Celtic won the first leg of their Second Qualifying round tie with Icelandic champions Stjarnan last night 2-0, which should relax the players a little going into next weeks return game.

Ronny Deila surprised a few of us by picking Nadir Ciftci ahead of Leigh Griffiths, the plan being for him to rough them up and wear them out, allowing Leigh Griffiths to finish them off. It would have worked, but Celtic seemed to wear themselves out a little and early in the second half, Stjarnan came into it a litttle more, despite having conceded a goal just before half time to a Deydrick Boyata header.

Stefan Johansens second won the game, and to be honest, should secure the tie. Stjarnan had their moments, but they were too few and too far apart to suggest they have an extra gear somewhere.

However, thats not to encourage complacency, but there’s no real reason to worry.

Celtic went for a patient approach, and created a number of chances, which could have increased the score, but whoever is in charge of striker coaching has drummed into the players to aim for the centre of the goal, which is usually where the keeper is, and so we saw an awful lot of shots which he didn’t have to move for. As keepers generally tend not to move out of the way of goalbound efforts, this is something that needs working on.

Nadir Ciftci could have had a couple, but , along with most of the team, the sharpness needed is still not quite there, but it will come.

Stjarnan , who played with everyone behind the ball , did break away once or twice, and perhaps the hero of the hour in stopping an away goal was substitute Efe Ambrose, who took a booking when he blocked Hansen, who was on his way goalward at quite a pace.

Thankfully, that was the only card picked up, and credit must go to Scott Brown, who led by example, supporting both defence and attack, with a disciplined performance that made him my man of the match, though at the stadium it went to Stuart Armstrong, which surprised a few. Including Stuart Armstrong.

Nir Biton and Mikael Lustig put in more than decent shifts, and Stefan Johansen looked lively, but again that sharpness isn’t there yet, so a few tackles were mistimed, a few instances of mislaid passes and a couple of wrong balls were evident, but nothing to worry about, and nothing entirely unexpected.

For most of the game, the team pressed high up, and prevented any break outs by Stjarnan, although the pace did affect our own, but then came the realisation we were ahead, so we didn’t need to chase the ball so much, and there did creep in an element of slackness, but everything was pretty much under control, so no harm was done.

Before the game, most of us would have been happy with a two goal lead, and nothing conceded, and yes, maybe it could have been more, but three goals from Stjarnan without reply ?

It’s not going to happen unless we allow it to.

They’ll have to venture out of their own half to do that, and I’m fairly confident that will leave enough space for Celtic to ad to their tally over there.

Ronny Deila echoed the tone of the win afterwards, when he admitted we should have scored more;

“Two-nil is a good result but I hoped we could finish them off. We had chances to win more but we were not effective enough.

“In the end, I’m a little bit disappointed that we didn’t score more. But it’s good we have a clean sheet and two goals to go on. We will have a good preparation for next Wednesday and we have a very good chance to make the next stage.

“We deserved to win but we could also have scored more. They also had one or two chances and it was good they didn’t score. I’m happy but I’m not too excited.

“There were a lot things we are used to. They played very deep, with 10 men 40 yards from their goal. But that’s football, some teams need to do that and it was hard for us.”

The manager also cleared up a little mystery surrounding Gary Mackay Steven, who was picked to start, but replaced by James Forrest in the eleven that kicked off.

“He started the warm-up and felt stiffer and his stiffer in his groin, so we took no chances with him. He should be fine for next week”  

He felt his stiffer in his groin ?

If Gary Mackay Steven is noted for his constant smiling , then he has his opposite in Deydrick Boyata. The big Belgian should have been happy with his lot, having played well and scored the opener, but he went down with cramp late on, and had to be pulled off.

“It was my first game and I wanted to show as much as possible and it was disappointing when I had to come off.

“Even if we had scored four or five goals it would still not have put me in a good mood. I could score 10 goals in a game but if I have to come out of the match then it’s still disappointing.

“The cramp is something I’m not happy with because I wanted to finish the match. It hasn’t put me in a good mood.” 

Still, at least he won’t have to worry about being invited to a round of CSC end of year dances to do after dinner speeches.

Manager Ronny Deila said that it wasn’t surprising he got cramp, as he had hardly played a competitive game over the last few years, but that didn’t really cheer Boyata up;

 “He’s probably right. I hope to get this sorted really quickly, in terms of my fitness. Hopefully it will not take long because our competitive games have already started.

“I feel tired but I’m happy with the win. It was an important victory but there are still 90 minutes to play.

“It’s always a good feeling to score and I try to do my best to help the team. It’s a plus for a defender if you can score and to find the net right before half-time was a boost for us.” 

It’ll happen. Don’t panic.

