MATCH 1502 - Saturday, 2nd February 2013

Season: 2012/13
FA PREMIERSHIP
Venue:  MADEJSKI STADIUM

                           

 

READING    2    SUNDERLAND    1

Scorers:  Kebe(2);  Gardiner

 

What a trek to get to this one.  Left Airdrie at 9pm on Friday to catch overnight coach to London from Glasgow Buchanan Street.  Got to London at 7am.  Freezing cold so a warm bacon roll and tea from the BreadBox in Victoria Train Station was very welcome.  Headed to the Emirates and had a stroll around the outside of it before returning to Victorua Bus Station to get the 11 o'clock bus to somewhere near Reading, Calcot to be precise.  Made a mistake of getting another bus into Reading City Centre rather than waiting on a football special F20 or F21 from Sainsbury bus interchange.  Took the matchday special from near the Railway Station and eventually reached my 79th stadium just before 2pm.

My son Daniel is the big Sunderland fan and we had targetted this fixture from the begining of the season as a possible awayday.  Getting a ticket to any Sunderland away match is seldom easy so we were surprised that the tickets did go on general sale and we were indeed able to purchase two from Sunderland.

Reading fans were very friendly and were keen to ask how far we had travelled and how long it took.  The stadium was a typical new build very neat and tidy and we had a terrific corner viw from our double A seats in the away section.

The match was decent with both teams going for the win but on the day Sunderland were not at their best in front of goal and paid for their inability to convert a number of very good second half chances as Reading scored a late winner.

Our return journey time was 15 hours but all in all well worth it.

 

 

 

 

from earlier in the day....

Personal note:
1st visit to Madejski Stadium
1st time seeing Reading FC
25th Sunderland match
201st match not featuring Celtic

 

 

 

MATCH 1501 - Wednesday, 30th January 2013

Season:  2012/13
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    4    KILMARNOCK    1

Scorers:  Ledley, Matthews(2), Stokes;  Sheridan

 

For the third home match in a row Celtic score four times.  Adam Matthews was the most impressive player on the night scoring twice (his first goals at Celtic Park).  His fellow Welsh teammate Joe Ledley was also on target.  As was Anthony Stokes for the first time this season.

 

Personnel note:

 

MATCH 1500 - Sunday, 27th January 2013

Season:  2012/13
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP - Semi Final
Venue: HAMPDEN PARK

                  

CELTIC    2    ST MIRREN    3

Hooper, Mulgrew; Goncalves, McGowan, Thompson

Big milestone in matches and another big let down in the League Cup for Celtic.  

Personnel note:

1500th match

1300th Celtic match

60th St Mirren match



MATCH 1499 - Tuesday, 22nd January 2013

Season:  2012/13
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    4    DUNDEE UNITED    0

Scorers: Hooper(2), Wanyama, Brown

 

 

On form Celts too good for United on a very bitterly cold night in Glasgow.  

MATCH 1498 - Saturday 19th January 2013

Season: 2012/13
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

                       

CELTIC     4     HEARTS     1

Scorers: Hooper(2), Samaras, Lassad
 

 
Celtic and Hooper's first goal
 

After two weekends off Celtic were quick out of the blocks to race into a two goal lead very early in the match.  They were until able to finish Hearts off with a third and although Hearts rarely threatened they managed to half the lead through a defected shot mid way through the second half.  Celtic did respond and upped their game and eventually in the last five minutes the scored another brace of goals to record a very convincing victory.

Prior to the match there was a minutes applause for Sean Fallon who died on Friday aged 90.

 

 

Celtic

• 24 Zaluska
• 02 Matthews (Lassad)
• 03 Izaguirre
• 21 Mulgrew
• 23 Lustig
• 08 Brown
• 15 Commons (Rogne)
• 16 Ledley (Kayal)
• 67 Wanyama
• 09 Samaras
• 88 Hooper

Heart of Midlothian

• 01 MacDonald
• 04 Wilson
• 05 Barr
• 06 Webster
• 29 McHattie
• 10 Taouil (Carrick)
• 11 Driver
• 15 Holt
• 19 McGowan (Tapping)
• 09 Sutton
• 33 Paterson (Walker)

Att: 48,374

Personal note:
Celtic 1298
Hearts 101
Celtic v Hearts 97

MATCH 1497 - Saturday, 5th January 2013

Season:  2012/13
FA Cup 3rd ROUND
Venue:  REEBOK STADIUM

                        

BOLTON WANDERERS    2    SUNDERLAND    2

Scorers: Chung-Yong Lee, Sordell;  Wickham, Gardiner

My first FA Cup match since January 2000 - when Carlisle took on Arsenal - and due to some dire defending by Sunderland it turned into a pretty good match.  Just after half time Bolton went two nil up which spurred the Black Cats into action.  However Bolton's stand in keeper, Lonergan had a stand out performance and denied Sunderland several times before substitute, Conor Wickham give them a lifeline.  

