Ross County v BHEAST FC

[Bearman 9]

There's no question that Gordon was held but whether he would have saved the second header is another matter.

 

The Shalk incident was a clear penalty and an even clearer red card.

 

Ross County copied a 'Lennon' tactic at the corner...block the keeper, worked hundreds of times for them during his tenure...it's no wonder their fans want Delia out, he's very naive and out of his depth in the 'craftiness' that is Scottish football...Ross County beating C*ltic in a semi final of a cup should never happen...that's twice now, the first time was under the guidance of TLB.

[Bearman 9]

Shock defeat puts Deila's future back on agenda for Celtic

 

Some other view....

 

 

Yet again, Celtic's dreams of a Scottish treble have been trampled in the dust after a Highland ambush.

 

Last year they lost to Inverness in a Scottish Cup semi-final in which they were entitled to a sense of grievance about a blatant penalty kick offence that was missed by the referee and which could have turned the affair in their favour.

On this occasion - a Scottish League Cup semi-final that happened to be Ronny Deila's 100th game as Celtic manager - there could be no such excuse.

The Norwegian's future is again the subject of lively speculation amongst disenchanted Celtic fans and he now faces a hazardous league trip to face Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Wednesday.

A goal to the good against Ross County after scarcely more than half a minute, Celtic self-harmed when Efe Ambrose - for whom the phrase 'Guilty until proved innocent' might have been coined - was sent off when he caught Alex Schalk's trailing foot inside the box on the quarter-hour.

A penalty kick was the other consequence of Ambrose's misjudged interception but it was not a straightforward matter for Martin Woods to put it away.

Ploughing

 

Craig Thomson made him wait while Celtic replaced Callum McGregor with their £1.5 million acquisition from Midtjylland, Erik Sviatchenko.

Stefan Johansen, meanwhile, tried to sabotage Woods's chances by digging his heel into the penalty spot, which took its place amongst the many other divots on a pitch that resembled the venue for a ploughing contest.

Woods, though, had experienced a League One play-off final before 75,000 at Wembley in his days as a Doncaster Rovers player and he calmly smoothed the turf before placing his finish cleanly past Craig Gordon.

County had achieved parity of score and a numerical superiority over the holders and favourites, but they still had to find the belief to overcome a Hoops side who had looked likely to sweep them aside after scoring in the opening seconds.

Almost from the kick-off, the Staggies' back line had been caught pressing forward when McGregor adeptly released Leigh Griffiths to go one-on-one with Scott Fox.

Celtic's top scorer had the right to go for goal himself but he unselfishly squared for Gary Mackay-Steven to ram a shot high into the net.

If Griffiths had known how his afternoon was to turn out, he might well have snaffled the chance himself.

"We started very well and the first 15 minutes was fantastic football. Then the red card changed things, but we controlled the game after that," said Deila.

Such control as Celtic exerted extended only three minutes into the second half, at which point Andrew Davies nodded a corner-kick back across goal for Paul Quinn to head beyond Gordon.

The Celtic goalkeeper certainly had a case to claim that he was impeded by Schalk and he made it so forcibly to Thomson that he was booked.

"It was a clear free-kick on Craig Gordon," said Deila.

"He was pushed out the way and that shouldn't have been a goal. A lot of things went against us."

Deila, though, was unable to plead mitigation for the lax defending that allowed Jackson Irvine to isolate Dedryck Boyata with the pass that freed Schalk for County's decisive third goal.

Celtic also had the chance to put the Dingwall side under pressure in the later stages when Brian Graham was penalised for a handball that appeared to have rendered him no advantage.

Blocked

 

Griffiths's effort from the spot was blocked by Fox who, to put the tin lid on it for Celtic, was once on their books.

County will now contest the trophy with Hibernian on March 13, their second appearance in a national cup final, but the circumstances will differ drastically from their attempt to win the Scottish Cup in 2010, when they lost 3-0 to Dundee United.

On that occasion, County were the second-tier side and United the outfit from the top league. This time Hibs will be the lower division club, albeit with a considerable superiority in numbers of fans.

"It's a fantastic achievement for our club," said a hoarse Jim McIntyre, the County manager.

"I am really pleased for Roy MacGregor, our chairman, because he has done so much for the club down the years.

"We were determined to give him a second trip to a national final. We thought the way it started it was going to be a long afternoon for us. Look what Celtic did to Hamilton a few weeks ago after an early goal.

"We had a bit of luck but Celtic are a great team and Scott Fox had to make some incredible saves." (© Daily Telegraph, London)

[calscot 0]

This was my god-son's first match - his father is a Tim and so sadly so is he. If it was a decade ago I'd probably have hoped for a good result just for him and an enjoyable game. But things have dramatically changed and I have the very guilty pleasure in this result and the hope that it might put him off a bit... I really don't want him getting involved with the stench of malignancy that the Celtic minded wallow in these days.

 

I don't have any desire at all for him to support Rangers, but I really don't want the Tims to rub off on him.

[boabie 230]

I only found out about this match a few minutes ago. That's just made my holiday even more enjoyable.