Scottish Football News

Celtic began their SPL title defence on Sunday with a nervy 1-0 win at Celtic Park over cisitors, St. Mirren. It was Barry Robson who fired home a scrappy and controversial second-half penalty to ensure that the SPL Champions began their campaign with three points.

There were emotive scenes before the game kicked off when Rosemary Burns, widow of former Hoops player, manager and coach Tommy Burns, who died in May from cancer at the age of
51, performed the ceremony of unfurling the league flag, accompanied by chairman Brian Quinn and skipper Stephen McManus.

The 60,000 fans inside the stadium were also introduced to their newest recruit, 20-year-old Spanish midfielder Marc Crosas, who signed on a four-year deal from Barcelona and was paraded in the Hoops just before the game got underway. However, the game itself was something of an anti-climax and never really threatened to get out of second-gear for much of the match.

No doubt the Celtic fans believed St Mirren were there simply there in a supporting role but in a low-key start to the match, Saints midfielders Garry Brady and Stephen McGinn both tested Artur Boruc early on without causing the Celtic keeper any real trouble.

In the 17th minute Scott McDonald, Scotland’s top scorer last season, drove a shot from 30 yards wide of the target which riled the home fans, already agitated by the lack of goal action. McDonald really could have done better with strike partner, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselhink in some space.

St Mirren remained neat and tidy and continued to hold their shape, growing in confidence from keeping the Bhoys at bay and a whipped-in cross from defender Franco Miranda may have provided some joy for the Paisley side with a little more commitment from Billy Mehmet.

In the 26th minute McDonald was again in the thick of the action as the little Aussie striker headed an Andreas Hinkel cross over the bar. Moments later, Aiden McGeady lifted the fans by winning a corner with his first contribution of the game inside the St Mirren box when he took on Jack Ross, although that also came to nothing.
The game petered out somewhat as the two teams looked to half-time, but with only two minutes on the clock after the restart, the Love Street side were denied a shock opener only by a fine save from Celtic goalkeeper, Artur Boruc. It was Billy Mehmet who tested the Polish goalkeeper as he and Stephen O’Donnell worked a one-two inside the Celtic box before the Englishman’s right-footed shot was barely tipped onto the post by Boruc and cleared away to safety.

That narrow escape jolted the home side into action and seconds later Gary Caldwell found himself unmarked at the back post when Lee Naylor’s looping free-kick was delivered into the box, but the Scotland international’s tepid header from eight yards out went straight to Howard.

In the 55th minute Vennegoor of Hesselink went down in the box after a challenge from Howard but referee Smith rightly waved away penalty claims. However, the Dutchman was awarded a spot-kick on the hour mark after clashing with Saints defender, Will Haining who had allowed the Dutch striker to get on the wrong side of him as he failed to deal with a Lee Naylor pass.

After the Love Street stopper was sent off, Barry Robson’s penalty put the champions a goal up. It wasn’t the best penalty of Robson’s career and St. Mirren goalkeeper Howard almost managed to keep the ball out after it sruck his legs, but the ball eventually bounced over the line, much to the relief of the former Dundee United player.

Vennegoor of Hesselink should have doubled Celtic’s lead in the 68th minute but somehow managed to head past the post from eight yards out when it seemed easier to score. Celtic made changes with Mark Wilson coming on for Lee Naylor who picked up a knock after a strong challenge, while Greek striker Georgios Samaras replaced Scott McDonald.

But Saints continued to battle valiantly despite being a man down and took some encouragement from the nerves that continued to avail the Hoops’ defence, and in the 84th minute St Mirren substitute Mark McAusland, on for Garry Brady, headed over from new signing Tonet Gilerao’s corner.

A minute later Mehmet fired wide of the target from 12 yards but the home side held out for victory and an opening three points. Fans of Celtic will no doubt bemoan the lack of creativity in their side and will hope that the team pick up in the coming matches. For St. Mirren, they deserved to take something from the game, but like Falkirk on Saturday failed to take their chances.

Saturday saw the opening day of the Scottish Premier League and Tynecastle provided plenty of opening day action for spectators as Hearts beat Motherwell 3-2 in a see-saw thriller of a game. Hearts took the lead after 24 minutes when midfielder Michael Stewart arrived late into the box to rifle home a shot but Stephen Hughes rolled the ball across from the goal-line for David Clarkson to bundle in the equaliser for Motherwell. Hearts restored their lead five minutes before half-time when Stephen Craigan was short with a header back to his keeper and Audrius Ksanavicius nipped in to prod the ball home.

It didn’t end there, however, and the Edinburgh club paid the price for defending too deep in the second half when David Clarkson levelled the scores again on 81 minutes. But Hearts immediately responded and it was Michael Stewart who again did the damage, setting up Saulius Mikoliunuas to dart into the box and shoot past Smith and win the game for Hearts.

