{"id":13920,"date":"2019-02-18T08:52:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T08:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=13920"},"modified":"2019-02-18T08:52:18","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T08:52:18","slug":"celtic-diary-monday-february-18-better-late-than-never","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=13920","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Monday February 18: Better Late Than Never"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celtic continued their domestic dominance with a late win over Kilmarnock yesterday at Rugby Park.<\/p>\n

It leaves the hoops eight points clear of second place “rangers ” with just twelve games to play.<\/p>\n

Based on that, and on the form shown since the winter break, we can perhaps look forward to becoming the first team to secure eight consecutive titles twice.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t easy, Kilmarnock are a tough side to beat in Ayrshire, with the artificial pitch having more than a say in the outcome of most games.<\/p>\n

But champions perform on any surface, in any condition and do it consistently over the season.<\/p>\n

It finished 1-0, the goal coming from a Scott Brown ,er, shot, that deflected of the arm of a defender into the net. Had the defender not deflected it, the ball would still be in the air. Probably still rising.<\/p>\n

The sigh of relief from the crowd and the players immediately after saw Brown race to the crowd, who surged forward to meet him. He’d already been booked for a late tackle and so Bobby Madden had no option but to book him, now that his supervisors have told him he needs to stick to the rules for a couple of weeks until the fuss dies down. Otherwise people might start asking why he was allowed to referee a top flight game so soon after allegations of match fixing when he refused to acknowledge a sending off and penalty in a recent game featuring his favourites from the other side of Glasgow.<\/p>\n

Kilmarnock were understandably disappointed with the defeat, they had put a tremendous amount of effort into the game, and maybe did deserve a point.<\/p>\n

They continued in that spirit after full time, with Timothy Weah also finding his name in the book when he ,er, wound up a few Killie players.<\/p>\n

The son of the Liberian president, whose mother was at the game, said afterwards..<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Thats the sort of attitude we need. Hopefully it will infect the rest of the team ahead of next Thursday trip to Spain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Someone else wasn’t happy after the game either…like we give a toss…<\/p>\n

Kris Boyd demands Celtic fan who hit him with a coin is found and punished in furious blast<\/h1>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing supporters singing about you, but when someone throws a coin to hurt you, it\u2019s totally out of order,”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m big enough to be able to take verbal abuse and expect it most weeks now.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

My mentality has always been that I will shut those folk up by scoring goals.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s unacceptable when some people go further than banter and decide to throw coins at you.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a disgrace and I hope the CCTV shows exactly who it was and they get punished.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been more and more incidents like that creeping into the game lately and it has to be stamped out before someone gets seriously hurt.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Here he is being struck by a coin..<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

The guilty Celtic fan should be relatively easy to find, sitting in that part of the ground where the union flags are draped.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Boyd seemed to take the defeat quite badly…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ah, the trashing of the seats…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That looks like they’ve been bent in a crush, a surge forward after the goal. I’d imagine one or two fans have sore shins and knees this morning, Rugby Park is not noted for being a comfortable ground, as one criticism with subsatnce is that they have too many seats in a confined space. No legroom, and I’d wager Kris boyd would need at least a seat and a half to sit in relative comfort.<\/p>\n

I know I do. It’s one of those grounds where you hope your seat is at the end of a row.<\/p>\n

Boyd and others mention the pitch invasion, and they have become a little more common this season, with those friendly folk from Ibrox starting the trend every time they win a free kick or something, and they do have to stop.<\/p>\n

Someone will get hurt, if they aren’t already, and that will result in the return of fencing around the pitch.<\/p>\n

Don’t give the police or the government the excuse they need to replace the OFBA, they are still smarting from that defeat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then again, Boyds tantrum was nothing compared to the look of dismay on the BBC’s Chick Young, in the crowd yesterday when Brown scored…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, “rangers ” were missing their top man Andrew Dallas as they drew with St Johnstone, failing to score for a second consecutive match as bookmakers were alerted to a rush of bets on the awarding of penalties during their games.<\/p>\n

They were also without Alfredo Morelas, and Keith Jackson of the Record asks this morning..<\/p>\n

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keith jackson<\/strong>\u200f\u00a0<\/span><\/span>@tedermeatballs<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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