was a blatant dive.” The concern for Mowbray is that McGeady may be starting to get a reputation after his sending-off at Easter Road for the same offence at the end of August. “Maybe, but I think that’s unfair on Aiden,” he responded. “There was some body contact. Aiden dances between players and big centre-halves, and I was one myself, sometimes use their physicality.”

McGeady was also involved in Celtic’s second goal, which was probably more pleasing to his manager, as it was full of the precise technical stuff he is striving for. McGeady measured a pass down the right perfectly and Hinkel’s cross was similarly accurate, as was the emphatic header with which Samaras met it. The Greek was named man of the match at the end, but his performance was the usual mix of good and bad. The victory puts Celtic three points ahead of Hibs and four in front of Rangers, but Samaras expects the Old Firm to gradually burn off the other pretenders as the season goes on. “There are some good teams and I respect them, but I think Celtic and Rangers have the quality to keep going till the end. It is always like that. It hasn’t changed for many, many years. That’s the story.”

The wide open spaces suited Paddy McCourt and Celtic Park buzzed expectantly whenever he floated into possession from his starting point on the left. The Irishman’s greatest gift is his ability to go past people while keeping his head up for a shot or pass and it is a rare one in the Scottish game. He showed it in one fluent run before reversing his shot back across goal and just past Cameron Bell’s left-hand post.

Yet their lead brought complacency as well as comfort to Celtic. The most obvious symptom of this was the succession of free headers they allowed Kevin Kyle. “Kevin feels he could have had a hat-trick,” groaned Jefferies. The Kilmarnock manager felt the first of those opportunities, just before half time, might have given his side a lifeline but Celtic made sure with a third goal 12 minutes from time. Hinkel was again involved, another careful pass giving Niall McGinn an opportunity to score his first goal for Celtic, which he took well, teeing the ball up with his left foot before smashing it home with his right.

Celtic could have had more but Bell, Kilmarnock’s impressive goalkeeper, saved well from McGeady after a flowing counter attack which started with Lukasz Zaluska’s throw-out. Then a Zheng Zhi shot was blocked on the line and Bell and his defenders somehow kept out a point-blank header from Samaras. Marc-Antoine Fortune, a striker in the selfless, non-scoring mode of Emile Heskey, also came on to fire in a couple of decent efforts. Chances will not come so easily against Hamburg on Thursday night in the Europa League, but this win at least provided a shot of confidence.

CELTIC: Zaluska 6, Hinkel 8, Caldwell 7, Loovens 6, Fox 6, McGeady 8 (Zheng Zhi 83min), Crosas 6, N’Guemo 6, McCourt 7 (McGinn 67min), Samaras 7, McDonald 6 (Fortune 67min)

KILMARNOCK: Bell 7, Fowler 5, O’Leary 4, Wright 4, Hamill 5, Invincibile 6 (Fernandez 46min, 6), Bryson 5, Skelton 5 (Flannigan 67min), Sammon 6 (Hay 46min, 6), Taouil 5, Kyle 6

Star man: Aiden McGeady (Celtic) Yellow cards: Celtic: McGeady 68 Kilmarnock: Taouil 40, Wright 47

Referee: W Collum Attendance: 46,000

[Jinty]

Sunday Times


Celtic don’t want bitterest rivals in tatters
Graham Spiers

Come into the Celtic boardroom with me, as viewed last Wednesday lunchtime. The large oval table is set decorously for around 15 people and over in the corner a sumptuous buffet awaits. The great, the good, and the rank rotten of the Scottish sports media are here by invitation to break bread and share conversation with John Reid, the Celtic chairman, and Peter Lawwell, the club’s chief executive. And I kid you not — on the menu is succulent lamb.

This is the modern Celtic: street-wise, savvy, interacting with the media. Over the course of the next two hours the wines were poured as Reid and Lawwell — though mainly Dr Reid — engaged us in debate and discussion about the issues facing Scottish football. The Celtic chairman is no shrinking violet and it is perfectly obvious in his company why he rose to fill three of the great offices of British state: Home Secretary, Defence Secretary, and Northern Ireland Secretary. As was evident again at the Celtic annual general meeting on Friday, Reid waits upon no-one, bashes people aside at will, and is a combativelyengaging character.

Yet Celtic, despite what many might think, are not skulking inside Parkhead rubbing their hands with glee at the plight of Rangers. On Friday, in his address to the Celtic shareholders, Reid tossed some well-aimed barbs in the direction of Ibrox and their financial mess, but this is not the true view of either Reid or the Celtic board, and nor can it be. Because the Old Firm are bound together by a strange law of mutual strength.