It wasn’t a victory for their City rivals as Hibernian lost 1-0 to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. Hibs strikers Colin Nish and Steven Fletcher both missed good opportunities to open the scoring.  Ex-Killie striker Nish found himself unmarked 16 yards from goal when he received a Steven Fletcher pass with 16 minutes played, but he failed to connect properly with the ball. At the other end, Hibs keeper Andy McNeil pulled off a fine save from Killie midfielder Mehdi Taouil, then Danny Invincible came close as Jim Jefferies’ side finished the half strongly.

The second half continued in much the same open fashion as the first period with chances at both ends, but it was the Ayrshire side who took the spoils when, with 10 minutes remaining, substitute Jamie Hamill drove home a fierce shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards.

It took 18 attempts but Inverness Caley finally recorded their first competitive victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie. It was lone striker Andy Barrowman who gave the visitors a first-half lead when he knocked in a Ross Tokely cross at the back post and Caley secured the 2-0 victory in the dying minutes of the game when midfielder Roy McBain capped his 300th appearance by finishing off a fine counter-attacking move with a powerful strike past Dons keeper Jamie Langfield.

In Sunday’s game, St. Mirren travel to Celtic Park to face the champions while new boys Hamilton take on Dundee Utd on Monday evening.

Rangers produced another lacklustre display in their opening SPL fixture against Falkirk on Saturday, but managed to secure their first victory thanks to an Andrius Velicka goal soon after Falkirk’s Michael Higdon missed a penalty within minutes of the second-half starting. 

The penalty miss proved costly as the Lithuanian striker, who ironically counts Rangers’ midweek conquerors Kaunas among his former clubs, struck to get Rangers off to a winning start in the SPL opener.  Suspensions and injuries among Rangers’ squad allowed for new signing Madjid Bougherra to make his Rangers debut in the centre of defence alongside Kirk Broadfoot. Andrius Velicka and Kris Boyd were given the nod up front and started in a front two pairing with Jean-Claude Darcheville and Daniel Cousin on the substitutes bench.

Ex-Celtic defender Jackie McNamara made his Falkirk debut alongside Lee Bullen, while manager John Hughes watched from the stand as he served a touchline ban.

Rangers started their SPL campaign at the Falkirk Stadium brightly as they sought to erase the pain of their midweek Euro exit. Another Rangers new boy, Kyle Lafferty, was particularly keen to impress as he marauded forward on occasion from his deep starting berth.

However, after surviving early Rangers pressure, it was Falkirk who began to threaten more as the first-half wore on. Indeed, John Hughes’ Falkirk, who are always keen to play football really began to menace the Rangers rear-guard with 40-year old veteran playmaker, Russell Latapy orchestrating things in midfield.  Falkirk’s first real chance came when Michael Higdon struck high and wide after 17 minutes, but it was the first of several attempts by the Bairns as they took the game to last season’s SPL runners-up.

Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor, who enjoyed a fine previous season before being injured has looked decidedly low on confidence throughout pre-season and started the game in a nervy manner, which was never more evident after he took a wild swipe at a Christian Dailly backpass and missed the ball completely.  Luckily for him, there was no Falkirk player in proximity to take advantage.

Rangers did threaten despite the Bairns enjoying the bulk of possession in the first half, and Kris Boyd featured heavily midway through the half; having a shot blocked by Darren Barr after a defensive mix-up and making a nuisance of himself from a corner moments later.

Falkirk, for all their possession and neat football, struggled to create any clear-cut chances and Scott Arfield blasted over from outside the box.  Falkirk’s build-up play was a joy to watch, but clearly they lack a cutting edge in front of goal.

It was the Glasgow visitors who ended the opening period on the front foot, with Steven Whittaker especially bursting into life, testing the rearguard with a delightful shimmy and shot.  It failed to bulge the net and the two teams finished the first half locked together at 0-0.

Into the second half and Whittaker was again involved right from the restart as Rangers sought to break the deadlock. Having gone on a lung-bursting run, he could have and should have done much better with a wayward shot when he could have instead played in the unmarked Andrius Velicka. 

However, Whittaker was also the villain at the other end moments later as he scythed down Falkirk’s Kevin McBride after a cutting passing move, which saw the referee award, a penalty to the home side.  Up stepped Michael Higdon and he looked a good bet to bag the first goal of the SPL season.  However, he struck the spot-kick poorly and McGregor pulled off a great save, diving to his left to keep the penalty at bay and turning the ball out for a corner.

Despite the miss, the hosts tried to respond through Russell Latapy’s free-kick and an audacious Scott Arfield volley, but Rangers would take some heart from the penalty miss and soon began to look a little more settled and came back into the match.

The goal came just after the hour mark, and just as Rangers were preparing to substitute Velicka with Jean-Claude Darcheville.  However, as the French striker stood on the touchline, Kyle Lafferty drove into the box, ripped the ball across the face of goal and Andrius Velicka was there to bundle in the first goal of the season from close range.