Eventually Sunderland's pressure was rewarded with an equaliser - a cracking effort from the edge of the box from Gardiner - with 15 minutes to go. 

Although there were only 12,000 at the match Sunderland took up their full allocation filling one end of the Reebok. 

Our seats were excellent - middle of the top tier behind the goal in which three of the goals went in.

Bolton Wanderers

• 24 Lonergan 03 Alonso 12 Knight 18 Ricketts 23 Riley (Mears) 08 Andrews 10 Petrov 21 Pratley 27 Lee 09 Ngog (Eagles) 19 Sordell (K Davies)

Sunderland

• 22 Mignolet,  02 Bardsley,  19 Bramble,  24 Cuellar (Wickham),  Rose (Colback),  07 Larsson,    08 Gardner,  15 Vaughan,  21 Johnson,  23 McClean,  26 Fletcher

Attendance:
12,204

Football Focus - 100 CELTIC-MOTHERWELL Matches

CELTIC v MOTHEREWELL

Matches:  100

Breakdown

Celtic wins:   59
Motherwell wins:  17
Draws:           24

Competitions:
Scottish Premier League:  90
Scottish Cup:                        7
Scottish League Cup:          3

Venues:
Celtic Park:      54 (SPL 53; LC 1)
Fir Park:           37 (SPL 35; SC 2)
Hampden Park:  9 (SPL 2; SC 5; LC 2)

First meeting:
20 Nov 1982 - Celtic Park
CELTIC  3  MOTHERWELL  1

Finals (1):
2010 Scottish Cup - Celtic 3  Motherwell 0
Scorers: Ki, O.G., Mulgrew

MATCH 1496 - Wednesday, 2nd January 2013

Season:  2012/13
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

*** MY 100th MATCH BETWEEN THESE SIDES ***

                       

CELTIC    1    MOTHERWELL    0

Scorer:  Hooper

Classic match in which both teams play to their strengths.  Celtic started strongly but were unable to take any of their early changes.  However it wasn't until late in the match that the main drama unfolded.  Motherwell were awarded a penalty with under 15 minutes to go.  Jamie Murphy who was playing his last for Well impressed throughout the match and when he went down in the box referee McLean very willingly gave the spot kick.  Not for the first time Fraser Forster was a hero for Celtic pulling off a great save with the score all square. 

The save inspired Celtic and minutes later Hooper slotted home a cross to give them victory. 




Forster saves penalty

Celtic: Forster; Matthews, Ambrose (Rogne), Wilson, Izaguirre, Commons (McGeouch), Kayal (Watt), Wanyama, Mulgrew, Samaras, Hooper.

Motherwell: Randolph, Hateley, Kerr, Ramsden, Hammell, Humphrey, Law, Lasley, Francis-Angol (Daley), Ojamaa (McHugh), Murphy.

Attendance 48,000



 

FLASH BACK - MATCH 50 - 2nd January 1983

Season:  1982/83
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  IBROX STADIUM (1st visit)

RANGERS    1    CELTIC    2

Scorers: Dalziel;  McStay, Nicholas

My first visit to Ibrox Stadium and Celtic's young guns Paul McStay and Charlie Nicholas insure it is a memorable day.  The highlight is a truely wonderful strike from Nicholas.  He glided past the Rangers defence then curled a great shot out of the reach of Stewart in the Rangers goal, before running to the Celtic support and doing a little slow motion run.

This was my third Old Firm match and the third win for Celtic.  The Celtic fans occupied two thirds of the ground in the Main Stand, Main Stand enclosure, Broomloan Road Stand and a few sections of the Govan Stand.

Match 1495 - Saturday, 29th December 2012

Season:  2012/13
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  EASTER ROAD STADIUM

***  SHOCK WIN FOR HIBS  ***

              

HIBERNIAN    1     CELTIC     0

Scorer:  Griffiths

What a difference a Saturday afternoon 3pm kick off time and no television coverage makes to a game of football.  Easter Road was almost fill in contrast to last years corresponding fixtures that I attended.

I've said before that Leigh Griffiths is the best player in Scotland outside of Celtic Park and he continued his terrific season by scoring the only goal of this encounter to the delight of the big Hibs support.

It was a wet miserable afternoon and Celtic's play mirrored the weather.

Easter Road is my favourite ground in Scotland (bar one exception) since the completion of the steep single tier East Stand therefore it was great to witness it almost full and the atmosphere it and a memorable win created even if it was at the expense of Celtic.
 

Hibernian:

01 Williams;  02 Clancy (Maybury);  04 Hanlon;  06 McPake;  07 Deegan;  08 Claros;  11 Cairney;

16 Stevenson;  20 Taiwo (Handling );  09 Griffiths (Wotherspoon); 10 Doyle

Celtic:

01 Forster;  03 Izaguirre;  04 Ambrose (McGeouch);  06 Wilson;  23 Lustig;  25 Rogne (Kayal)

08 Brown;  67 Wanyama;  09 Samaras;  11 Nouioui (McCourt); 88 Hooper

Attendance:

16,800