If Rangers founder, Celtic are done for. If Rangers are weak, Celtic are weakened. The Old Firm thrive on each other’s strength and vigour — one club denuded of the other would have much of its raison d’etre taken away from it. Rangers are not going to die and, perversely, Reid, Lawwell and Celtic are praying that they don’t.
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I had a weird personal reaction to that schmoozing lunch at Celtic Park on Wednesday. Undeniably, the point of the exercise is to maintain good relations between Celtic and the media, and hopefully, to foster a feeling of optimism around all things Celtic. But this is not what I took away from the meal at all. On the contrary, Reid and Lawwell only convinced me that the next five years were going to be extremely tough — and possibly damaging — for Celtic, both on the field and off it.

There are various reasons for this. The gap between Celtic and their European rivals in terms of financial strength is simply getting wider. Good players, increasingly, are asking for salaries which Lawwell and Celtic simply cannot look at. Right now even half-decent players want £25,000 a week — again, a sum that Celtic would currently baulk at. The club’s recent traumas against Arsenal and Hamburg in European competition were only mere glimpses of this. The blunt truth is, Celtic, let alone Rangers, are in danger of becoming clomping also-rans in European football.

Last January, and Celtic's infamous inability to add to Gordon Strachan’s squad (save for the skelf with ears called Willo Flood), was a case in point. The truth is, Lawwell had two or three players lined up to join Celtic, but one by one they all went by the wayside. In private, off the record, Lawwell explained to us what happened, and to a certain extent Celtic were unlucky in the circumstances. But even then, a common theme was the Parkhead club’s limited financial muscle in the transfer market.

Now, this is a moot point. Are Lawwell and Celtic really so limited, or are they timid, a bit pennypinching, a tad tight-fisted? Frankly, it wouldn’t do to scoff all of Celtic's succulent lamb last Wednesday and then merely go along with everything Lawwell and Reid said — and I don’t.

There is something in what Jeanette Findlay of the Celtic Supporters Trust says about the current Celtic board’s “over-affection” for zero debt. Yes, Reid can cast his eyes across the city towards Rangers, as he did on Friday, and aim his barbs, but where are Celtic going? The club revels in its zero debt, but where are Celtic going on the field?

“No-where,” says Dr Findlay, an ardent Celtic fan, an academic, and someone who would wipe the floor in open debate with one or two of her media critics. Findlay added in conversation with me last week: “The current Celtic board has some kind of obsession with its ‘zero debt’. This is not the way to run a club like Celtic. The club right now needs greater investment in the team. The quality on the field is poor, and the fans aren’t daft, they can see with their own eyes.”

Lawwell and Reid openly bridle at this. Indeed, they scoff at the very notion. On Friday, when Findlay raised this and other points with Reid in open debate at the AGM, the Celtic chairman replied caustically that she could “go across the city” if she wasn’t happy with how things were at Celtic. Reid might have sounded suitably withering but this wasn’t a wise choice of words. There are plenty Celtic fans avoiding their matches these days, plenty season-ticket holders who are leaving their seats vacant on a Saturday. If all those people took Reid’s advice literally, he’d be well brassed-off.

Celtic, and not just Rangers, have a battle on their hands. The club somehow needs to enjoy an economic gear-shift over the next couple of seasons or else it will be left in a sorry state. This may or may not involve Dermot Desmond, a man who has the wealth of kings, but who is loathe to indulge Celtic with it. That is Desmond’s prerogative.

But I sense that Reid and Lawwell are doing little crowing over Rangers’ plight. They have next to no time for that. They are too busy worrying about themselves.

[Jinty]

The Observer


Aiden McGeady shows Celtic's vicious side to sink Kilmarnock
Glenn Gibbons at Celtic Park

Arguably Celtic's most comfortable and convincing victory since the opening-day visit to Aberdeen will surely have provided a fillip for players and supporters at the end of a week when the confidence of both seemed in danger of unravelling.

The defeat by Hearts on Wednesday that cost them the Co-operative Insurance Cup they won last season had been, with justification, viewed as the kind of morale weakener that could lead to another setback against Kilmarnock and the loss of their advantage at the top of the league.

But the goal-scoring that was started by Aiden McGeady, continued by Georgios Samaras and completed by the substitute Niall McGinn, ensured the extension of their lead and a little more pressure for Rangers on the latter's visit to Dundee United tomorrow.

That goal from McGeady – or, more precisely, the manner of its execution – was the more surprising for the general unreliability of the Celtic midfielder in the vicinity of the opposition's goal. For a player of his natural ball skills, he has a reputation as a notoriously poor finisher.

On this occasion, however, he contrived to look like Marco van Basten reincarnated. Taking the loose ball on the right of the area, he did what was for him the easy part by skipping past Craig Bryson. But he then confounded most people's expectations by hitting a ferocious, right foot drive from an extremely acute angle, the ball hitting the far wall of the net a few inches inside the post.

Following the criticism directed at the team in general and McGeady in particular in recent times, it was a finish that imparted a sense of viciousness. And the same could be said of the one Samaras provided later to extend the home side's advantage.

