Kilmarnock 1-2 Celtic: Tale of Two Halves

By: JT | November 5th, 2007

Once again, cocky little Australian striker Scott McDonald was the hero for Celtic as the Bhoys snuck out of Rugby Park with a 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock, maintaining their three point lead over Rangers at the summit of the Scottish Premier League.

After dominating the first third of the match, Celtic finally got the opener. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, who is just coming back to full fitness from a hamstring injury, flicked a longball on to McDonald about thirty yards from goal. The Aussie spun around the helpless Simon Ford, and marched straight into the box virtually unopposed. He then further humiliated Ford, cutting to his right and firing a low angled shot past the well beaten Alan Combe.

A fine team movement saw Celtic extend their lead to 2-0 two minutes later. Paul Hartley’s touch pass was chested down nicely by Jan the Man. The giant Dutchman left the ball for wantaway midfielder Jiri Jarosik, who quickly fed Aiden McGeady on the right flank. McGeady’s pinpoint cross to the near post was headed in by McDonald who easily beat the Killie defender, and squeezed his shot between the bizarrely positioned Combe and the post.

Celtic continued to dominate play early in the second half until Killie struck back. A fantastic free kick by Gary Locke was headed into the Celtic net by Frazer Wright after Artur Boruc misjudged the cross and failed to clear it safely. Full credit to Wright though, because he leaped a full foot higher than any Bhoys’ defender.

Killie could feel their mojo rising, and an equalizer was on their mind. Boruc redeemed himself, as only the Holy Goalie can, by pushing a strong Colin Nish effort wide of his left post. Celtic sought to put the match out of reach, and Killie could smell a point, so both sides committed players to attack as the game opened up.

A sure goal by Nish was blocked by Stephen McManus, while both McGeady and Jarosik failed to slam the door shut. To be fair, the Czech really should have put the game to bed while the degree of difficulty on McGeady’s chance was far greater, even if it was set up by a superb pass from Man of the Match Scott McDonald.

Once again, it wasn’t particularly pretty, but three points are three points, and the Celts are still on top looking down at the rest of the SPL. That’s a good thing. Observe:

Celtic’s next two matches are their home Champions League encounters with Benfica and Shakhtar Donetsk, with another stupid international break sandwiched in between. Tomorrow I’ll have the Benfica match previewed for you, and a full report as soon as I get back from watching the match over at Paddy Rooney’s.

Hail Hail!