For once the goals of Kris Commons were overlooked as Celtic beat Hibs 4-0 at Easter Road.
For an hour or so the big build-up from Terry Butcher was justified as the Edinburgh side pushed and probed at Celtic putting the clean-sheet record under pressure.
Two months after Niall McGinn equalised for Aberdeen at Parkhead the Celtic defence found that they had work to do but restricted Hibs to mainly long range efforts.
Behind the defence Fraser Forster was in top form, growing in confidence as the match developed almost daring the Hibs forwards to hit him with their best efforts.
After 66 minutes Sam Stanton looked to have made the breakthrough. Creating space for himself inside the penalty box he gave it everything with a left foot shot aimed at the postage stamp corner.
The Hibs support were almost out of their seats to greet an equaliser but from almost nowhere Forster threw a hand at the ball and pushed it round the woodwork for a corner.
That moment seemed to break Hibs’ resolve. Ten minutes later as they moaned over a booking for Michael Nelson they lost concentration as Virgil van Dijk put another stamp onto his cv.
The calmest defender in Scotland stepped up to take a 25 yard free kick and with minimal effort clipped the ball over the wall and under the crossbar to double Celtic’s lead.
A few minutes later substitute Teemu Pukki got in on the act with a blistering diagonal shot past Williams from a Joe Ledley pass as the away fans celebrated while the home supporters started to shuffle home.
In the final minute Pukki was barged to the ground by Alan Mayburry with Commons doing a Tommy Gemmell impersonation as he smashed the ball into the net.
With two home matches against Kilmarnock and St Mirren over the coming week Celtic can stretch their lead at the top of the table as title number three starts to come within sight.
Fraser the razor makes a great save after a close shave. I rave then go back to my cave.
Haw haw haw
Drawkcab,
NO MORE,PLEASE !!
You are destroying Joe’s great blogs.
Let the hangover,wear off.Go back to
your cave/bed.
Shall I just peter out …..
Haw haw haw
Let me tell you this professor Pete.
My hero gorgeous georgios is getting a 3 year contract.
Yeeha
That’s right,Joe,title No.3,should be secured by end of March.
Gritty performance,except Samaras.
With 5 days to go,in the window,where is
this quality target man we need for the
CL qualifiers ?
Sami’s time is up.Can’t hold a ball up,and
is woeful in the air.4 goals in the league,
big Virgil has 4.
A strong front man,who can bring the
midfield into play,and then get on the
end of crosses is a major priority.
Watch Lawwell,make excuses,we nearly
pushed a deal through for so and so.
More like we will get Miku,an imposter in
our iconic No.7 jersey,back on loan.
Anybody agree ? disagree ?
Miku is not coming back.
I was chatting to him in a chippie on paisley road west the other night.
He said he didn’t feel appreciated by some of the support but is glad he came to Glasgow as otherwise he would never have met Aggie.
Agree Peter,
Sammy I’m afraid has turned into a passenger and IMO he must go in this transfer window to save a bit of credibility that in fairness he has earned with us. Apart from his poor performance yesterday his body language is shocking.
If Pukki, who still has a lot of convincing to do can out perform Sammy in every dept then I think the game is up.
First bid for Leigh Griffiths has been rejected, he’s not the Hollywood signing we all want but I definitely wouldn’t mind at all to add him to our squad.
Like Johansen I hope the have another cheeky wee surprise for us.
Hail hail
I agree about big Sammy, he has served us well over his time here but he has had a more than decent career internationally and with us. It is time for his sake to see another fresh challenge. Without doubt a great player.