Celtic 2 Hibernian 2: Just about first among equals

Michael Grant

Chief football writer

Monday 3 September 2012

IF this was any other season, the league championship might look a little interesting.

Mikael Lustig slides in to score his and Celtic's second goal. Picture: David Moir

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Michael Grant

Celtic have won only half of their games so far and dropped points at the rate of one per match. They have conceded five league goals already – compared to only one in the same number of Champions League qualifiers – and looked really convincing only once, in Inverness. No need to declare a state of emergency around Parkhead, though. This is no ordinary season. Despite that humdrum opening form they walked off the field against Hibernian still top of the league.

The failing is not Celtic's. Competitive tension is either there or not, and even if manager Neil Lennon and his players talk until they are blue in the face about not being complacent, the absence of the perennial challenge from Rangers has an inevitable and enormous psychological effect. Just as teams struggle to perform in the closing games if they have wrapped up a league title with matches to spare, when the doubt is gone, so Celtic have no outside threat driving them on this season. The same goes for supporters and there is an absence of urgency, or real anxiety, when the team is labouring. Dropping four points out of 12 would matter far more in a normal season against a normal Rangers. In this campaign the slips have had no significance because no other club has shot out of the blocks. Dundee United, Motherwell, Hearts and anyone else have failed to put together an early sequence of results to offer even the semblance of a threat to the champions.Lennon, a more overtly competitive character than any of his players, could actually be in for a season when he is thrilled and stimulated by Champions League football and often frustrated and exasperated by what he sees in domestic matches. On the evidence so far Celtic have been numb in league games compared to the verve and drive they have shown in the qualifiers. They ought to have buried Hibs, hitting the woodwork twice, fluffing two one-on-one chances and missing other opportunities around their two goals, but that did not stop the manager losing the rag with his team afterwards. It is not in his nature to tolerate carelessness. After letting in a couple of late goals to Inverness Caledonian Thistle they twice held out a helping hand to let Hibs back into Saturday's game at Parkhead.Each Hibs goal cancelled out a Celtic lead. Fraser Forster and Mikael Lustig acted as though they had never been introduced and a through ball made both of them look foolish as Tim Clancy stole in to score. Paul Cairney rode a couple of soft Adam Matthews challenges in the course of a skilful dribble and finish.Celtic had eight senior men missing and that meant deputies being deployed and starts again for Filip Twardzik, 19, and Tony Watt, 18. Victor Wanyama was lost to a dead leg, Jackson Irvine, another 19-year-old, came on for his debut. Scott Brown, Biram Kayal, Joe Ledley and Kris Commons amounted to an entire senior midfield absent from the starting line-up. There ought to have been no need for recriminations over the poor defending because Celtic dominated the first half and had the better of the second, albeit Hibs belatedly showed some life. In addition to Lustig burying a crisp early finish, then pressurising James McPake into an own goal after goalkeeper Ben Williams spilled Twardzik's free-kick, Gary Hooper hit the bar and Watt the post. Watt and Paddy McCourt missed one-on-ones. Lennon appreciated their supremacy but reproached them for failing to win. "At a club like Celtic the fans get on your back and the coaches and manager are not long in telling you if you've had a bad game," said James Forrest. "All the boys know what the manager's like and because he's like that it keeps our performances better. After the game the manager showed us that he's not happy and it shouldn't be this way with the amount of chances we had, when they only had two shots. He said what he had to say and that was that. We need to get on with it and we're just a bit gutted that we need to wait two weeks until the next game. The reason we're in the Champions League is because we won the league. The main priority is winning the league again."Hibs feel as though they are turning a corner. Underestimating Queen of the South resulted in their weakened team being dumped out of the Scottish Communities League Cup in midweek but their last four league games have included draws with Hearts and Celtic, and defeats of St Mirren and St Johnstone, taking the same number of points as Celtic themselves. McPake highlighted their combative new midfielder, Gary Deegan, as the embodiment of their competitiveness. "No team is going to walk over us," said McPake. "Trust me, you don't want to be in Gary's team in training when he's losing, never mind in a game. The last thing I said before we walked on was that we had to make sure we could look one other in the eye when it was over."

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Celtic 2 Hibernian 2: Just about first among equals

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