After the dust has settled and the anger has subsided Celtic face a mountain to climb after failing to see off one of the worst performances of cheating it has ever been my misfortune to witness. From the miraculous recovery of the Ibrox four to the diving antics of Broadfoot and Cheat Supreme Kevin Thompson this was one to forget for the so-called bastions of dignity.
I am, however in no doubt that the game was over for Celtic at half time. The sucker punch that was cheating Bassa Kevin Thompsons goal knocked the stuffing right out of this Celtic team. The resolve depleting goal saw Celtic's ability to win the match after dominating without scoring all but ebb away.
Who do we have to blame? No-one but ourselves in my opinion. We created chance after chance in that first half but lacked the quality to put those chances away. In Scott Brown we have a talented but raw player who has a great future ahead of him in a hooped jersey but he really should have taken his chances. Yes if skoosh had as little integrity as his former team mate Thompson he could have went down like a hooker with a rubber neck when he was clipped by Whittaker, but winners don't cheat and his integrity cost us the lead in this match, a lead I think we could have added to.
This was a surreal day at Ibrox, we saw a performance from a referee that was just and fair in the first half (although the linesmen have a lot to answer for the booking of JVH and Naylor) ebb away into the usual display of gifting the home team the points. Dougal's refusal to show the mandatory yellow card to Thompson for his crazy dive meant that Celtic missed out on the advantage of being a man to the good. I don't believe that Celtic had it in them at that stage of the match to go on and win it but we could have grabbed a draw. We will, of course never know.
Dougal's decision to book Artur Boruc for remonstrating with Thompson but not the player will see him not have to open his wallet in many a 'registered club' round the land ever again, the fact that he also declined to book Novo for raising his hands to the keeper will also ensure this.
Well done Stuart, the day could only have been better for you if Neil Lennon had been playing!
I purposely waited a while before I started writing this as it would have merely comprised of the word "Cheats" repeated ad infinity. For what its worth, the cheating antics of the Ibrox side never lost Celtic the match, we managed that ourselves, it was just the straw that broke the camels back.
Kevin Thompson, you sir are a cheat who should be ashamed to show your face in public. It is such a pity to see such a talented player capable of scoring such an important goal resort to such tactics! And what did you hope to gain from this? You were outside the box when you did it you clown!
I cant wait to hear what Gordon "lets cut the cheating out of football" Smith has to say about this, or indeed how Stuart Dougal justifies not booking Cheat Supreme?
Yours in Celtic
Clydebuilt