The goal was very much against the run of play, but the Rangers continued to press, with McCulloch sending a long-range effort wide.  Soon, though, Falkirk were pushing to restore parity, with Arfield using his support to one-two his way into the box. Dailly, though, was able to get a toe on the ball before the youngster could pull the trigger.

At the other end, Boyd could have finished off Hughes’ men, but his looping header clipped the post and went out, with Olejnik beaten all ends up.

Falkirk again played some nice football, spraying the ball around well, but still they couldn’t find the route to goal. As was the story for much of last season, too often have Falkirk played their opponents off the park but received little rewarded for their toils and today was no exception as the game petered out into a 1-0 win for the visitors.

Rangers boss Walter Smith will hope this win will go some way to rebuilding the shattered confidence of Wednesday night, but for Falkirk boss John Hughes, he clearly needs firepower up front, and will surely hope the injured Steve Lovell can provide.

Scottish champions Celtic jet off to Portugal on the back of a disappointing performance, after being defeated 3-1 in a friendly against English Premiership side, Fulham, at Craven Cottage.

Fulham fully deserved their win and were ahead after only two minutes. Celtic’s German right-back Andreas Hinkel was caught out of position after giving the ball away needlessly on the half-way line allowing Jimmy Bullard to cross for Erik Nevland to slide the ball home past Celtic goalkeeper, Mark Brown.

Celtic took their time to find their feet in the match but came close when Aussie striker Scott McDonald and Scots midfielder Barry Robson tested Fulham ‘keeper David Stockdale with efforts before Fulham scored a second on the half-hour mark through a rasping Bobby Zamora strike.

Robson pulled a goal back for the visitors with a free-kick just before half-time. The second-half was more kick-about than match with no less than fourteen substitutions made. Celtic played an improved second-half as they went in search of an equaliser, but it was Leon Andreasen who secured the victory for the Londoners five minutes from time with another fine strike.

The line-ups were:

Fulham: Stockdale, Konchesky, (Kallio 72), Pantsil (Volz 72), Hangeland, Andranik (Murphy 46), Nevland (Healy 65), Gera (Cook 65), Hughes, Bullard (Johnson 46), Davies (Dempsey 46), Zamora (Andreasen 46). Subs: Etheridge, Ki-Hyeon.

Celtic: Brown, Hinkel (Wilson 46), Naylor (O’Dea 59), McManus, Caldwell, McDonald (Sheridan 67), Brown, Donati (Hartley 46), Robson (Caddis 67), Killen (Samaras 46), McGeady (Mizuno 76). Subs: Fox, Balde, Nakamura, McGowan.

Meanwhile, Rangers were also in Friendly action as they took on Schalke in Gelsenkirchen. Gers manager Walter Smith saw his side – minus injury victim Kris Boyd - slump to a 1-0 defeat against the big-spending German side, who had recent signings Jefferson Farfan and Orlando Engelaar in their squad. It was, however, veteran Serbian stopper Mladen Krstajic who netted the only – and winning - goal in the first half.

In a match in which Rangers were largely outplayed, Rangers had few chances to score and recent signing Andrius Velicka came closest with a header which cannoned off the post from a Jean-Claude Darcheville cross.

Despite the defeat, Walter Smith remained upbeat, and said after the match:

“It was a good workout for us. Obviously with the standard of team Schalke are, it was always going to be difficult for us. They had more good possession of the ball, as you would expect from them when they are at home.

“In the first half, we were disappointed to lose the goal in the manner we did from a set-play but they deserved their lead at that time.

“Schalke have been in the top four in the Bundesliga for the last few seasons. They’ve had decent results in the Champions League as well. They’re a good team and they gave us a good test at the end of our pre-season build-up in Germany.

“It is always difficult at the end of the week because there is a little bit of tiredness in the legs and our play. But it has been a good trip for us because we have done a lot of intensive training as well as playing games.”

The line-ups were:

SCHALKE: Schober, Kobiashvili, Bordon, Streit, Ernst, Jones, Asamoah, Farfan, Rafinha, Krstajic, Pander. Subs: Fahrmann, Varela, Rakitic, Ze Roberto, Grossmuller, Howedes, Zambrano, Sanchez, Kenia, Engelaar.

RANGERS: Alexander, Whittaker, Broadfoot, Weir, Papac, Dailly, Novo, McCulloch, Thomson, Miller, Darcheville. Subs: Smith, Webster, Adam, Cousin, Furman, Velicka, Fleck.

In other friendlies to be played Saturday, Kilmarnock overcame Airdrie United 3-0 with goals by James Fowler and Danny Invincible, who notched a double. Meanwhile Dundee United continued their pre-season preparations with an easy 4-0 win over Raith Rovers. On-loan Northern Ireland striker Warren Feeney grabbed a hat-trick in the game, while Noel Hunt also netted.