MATCH 1580 - Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Season:  2014/15
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP - Quarter Final
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    6    PARTICK THISTLE    0

Scorers:  Guidetti(3), Izagurrie, Griffiths(2)

MATCH 1579 - Sunday, 26 October 2014

SEASON:  2014/15
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    2    KILMARNOCK    0

Scorers:  Guidetti, Scepovic

MATCH 1577 - Thursday, 23 October 2014

SEASON: 2014/15
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE Group Stage
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    2    FC ASTRA    1

Scepovic, Johansen;  Enache

MATCH 1576 - Sunday, 5 October 2014

SEASON:  2014/15
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue: CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    0    HAMILTON    1

Scorer: Crawford

Celtic's stop start season continued with another unexpected home defeated.  Hamilton arrived at Celtic Park ahead of Celtic in the title race and by the end of the game, after a well drilled performance, extended their lead over the champions and also claimed top spot in of the SPL.

MATCH 1575 - Thursday, 2 October 2014

SEASON:  2014/15
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - GROUP STAGE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    1    DINAMO ZAGREB    0

Scorer:  Commons

My 107th Celtic tie in European competition, the second v Dinamo Zagreb and like the previous encounter this one ended in a 1-0 Celtic victory.

It was a sublime Kris Commons goal gave which gave Celtic the victory in this Europa League tie.  However it was an inspired performance from Craig Gordon which prevented the Croatian side from taking something from the game.

MATCH 1574 - Saturday, 27 September 2014

SEASON:  2014/15
ENGLISH LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
Venue:  BLOOMFIELD ROAD

BLACKPOOL    1    NORWICH CITY    3

Scorers:  Delfouneso; O.G. (Daniels), Grabban, Murphy

Second bottom v Second top!

Third occasion watching Norwich since 2009 and their third win. After two 1-0 victories over Carlisle and Celtic this was a much better game and performance.  This one was achieved the hard way as they needed to come from behind after missing a number of good first half chances

With this victory Norwich went top of the league.
And Blackpool are now bottom!

Personal note:  10th Blackpool game since 1981, 8 of which at Bloomfield Road.

MATCH 1573 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014

SEASON:  2014/15
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP - 3rd ROUND
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    3    HEARTS    0

Scorers: Guidetti, Commons, O.G.

John Guidetti scored his first goal for Celtic against Championship Hearts.  Hearts missed a penalty at 1-0 and blew their chance to put Celtic under real pressure.

This was the 5th time I've attended this fixture in the League Cup and only the second win recorded by Celtic.

My previous ties between the sides:

1990 - Hearts 2 Celtic 2 (Celtic won on pens.)

1997 - Hearts 1 Celtic 0

2007 - Celtic 0 Hearts 2

2009 - Celtic 0 Hearts 1

MATCH 1572 - Sunday, 21 September 2014

SEASON: 2014/15
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    1    MOTHERWELL    1

Scorer:  Commons;  Sutton.

Celtic fans sing "we don't care if we win, lose or draw" but they do care when their team produce bad performances. Celtic are struggling badly at the moment and their stop start season continued with another disappointing display in their 6th SPL match of the season.  This time at home to a Motherwell side which has also had a poor start to their campaign.

A smartly taken goal by Chris Sutton's younger brother, John gave Motherwell the lead which they held until conceding a penalty midway through the second half.


Personal note:  12th match of the season, 112th Motherwell match overall.

MATCH 1571 - Saturday, 13 September 2014

SEASON:  2014/15
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC    2    ABERDEEN    1

Scorers:  Denayer, Commons;  Goodwillie

Three new Celts made their debuts - Aleksandar Tonev (Bulgaria) and Stefan Scepovic (Serbia) started the match while John Guidetti (Sweden) came on as a second half sub.
I thought Aberdeen would have been a bigger threat than proved to be the case.  It was until they were 2-0 down that they wakened up.
It was a small step in the right direction for Ronny Deila's side.



Personel note:  113th Match I've attended between the sides

MATCH 1570 - Saturday, 30 August 2014

SEASON:  2014/15
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION
Venue:  RECREATION PARK

ALLOA ATHLETIC    2    HIBERNIAN    1

Scorer:  Buchanan, Flannigan;  Cummings

My first visit to Alloa's Recreation Park and first time watching Hibs after over 100 matches in lower league football.

£18 pound for a trip back in time to how Scottish grounds used to be.  Primitive little grandstand and very basic terracing.  I booked my ticket through Hibernian and stood with their long suffering fans.  It wasn't a good afternoon for them.  There is free parking adjacent the away end of the ground and nearby fast food restaurants - KFC & McDonalds plus supermarket - Morrisons to meet most of the fans needs.

The plastic pitch looked fantastic but seemed to contribute to an ankle injury to Hibs centre forward, El Alagui just before half time.

After taking a deserved lead early in the match Hibs totally fell out of the game and gradually Alloa came more and more into it.  The winning goal was a very well taken free kick.  

Hibs have a group of players going nowhere and an inexperienced manager - not a good combination.

This was my 89th ground in total.

3rd Alloa match (3 different opponents).