Celtic made it three away wins in eight days by beating Hibs 2-1 at Easter Road.
After winning in Rotterdam it was always going to be a tough challenge at Easter Road- made tougher by the performance of referee Nick Walsh.
Two goals midway through the first half by Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels seemed to give Celtic a winning cushion.
Engels bravely headed in from a Yang Hyun-jun cross and took a boot in the face from Jamie McGrath.
The Hibs midfielder booted Engels full on in the face, cutting his nose with treatment.
Walsh instantly handed out a yellow card, VAR decided against taking further action.
Since November 2 there has been a constant campaign to have players sent off for any head contact. McGrath knew what he was doing and swung his boot at an opponent to scare him off.
? “The bravery from Engels, absolutely tremendous!”
The Belgian doubles Celtic’s lead over Hibs MOMENTS after their first ?? pic.twitter.com/VbYaBt8WA8
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) November 30, 2025
In the second half Walsh went into overdrive with Hibs given free kicks on demand.
After 54 minutes he was called to the monitor to review an incident in the Celtic penalty box. No one was surprised when he returned to point to the penalty spot. Martin Boyle pulled a goal back.
With more than half an hour to play Celtic were in for a battle.
Hibs were given a succession of free kicks in the final third of the pitch to test the Celtic goal.
When Rocki Bashiri deliberately head butted Yang no penalty was awarded.
After five minutes of stoppage time the final whistle blew.
Celtic are two points behind with a game in hand. Walsh will be back on duty at Boclair Academy tomorrow, working on the fitness and education of the Murray Park starlets.
On Wednesday Celtic are at home to Dundee in what is expected to be Martin O’Neill’s final match as interim manager.
Compare and contrast that award today with the Livingston one last week.Scottish football rotten to the core.
Only 60% possession today for us according to the stats but still TWICE as many fouls committed than Hibs.
Seems this “game management” is the norm for most of the MiB.
Gotta be honest, Iv’e watched the pen incident quite a few times and Scales does loon as though he lifts his arm just at the end cos he thinks its goin past him, pen for me.
Agree he lifts his arm but thought it was above tee shirt line
It’s going to keep on happening as long as Celtic say nothing about it
What happened to the above the t-shirt line rule?
It looked to me like it came off his shoulder
On Wednesday Celtic are at home to Dundee not hearts
Great result at a dodgy ground to go to , Walsh is a cheating bassa
Going off track here Joe .
Where the f*ck is our CEO to tell us what’s going on with Nancy ?
Why is he hiding and getting MON to tell us the score
What is this guy doing to get the money he’s on