The Greece striker had been even more savagely treated by the supporters and the media for recent failures, but especially for the bad misses he perpetrated in the cup tie three days earlier. When Andreas Hinkel's impeccably measured cross from the right was met by Samaras almost on the penalty spot, he hit the header with such power that anyone who saw only the ball hurtle past Cameron Bell would have though it must have been the result of a shot. Samaras, too, clearly revelled in this change of fortune.

If the goals were a mild shock because of what had occurred in previous matches, they were entirely merited by Celtic's swarming superiority in this one. Kilmarnock were under pressure from the start, engaging in only the occasional forward skirmish.

The changes made by Jim Jefferies to Kilmarnock at half-time – David Fernández for Danny Invincibile and Garry Hay for Conor Sammon – reflected their need of more incisiveness in forward areas and they were almost rewarded within a few minutes of the personnel and tactical re-arrangement.

Kevin Kyle sent a low shot narrowly wide before becoming the recipient of a cross from Bryson, who had taken Jamie Hamill's pass on the right, and heading the ball just over from eight yards.

Tony Mowbray followed his rival later by replacing Scott McDonald and Paddy McCourt with Marc-Antoine Fortuné and McGinn, but it was McGeady who first took the attention when he was cautioned – not for the first time this season – for simulation under a challenge from James Fowler.

McGinn, however, became noticeable for a much more acceptable reason when he scored the third. Taking Hinkel's pass on the right side of the area, the Irishman drilled the ball low and true beyond Bell – the Kilmarnock goalkeeper having had an outstanding match – and into the far corner of his net.

[Jinty]

Sunday Telegraph



Celtic find home goal touch at last with three against Kilmarnock
By Roddy Forsyth

Celtic took the heat off themselves when they went four points clear of Rangers — who meet Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday — with a win over Kilmarnock at Parkhead.

The burden of a poor home record was at least partly cast off when Tony Mowbray’s players netted twice in the first half.

Mowbray made four changes to the side which lost to Hearts in the Co-operative Insurance Cup. Glenn Loovens, Paddy McCourt, Scott McDonald and Georgios Samaras all started.

There was an immediate bite to Celtic, especially when McCourt — whose single instinct was to make for goal — was on the ball. He committed defenders repeatedly, a ploy which made space for Aiden McGeady on the right edge of the box.

McGeady still had work to do but he left Craig Bryson for dead and thrashed an angled drive off the post and into the far corner. This was the first goal scored by a Celtic player on home turf in over four-and-a-half hours of football, but the Hoops fans were as pleased by the manner of their play as by the lead their team had gained.

Celtic were two to the good by the interval after Samaras met Andreas Hinkel’s perfect cross full on the forehead for a bulleted effort beyond Cameron Bell.

Jim Jefferies revitalised Killie with a couple of astute half-time substitutions and Kevin Kyle twice headed narrowly over from crosses from the right, but the result was beyond dispute when Niall McGinn cut through the inside-right channel to score his first goal for Celtic with a precise angled shot. Celtic’s dominance was so emphatic that the Kilmarnock box resembled a shooting gallery for spells at a time.

[Jinty]

The Independent


Showman Samaras keeps Celtic sizzling
By Richard Wilson at Celtic Park

On days like these we see what Celtic might yet become under Tony Mowbray. They attacked with an often carefree ambition, disregarding so much of their caution as though it was needless baggage. But then we also saw a gathering of those weaknesses that still leave the manager's vision incomplete.

Early on, Celtic created chances as though they might come as easily as acts of the imagination. Kilmarnock were left anxious and their afternoon seemed suddenly alarming when Aiden McGeady skipped so innocently past Frazer Wright in the 13th minute that he left the defender on his backside before lashing a rising shot beyond Cameron Bell.

This might have been a heady display by Celtic if they did not leave so many of their chances unfulfilled. A carelessness can gather around the best of their work, so that Scott McDonald failed to reach Georgios Samaras's cross, Paddy McCourt drove wide and McDonald shot straight at the keeper Bell from close range. There is often an over-elaboration to Samaras, as if he is beguiled by the thought of himself as a showman, but he was measured enough to eventually convert a second goal with an emphatic header from Andreas Hinkel's cross on 32 minutes.

"We controlled the game and created numerous chances," said the home manager Mowbray. "And we scored a few goals, which makes it a bit easier for everybody."

Having displayed so much of their capacity to thrill in the opening half-hour, Celtic then became strangely subdued. The home defenders allowed the big Kilmarnock striker Kevin Kyle enough licence to head wide from inside the six-yard box just before the interval, then send three headers over the bar in the second half.

These, though, were only brief acts of retort and the home side restored enough of their intent to add a third before the end, when Hinkel released Niall McGinn through the middle and the winger drove a hefty shot past Bell.

There would have been more goals had Bell and his beleaguered defenders not cleared off the line three times in a flurried late spell of Celtic attacking.