MATCH 1652 - Saturday, 16 July 2016

SEASON:  2016/17
FRIENDLY
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    2    WOLFSBURG    1

Scorers: McGregor, Christie;  Caligiuri

My first Celtic match of my 37th season following Celtic and new manager, Brenden Rodgers first home match. 

Pre-match we headed into Glasgow to watch a little of the Homeless World Cup in George's Square. 

Personnel note: 

Wolfsburg the 8th different German side to visit Celtic Park

MATCH 1651 - Thursday, 14 July 2016

SEASON: 2016/17

QUALIFYING ROUND - 1st Leg

Venue:  EASTER ROAD STADIUM

Hibernian    0    Brøndby IF    1



Scorer:  Wilczek

I travelled through to Edinburgh to watch Hibs' reward for winning the Scottish Cup for the first time in over 100 years - a return to European football in the Europa League.  It was a lovely summers evening in the capital for what was also Neil Lennon's first match in charge of Hibernian.  Within 20 seconds his new side were behind due to a bad goalkeeping error however it didn't get any worse and Hibs were unlucky not to get something from the game as a dubious off side decision just before half time denied them an equalizer.


Link to:  Official UEFA.com stats

Brondby outside South Stand

 

Personal note:  143rd European tie, 1st Hibs tie & 1st time seeing Brondby - club no. 203



MATCH 1650 - Thursday, 7 July 2016

SEASON:  2016/17

QUALIFYING ROUND - 2nd leg

Venue:  BELLE VUE STADIUM



my ticket

BALA TOWN    0    AIK STOCKHOLM    2

Scorers:  Avdic, Strandberg

New season for me starts in Rhyl, North Wales with a UEFA Europa League qualifying tie.  The small compact all seater ground is the venue - a new ground to add to my list.

There was small but lively crowd of fans from Sweden and as previously experienced they were all friendly and well behaved.

AIK fans

Having won the first leg 2-0 AIK completed their overall victory with another 2-0 win on the night, which saw them progress 4-0 on aggregate. 

The pre-match line up

Personal note: New ground no. 96 and two new clubs nos. 201 & 202

Link to:  Official UEFA.com stats

MATCH 1649 - Sunday, 15 May 2016

Season:  2015/16
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    7    MOTHERWELL    0

Scorers: Tierney, Rogic, Lustig, Armstrong, Roberts, Christie, Aitchison

A fitting way to end the season, a stunning seven goal performance with seven different scorers.  Ronny Deila brief two year stint as manager at least came to a happy ending.  While Jack Aitchison career began with a goal immediately after coming on as a second half substitute.

Personnel note: 14th complete season in a row without missing a home match

43 matches for this season including 36 Celtic games

MATCH 1648 - Sunday, 8 May 2016

Season:  2015/16
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue: CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    3    ABERDEEN    2

Scorers: Roberts(2), Lustig;  McGinn, Considine

Celtic wrapped up their 5th title in a row by beating their main challengers, Aberdeen.  The match perfectly summed up the season with Celtic racing into a three goal lead but unable to keep up their dominance as Aberdeen hit back with two goals and just like their league challenge they just fell short on they day of taking something from the match.

Personnel note:  120th Aberdeen all but two against Celtic.

MATCH 1647 - Tuesday, 3 May 2016

Season:  2015/16
SCOTTISH LEAGUE 1 PLAY-OFF 1st Leg
Venue:  BROADWOOD STADIUM (4)

CLYDE    3    ELGIN CITY    1

Scorers: Gemmell, Linton, McLaughlin;  MacLeod

My first Elgin City match making them the 200th club I've seen.

Unfortunately the side that tried to play some football lost the first leg of this Play-off, in part due to the performance of the three officials who ranged from hopeless to homers.

Maybe in the return leg the chosen ref will equally favour the home side.

MATCH 1646 - Sunday, 24 April 2016

Season: 2015/16
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    1    ROSS COUNTY    1
Scorers:  Griffiths;  Murdoch

My 40th match of the season

MATCH 1645 - Sunday, 17 April 2016

SEASON 2015/16
SCOTTISH CUP SEMI FINAL
Venue: HAMPDEN PARK

CELTIC    2    RANGERS*    2

Scorers: Sviatchenko, Rogic;  Miller, Mckay

For the second time this season Celtic fail to get past the semi final stage of a domestic cup.

39th match of season.

MATCH 1644 - Sunday, 10 April 2016

Season:  2015/16
ENGLISH FA PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  STADIUM OF LIGHT (25)

The mark of champions

SUNDERLAND    0    LEICESTER CITY    2

Scorers:  Vardy(2)

The remarkable story of Leicester City's march to being the Champions of England continued at the Stadium of Light with a performance worthy of champions.  Going to a difficult venue and playing a team fighting for their lives they controlled the match from first to last touch of the ball, when Vardy rolled in the second in the fifth minute of injury time.

This was our first visit of the season to the Stadium of Light. We drove down and thankfully the Sunday morning traffic was kind to us with no hold UPS on M74 or A69.  We arrived at 11.15am and parked in the waste ground behind the east of the stadium, at no cost.

This was our 25th visit to SOL and it's always a great occasion watching Premier League football at Sunderland.  They continue to offer the best value of all Premier League clubs to watch top league football - from £25 for most matches - therefore it will be a shame if they lose their top flight club status.  Unfortunately on the field they are not so great, struggling to score goals and are currently in the relegation zone with only five game remaining.

Only my second time watching Leicester, the first was 32 years ago at Ibrox of all places when Gary Lineker was in their team!  Hopefully they can complete their fairytale story with three more wins.

THE TEAMS ENTER THE ARENA

FULL STADIUM AT KICK OFF

EMPTY STADIUM AT FULL TIME

LEICESTER FANS LIVING THE DREAM

BUS CONVOY FROM LEICESTER

MATCH 1643 - Saturday, 2 April 2016

Season:  2015/16
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    3    HEARTS    1

Scorers: Mackay-Steven, Roberts(2);  Walker

This was the first home match in four weeks so everyone was up for it.  Hearts took the initiative early on and managed to get in front with a cracking strike from outside the box. 

However before half time Celtic had fought back to turn the match around with two excellent strikes the first from Gary Mackay-Steven and then Patrick Roberts scored his first ever competitive goal.

Early in the second half Roberts completed the scoring to send Celtic seven points clear in title race.

Personal note:  32nd Celtic match of the season including 3 against Hearts.