Celtic convincingly put the Khazaks to the sword last night in Glasgow, and rightly took their place amongst the big clubs in the money spinning group stages of the Champions League. Thats big clubs, not bigger clubs.<\/p>\n
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Goals from Kris Commons , Georgios Samaras and James Forrest won the tie within ninety minutes, and it would be fair to say that every man on the park was a hero in the hoops.<\/p>\n
The defence defended, the attackers attacked and the midfielders, er middled. ( Might need some work on that line.-Ed )<\/p>\n
None more so than man of the match James Forrest. After a slow start the much maligned \u00a0( admit it, we’ve all done it ) winger stepped up to the plate, and for the first time in many a year, a Celtic winger in possession gave the support a sense that something was about to happen.<\/p>\n
Despite being kicked, punched , and knocked down when no-one was looking, the little man with the big heart picked himself up, dusted himself down and got on with it. With nothing else working , the Khazaks decided on a surgical strike, and the wee fellow went down in agony, but , he picked himself up, dusted himself down, and muttered under his breath;<\/p>\n
” Right, thats it. ”<\/p>\n
When Anthony Stokes danced past four defenders late on, and \u00a0cut the ball back to the penalty spot, Forrest was bearing down, and made absolutely no mistake with a superb finish. 3-0 . Job done.<\/p>\n
One at the end of the first half, one at the start of the second, and one at the end to leave no time for them to strike back. Shakespeare couldn’t have written it better, \u00a0( he’s dead ) and Scorsese wouldn’t have made it more dramatic.<\/p>\n
Neil Lennon, having given Usain Bolt something to think about with a celebratory sprint to hide his players from the cameras in case any more teams wanted to buy them, spoke his mind after the game;<\/p>\n
“It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done in football. The last three months have all been about preparation for this,”<\/p>\n
“I’m relieved and there is a good sense of pride in what we have achieved tonight considering we lost Hooper, Wanyama and Wilson who were the spine of the team really for the last year-and-a-half.<\/p>\n
“We lost three very important players and it’s been difficult to replace them. Coming back from a two-goal deficit down tonight as well just makes the players’ performance and efforts even more remarkable.<\/p>\n
“I cannot speak highly enough about the players in that dressing room tonight; they were just wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I’m not really sure they get the\u00a0credit<\/a>\u00a0they deserve at times.<\/p>\n “The night required patience but there was a real willingness amongst the players to do that.<\/p>\n “When you have Samaras, Forrest and Stokes in the mood anything can happen and we got what we deserved. We dominated the first half and dominated the second and, contrary to some reports, we actually dominated large parts of the first tie as well.<\/p>\n “We didn’t get what we deserved then but we certainly did tonight.”<\/p>\n Then he had a pop at the media-well, they expect him to take it, so its only fair he can give it back.<\/p>\n “I’m angry as well at the reaction from the first leg towards the team. The environment here is all wrong – there is just far too much negativity,”<\/p>\n “These players have given everything for the club and put Scottish football in a really good light last year.<\/p>\n “I wouldn’t say they had a bad night last week, they just didn’t take their chances. They created plenty but yet the hysteria afterwards was disgusting.<\/p>\n “It may come from some sections of the media, it may even come from some quarters of our own support but the knee-jerk reaction to one average performance is baffling to me.<\/p>\n “It just makes the job impossible at times. Managers nowadays get no respect for their position. They are analysed and scrutinised about everything they say.<\/p>\n “There are times that I call a game as I see it in the cold light of day and I still get slaughtered for it and people try to humiliate you and I think that’s totally wrong and it doesn’t do the prestige of the job justice.<\/p>\n “There’s so much of an imbalance and there’s huge pressure on myself. We don’t have a divine right to be in the Champions League.<\/p>\n “We’ve played three qualifiers and they are so difficult to overcome and I don’t think people appreciate that.<\/p>\n “This club is not a laughing stock for anyone. We will all get pats on the back for this win but it is all superficial to me.”<\/p>\n The bit about the three qualifiers, and the difficulties involved is especially poignant.<\/p>\n Not convinced ?<\/p>\n After the game last night I was knackered. Everything you want in a game was in that one last night. Tension, excitement , drama, elation, despair, – if supporters were drained, how must the players have felt ?<\/p>\n This on the back of a six game trans global campaign to merely reach the level before the level we got to last year!<\/p>\n Those quotes above came from a story in todays Bangkok Post, ( worth reading for the singles ads alone ) and was quoted in a context that gave a fair reflection of \u00a0how the manager was feeling-don’t take my word for it, read it and compare it with Keith Jackson in the Record;<\/p>\n