A HISTORIC Celtic display, though hardly a vintage one. One hundred years after the home defeat to Kilmarnock which put paid to the whopping 62-match unbeaten run compiled by Willie Maley’s all-conquering side, the Ayrshire outfit were ultimately unable to prevent this current Celtic crop joining them in the history books. But after Ibrox in midweek, once again Steve Clarke generated an organised, disciplined display from players who came from behind to earn a point at an away ground in Glasgow. It seems unlikely somehow that Brendan Rodgers will being sacked in the morning as a result in the manner which befell Pedro Caixinha on Thursday.
While that is now 62 and counting for Brendan Rodgers and his invincibles in domestic play, enough to equal the club’s own British record, Kilmarnock’s determination to defend deep and in numbers successfully strangled this game and a clever Jordan Jones goal on the hour mark cancelled out Leigh Griffiths’ first half equaliser to cause Celtic to draw their third home match of the league season. A Ladbrokes Premiership lead which had appeared so commanding after that dismantling of Aberdeen in midweek has now been trimmed to a solitary point, even if Rodgers was correct afterwards that his history boys deserved a huge amount of credit.
“It is 100 years, they tell me, so to achieve that over the course of 62 games, I think we have won 56 and drawn six, it is an absolutely incredible achievement," he said. "They have a chance to go out on their own next week, to get to 63. But whatever happens in their time here, their name goes into the record books.”
Rodgers and Steve Clarke, briefly work colleagues from their past lives at Chelsea, were locking horns for the first time since their days in charge of Liverpool and West Brom respectively. Clarke actually had a winning record from these encounters, prevailing home and away in the league, with Rodgers getting one back in the League Cup, and this goes down as another feather in his cap. "I have been in the game a long time, I have been involved in so m any matches I would be embarrassed to count," said Clark. "And I have never gone to a game thinking we were going to lose. There is always a way."
With Scott Brown appearing pre-match to present a young fan with a trophy to mark the club receiving a Fifa supporters award, the Northern Irishman made half a dozen changes from the team which cantered to that fine win against Aberdeen, with glimpses of lesser spotted members of the squad such as Eboue Kouassi and Mikey Johnston. As much as they monopolised possession, the promising early thrusts of Kieran Tierney down the left which led to a Leigh Griffiths header which ruffled the roof of the net were unable to produce the early goal which might have opened up this game. Patrick Roberts was also looking a likely outlet – the Englishman was tormenting Stuart Findlay down the Celtic right – but that came to an end when he pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring issue before the match was half an hour old. He could have been expected to play a big part here against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Kilmarnock were frustrating Celtic but when the right run and pass come together even the most blanket defence can be rendered helpless. So it was when the Parkhead side opened the scoring just two minutes before the break. Kouassi deserves plenty of the credit, winning the ball in midfield and clipped a perfect early ball for the run of Griffiths, allowing the Scotland striker to nutmeg the onrushing MacDonald with a cute, right-foot, half volleyed finish. There was much to admire about the goal, not least the fact it was pretty much the first time there had been any space behind the Ayrshire side’s central defenders for Griffiths to exploit.
It meant Kilmarnock had to show more attacking ambition in the second half and it was to their credit that they did so without leaving too many gaps at the back. With litter, presumably from an overturned bin somewhere, swirling distractedly around in the half Celtic were attacking, the Parkhead side’s attacking moves seemed to get lost in the clutter, and in what was pretty much their first foray forwards, the Rugby Park side found an equaliser.
Jordan Jones is capable of excellent instinctive play and it was an example of this when the former Middlesbrough youth product scampered forward to fire in a low shot which struck the inside of a post. Rather than switch off, he collected the rebound, worked a nice one-two with Rory McKenzie and prodded in a finish with his left foot.
Celtic would play the last half hour of this match with both Moussa Dembele and Griffiths on the field, but there was hardly a procession of chances. The latter almost got on the end of low cross/shot from Tierney, then stung the palms of MacDonald from distance, and a number of cross balls flew across the box to no avail. When the final whistle sounded, it summed up Scottish football that the reaching of such a century-old milestone received a rather underwhelming reaction. “It is a great achievement for the boys and everybody associated with the club,” said Leigh Griffiths. “But you would rather have got the record with a win not a draw.”
Celtic (Griffiths 43), Kilmarnock (Jones 60)
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