A spectacular implosion by Terry Butchers Inverness gave Celtic a chance to go clear at the top of the SPFL yesterday with a 2-0 win over family club Motherwell.<\/p>\n
While the Highland side were on the wrong end of a four goal thrashing from St. Johnstone, busting coupons everywhere, goals from Anthony Stokes and the ever consistent Kris Commons were enough to defeat the Steelmen, who arrived at Celtic Park with their traditional five at the back and five holding midfielders.<\/p>\n
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Stokes broke the deadlock with a left-footed strike after 21 minutes before Commons made sure of the points shortly after the break, lobbing the ball over visiting goalkeeper Lee Hollis at Celtic Park.<\/p>\n
The victory maintained Celtic’s unbeaten league start to the season and Neil Lennon’s men have a game in hand over the chasing pack.<\/p>\n
It came at a cost though, as most games against the Lanarkshire cloggers do, with adam Matthews picking up another injury which looks quite serious.<\/p>\n
Manager Neil Lennon said;<\/p>\n
\u201cOur initial fears is it could be a fractured collarbone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that is the case we could be looking at three months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt puts a big negative on what is a great day for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The villain of the piece, as he often is against Celtic , was silky mifielder Keith Lasley. Perhaps Celtic should wear a blue strip with white shorts as he never seemed to kick anything wearing that particular outfit, which led to several Celtic fans suspecting he may indeed be a fan of another club from Glasgow..<\/p>\n
I’ve asked the police if I can borrow their hunsniffer dog to find out.<\/p>\n
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\u201dI thought it was a penalty,\u201d Neil Lennon stated. \u201cHe has taken his leg first and followed through on the ball \u2013 anywhere else that is a free-kick.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdam did the right thing, he got his body there protecting the ball. For me it is a penalty.\u00a0It was maybe the way he landed. It could happen anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t apportion any blame to Keith Lasley for that. Tackles are made in the game, people fall over awkwardly so there is no blame attached whatsoever. ”<\/p>\n
Around fifty thousand people would disagree…<\/p>\n
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Another negative is the ongoing contract dispute with striker Anthony Stokes, who revealed that come January, he may have to consider other options, such as getting shots on target and actually haging around in the penalty box trying to score goals. Actually, thats a bit unfair. Stokes is doing what he is asked to do, and if anything is guilty of not playing his natural game, which would see him find the net more frequently.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what the problem is, I can\u2019t answer that,\u201d said Stokes. \u201cI\u2019m happy here but I\u2019m now getting to the stage where I can sign a pre-contract in a couple of months so if it stays like that I\u2019ll need to see what my options are and take it from there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said I want to stay but I haven\u2019t got long on my contract and every player wants a bit of security. I\u2019ll sit back and see what happens but there isn\u2019t much I can do other than play my football.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not really close with the new contract, it\u2019s pretty much the same,\u201d said the 25-year-old. \u201cI turned down the last deal and there\u2019s not really been too much discussion since then. I\u2019ll just sit back and see what happens because I\u2019m enjoying my football at the minute.\u201d<\/p>\n
His gaffer remains unfazed, and is confident a deal can be done;<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a question that we don\u2019t want him and I don\u2019t want him to run out his contract either. I\u2019m pretty confident we\u2019ll have Anthony signed sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is apparently quite a gap between what the player wants, which is several thousand pounds a week, and what the club is offering, believed to be minimum wage and every second Sunday off.<\/p>\n
Lennon also admitted yesterday that it will be difficult to hang on to keeper Fraser Forster, who had another blinder yesterday;<\/p>\n
\u201cI have got to be realistic and honest and it\u2019s going to be difficult to keep him the way he\u2019s progressing,\u201d he said, with a sigh \u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s no slight on us. I don\u2019t know when it will be down the line but I do hope he goes to one of the big clubs because I think he has got the game for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mirror has aleady begun sharpening its knives for England manager Roy Hodgson, should the hot favourites for the World Cup fail even to reach the finals.<\/p>\n
Matt Law, who seems to have decided he wants Forster in the team, led with \u00a0this in an article about the Celtic keeper;<\/p>\n
” Roy Hodgson failed to send ANYONE to watch England hope Fraser Forster’s Champions League heroics “-his capital letters, not mine. He continued;<\/p>\n
Hodgson\u00a0has promised to stick with under-fire Joe Hart<\/a>\u00a0for England\u2019s vital World Cup qualifier against Montenegro on Friday night.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nobody made a personal check on Forster against Barca last week and there were no England staff in Scotland to watch Celtic\u2019s clash with Motherwell yesterday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although Celtic narrowly lost, Forster produced a superb performance against Barca, with wonderful saves from Neymar and Alexis Sanchez.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Forster\u2019s display was watched on television by absent England staff and the 25-year-old was selected in the squad for the Montenegro and Poland qualifiers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hodgson insists he knows the talents of Forster and suggested the Celtic star could be given a chance once the latest qualifiers are over.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But Forster may well feel like the odd man out, as Hodgson personally watched Hart struggle against Bayern Munich and John Ruddy is under the constant eye of England goalkeeper coach Dave Watson, who also works for Norwich. ”<\/p>\n Looks like even if Hart flings five into his own net, Hodgson won’t escape the critics.<\/p>\n I missed yesterdays game , as the room I’m currently decorating is a little behind schedule, we were hoping to have it done before roughly in the same month it was started, but thats looking increasingly unlikely, although I am running out of excuses now.<\/p>\n However, a few of the lads tried the Kerrydale Bar in the ground for the first time, and we are hopeful of a speedy recovery after they were told it was \u00a34.25 a pint and \u00a32. 99 for a coffee. If i had went i would have just \u00a0found a quiet spot and sat \u00a0outside instead.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tam Cowan, yesterday in the Record, gave as good a description of his night out at the Barca game as any I’ve seen anywhere else, have a read if you’ve not seen it yet;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n