Celtic 2, Ajax 1

Well, we’re off and running.

A 2-1 win at Celtic Park gave Celtic the much needed kick start to this years campaign, but for what seemed like a very long time, they struggled to get going. The must win nature of the game made the players a little nervous, and in turn that meant they struggled to control the ball effectively.

Passes were over hit, challenges not quite right, and then there was the  usual panic any time they got into the final third.

The had working Teemu Pukki and Anthony Stokes struggled to make any sort of space for themselves, and even the talismanic Georgios Samaras couldn’t seem to make headway , with his runs looking less and less dangerous as the first half wore on.

The two in the middle with two wingers meant that Ajax had more possession than was comfortable, but they too, seemed to be a little nervous, especially with manager Frank de Boer frowning from the sidelines.

As the first half wore on , it seemed that both teams would have been happy to go into a break level, but when Anthony Stokes surged towards the bye line and was knocked down in mid flight, Celtic finally got a break in this campaign, and after a spot of gamesmanship by the Dutch defence, which led to bookings for veteran Christian Poulsen and Celtics Virgil van Dijk.

The Ajax keeper decided to complain about the positioning of the ball, then he wandered around for a bit moaning, incredibly escaping a booking. The Croatian ref, who could quite easily be mistaken for a product of the Largs Academy, seemed to miss all this, and helped James Forrest to reposition the ball.  Forrest , though, kept his head, avoided injury , and fired in Celtics opener.

Cue relief. A lot of relief.

The second half saw Celtic increase their lead when Beram Kayal, who had a great game in the middle of the park, saw a specualtive shot-all his shots are speculative- hit a couple of defenders and land in the bottom corner of the net. From being a very nervous team, Celtic became a very surprised team.

Whilst that would have been a perfect time to bring on Joe Ledley, for perhaps the ineffective Samaras, who was having one of those games, or the tiring ,but hard working Pukki or  Stokes, Kayal, after hitting a couple of shots at the keeper, was the man withdrawn, which brought back the nerves.

Manager Lennon seemed to get caught up in this when he decided to bring on Nir Bitton for Mikael Lustig, just as Celtic prepared to defend a potentially dangerous free kick, but after consulting his Basic Coaching manual, he changed his mind. However, the referee and fourth official said he couldn’t, and Lustig, who had been excellent up until that point, was made to leave the field. Nir Bitton came on, the free kick was cleared, and then, in an attempt to get into the spirit of things, an over-enthusiastic challenge by the Israeli got him an early bath, before it could be argued that he needed one.

Eleven minutes he was on the pitch. Mark Burchill once scored a hat trick in less time than that.

So, down to the customary ten men, it wasn’t long before Celtic conceded the customary late goal. every one switched off and allowed the Ajax forwards time and space to tee up a shot from the edge of the box, and Fraser Forster could only watch it fly past him, which is what he usually does when it looks easier to save it. Hopefully, it won’t come to a head to head, because that goal could prove costly.

There was barely time to re-start, and  it finished 2-1. Its three points, giving Celtic a total of three, and putting them into third above their opponents in the table.  ( see what I did there ? )

Three games to go ( okay, thats enough threes-ed ), the first of which is the return in Amsterdam two weeks tomorrow. Given Celtics performance in Milan, you have to fancy at least a draw. A win would set us up nicely to beat the Italians  at Celtic Park after that, and suddenly we would be in pole position to qualify in second place, which didn’t seem at all likely this morning.

There were several candidates for man of the match, all of the defence are in with a shout, but Beram Kayal showed that he can still reach the heights of a couple of years ago, and with just a wee bit more discipline he could finally get his Celtic career back on track.

His was the stand out performance, but special mention has to go to Virgil van Dijk, who was the best of a good bunch at the back.

James Forrest had his moments, and as he gets back to full fitness he will be  vital as Celtic attempt to turn this campaign around, and do you know what ?

I think we might just do it.