There was a little confusion over who should take the second half penalty Celtic were awarded, Johansen thinking it would be him, as nominated kicker Griffiths wasn’t in the starting eleven, and perhaps you could argue it was all a bit childish, though it did give Craig Swan in the Record something to stick his teeth into. a shame really, as the rest of the Reocrds coverage was quite  positive.

Silly Bhoy: Celtic boss Ronny Deila slams

Stefan Johansen over penalty squabble that overshadowed Stjarnan

win.

It didn’t “overshadow ” it at all.

RONNY DEILA wants an explanation from Stefan Johansen after another spot-kick squabble overshadowed Celtic’s win over Stjarnan.

The Norwegian boss was annoyed at his countryman for his part in the needless incident which happened with 16 minutes left of the 2-0 win.

Johansen grabbed the ball to take the penalty after he was decked in the box, only for sub Leigh Griffiths to intervene and pull rank.

Griffiths, who Deila confirmed after the match was the nominated taker, won the battle but was unsettled and saw his effort blocked by Stjarnan No.1 Gunnar Nielsen.

Deila was upset as the chance to go 3-0 up before the second leg was lost.

But he was even more irked at another pointless incident which still seemed to be upsetting the striker at the final whistle. 

What upset Griffiths is that the keeper saved his kick. It was a very good save as well, so although Griffiths didn’t score, maybe due to the extra pressure on him, it’s worth remembering that it was more down to what the keeper did than what Griffiths didn’t.

Ronny wasn’t raging, but he did make it clear there would be np repeat of the incident.

 “It should be very clear. Leigh Griffiths was to take the penalties.

“That’s something we have to get out the way.

“It’s happened before but that’s hopefully the last time because that’s nothing about being professional or a team. We shouldn’t fight about a penalty.

“It affected Leigh. It put extra pressure on him.

“Everyone knows when you have a penalty, the longer you wait, the more chance there is of missing.

“I don’t know why Stefan did that. But 3-0 is a different result from 2-0 so it’s clear that we’d be in a better position had we scored another goal.”  

Fair enough.

Although if you read the Daily Mail, you’d think that Johansen was still in the bowels of Celtic Park undegoing a bit of waterboarding and a rub down with sandpaper;

Elsewhere in the qualifiers, Dinamo Zagreb were held 1-1 at home by Fola Esch, of Luxembourg, and BATE Borisov, who always seem to qualify, could only beat Dundalk 2-1 at home.

Taken in that context, a 2-0 win is a bloody good result.

And at this stage of the competition, it’s all about getting through to the next round. How you do it doesn’t matter.

With Celtic looking to raise millions of pounds by making it through to the group stages, former rivals replacement club Second Rangers released a new strip in time for their participation in the money spinning Petrofac Cup.

And in a break from the traditions of their now defunct predecessors, they’ve gone for a healthy purple, a good catholic colour .

With the accompanying advertising campaign…

Still, at least the boots are orange, which will cheer some of them up.

But as one clever chap wanted to know, and quite reasonably so, if you ask me…

@Richiestoke @ETimsNet @TheEveningTimes If they play us in that shirt and we win, will that make us the purple peepil beaters? Sorry….!

I can already see the banner…..

Meanwhile, the Evening Times Fanzine included this in its piece pushing the top;

Ruth How, Head of Marketing, PUMA UKIB, added: “Rangers has one of the richest heritages in European football. So as official kit supplier, we wanted to incorporate this into the design of the kits and the alternative shirt gave us the opportunity to deliver a standout graphic inspired by their rich history.”  

She must know it’s a new club, as that’s how they got the deal in the first place, because no-one else wanted them.

If she thinks they are the same club, I wonder which part of their rich European heritage they would call on…Manchester ? Barcelona ? Seville ?  There’s a lot to choose from, and many images that stay in the mind…

Speaking of shirts, the complaints about the quality of the New Balance Celtic shirts continue to mount up.

This is my @NewBalanceUK top after only wearing it to one @celticfc game. #TransferIsStartingToComeOff

Well, nike gave us a home top which turned into the away top when you washed it.

New Balance are giving us the sponsorless top as a free option.

The guy who gave us the New Balance deal told me that he had “guarantees about the quality ” .

It’s time he told us what they are, why he signed the deal, and exactly why he thinks Celtic supporters will put up with being fobbed off with a below par product at an above average price.

We need to know what he is doing about it, when he is going to do it, and the next time he could maybe actually look at the quality of the stuff he is ordering before he orders it.

There are too many issues now for the club to ignore it.

The level of complaints is growing, and will continue to grow after those who wore their new tops to the game last night wash them today.

Over to you, Celtic.

This is serious, the club must not underestimate this problem.

Not only have we been sold tat, it gives the impression that we are being taken for granted.

Roy Kay was the man pictured with Bobby Lennox, in the days when everyone wore shades of gray instead of watching it when the wifes out.

Another face from the past today, who is he , and who is he playing for here ?