Celtic 2-1 Livingston

Celtic maintained their four point lead at the top of SPL after winning a needlessly tense match at home to struggling Livingston. A late winner by Shunsuke Nakamura prevented the Bhoys from dropping more points at Celtic Park to one of the bottom sides in the table. The victory stretches Celtic's lead over third placed Hibs to eleven points and opens up a massive seventeen point gap to fifth placed Rangers.

There was a delay of approximately 45 minutes due to a power failure around Celtic Park which left the freezing crowd a bit flat. Many fans were unable to enter the arena until the problem had been rectified. However, the mood inside the staduim was lifted when new signing Roy Keane made an appearance on the pitch minutes before kick-off. The Irishman was given a great reception and the Celtic faithful can't wait to see Keane makes his first appearance in the hoops against Clyde in the Scottish Cup in January.

Celtic started brightly and were left frustrated after strong penalty appeals following Maloney's trip in the box were waved away by the referee. Celtic really should have taken the lead shortly afterwards but the disappointing John Hartson mis-kicked from close range when Maloney set him up with a cut-back from the byline.

Livingston striker Paul Dalglish, son of Celtic legend Kenny Dalglish, came close to giving Paul Lambert's side an early lead following a bit of quality in the ninth minute. Dalglish beat a few Celtic defenders in a tremendous run before Artur Boruc pulled off a fine save from the angled shot.

Livi keeper Roddy McKenzie then fortuitously saved a close-range drive from Maloney with his left foot before the Celtic striker missed with a header from the rebound. The Scottish International had done everything right and was unfortunate not to open the scoring. Celtic continued to press and on the half hour mark McKenzie again saved a Maloney shot from close range with his feet.

However, in the 38th minute the league leaders finally went ahead. Strong recklessly pulled down Maloney in the penalty area and the impressive striker picked himself up to score from the spot-kick. It was a great penalty as despite the keeper guessing the correct way, McKenzie had no chance as the ball found the top left hand corner. It was a fine strike and no more than Celtic deserved at this stage.

Moments before the interval Maloney again tested McKenzie with a powerful shot but the keeper parried clear. As the half-time whistle blew there was little evidence to show that the expected victory was in any doubt.

A different Celtic team took to the field for the second-half and started slowly. And just before the hour mark Celtic Park was stunned as Livingston were gifted the equalising goal. Bobo Balde tried to walk the ball out of his own penalty area and despite getting away with his first error, the big stopper continued to attempt taking on the Livingston strike-force before he was robbed by Almondvale striker Robert Snodgrass. The ball broke to the lurking Dalglish and the Livi striker showed the composure of his old man and found the net with a powerful drive from the edge of the box. The striker found the bottom left-hand corner, giving Boruc no chance in the Celtic goal.

In the 74th minute, Strachan made a strange decision as he brought on debutant Michael McGlinchey for the dissapointing Aiden McGeady despite having the likes of Pearson, Virgo and Thompson on the bench. The youngster then missed a glorious chance to become an instant hero four minutes later, firing wide from close range with the goal at his mercy.

The decision to bring on Virgo as well with only five minutes to go also raised a few eyebrows as Strachan certainly didn't give the versatile player much time to have any real influence on the outcome of the game.

Celtic continued to struggle to break down the strong Livi backline and so it took a piece of individual magic to get Celtic out of jail late in the day. Nakamura picked up a Paul Telfer pass before jinking past a couple of tackles before firing a tremendous shot from a tight angle from 18 yards. It was a magestic finish and could prove a vital goal when we look at the standings in May. As the final whistle you could sense the relief all around the staduim as it was certainly not a vintage display from the Bhoys.

It was a lacklustre performance today by Celtic as they struggled to get any rythmn in their play and many players had an off-day. The defence looked fragile at best with Telfer, Wallace and Balde having a nightmare at times. They were all wasteful in possession and Balde's error that lead to the goal could have been very costly. Petrov struggled to influence the game in the midfield and McGeady had a day he would like to forget about. Hartson didn't break sweat and so the comfortable win many expected did not come to fruition.


Celtic: (4-4-2)

Boruc

Telfer Balde McManus Wallace(Virgo 85)

Nakamura Petrov Lennon McGeady(McGlinchey 73)

Hartson Maloney

Subs Not Used: Marshall, Du Wei, Camara, Thompson, Pearson.


Livingston: McKenzie, Vincze, Strong, Mackay, Tierney, Walker (McPake 83), Brittain, Pinxten, Dair, Dalglish(Dorado 87), Snodgrass(Scott 83).

Subs Not Used: Tesevic, Adam, Roy, Boyd.


Referre: John Underhill


Att: 57,000