The Staggies arrived at Celtic Park for round 2 as they once more looked to batter their way to victory. Yet, much to the dismay of the officials, it was Celtic who claimed this bout with a competent performance.
The opening scuffles were a bit worrying for the home fans with County really abusing the ‘first foul for free’ rule. It looked as if some of them were trying out for the Dingwall Caber Tossing squad with their antics. Ref Clancy, meanwhile, looked on with benign indulgence.
Despite this, Celtic created opportunities and had it not been for a poor final ball from Johansen and an uncharacteristic Sebo moment from Griffiths, the players might have calmed a restless Celtic Park crowd a lot earlier than they eventually did.
It wasn’t until virtually the last kick of the first half before Griffiths duly smashed home goal number 30 for the season.
Second half was a marked improvement – it had to be considering it was only a one goal lead and the prospect of throwing more points away was too much to contemplate.
But the attacking four, a crucial component to this current system, really gelled in the second half and Armstrong provided an excellent assist for Dedryck Boyata.
Overall, a decent performance. Pass marks for everyone, although Johansen’s final ball was woeful at times and foiled a couple of great chances.
Tommybhoy
ntvcelticfanzine.com 