Three points, one talking point

Chief Sports Writer

Wednesday 13 April 2011

analysis Celtic stretch their lead at the top of the table to five points but monumental refereeing error could have lit the blue touchpaper in Perth

Biram Kayal steers the ball past Graeme Smith. Picture: SNS

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hugh macdonald chief sportswriter at mcDIARMID PARK hugh.macdonald@heraldandtimes.co.uk

A first-half goal by Biram Kayal, his first for the club, sent Celtic five points clear at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. However, the club’s disenchantment with the Scottish Football Association would have reached levels of nuclear proportion had St Johnstone prised a late equaliser.

With five minutes to go, and Georgios Samaras pressuring St Johnstone substitute Michael Duberry, Brines made the sort of decision that can be neatly categorised as unbelievable. Duberry, on the ground, handled the ball, helpfully using both mitts to ensure it was a stonewall penalty. Brines, just 10 yards away, waved away appeals by Celtic players.It was yet another extraordinary moment amid an extraordinary season. The match started with another.A Celtic fans’ protest over kick-off times scheduled to suit broadcasters rather than the paying punter ensured there were a surfeit of balls on the pitch just after 6pm at McDiarmid Park.A volley of them were kicked on to the playing surface from outside the stadium as fans more used to having their tea were obliged to turn up for what could never be a feast of football. The pattern was set early with Mark Wilson launching the ball forward to Celtic’s twin pillars of Samaras and Daryl Murphy after just two seconds.After the extra balls were cleared, Celtic employed the same strategy for all of the first half. It should have given them the lead. The high ball into the box may lack subtlety, but it presents danger when Murphy and Samaras dominated in the face of Dave MacKay, Graham Gartland and Jamie Adams in a congested central defence.St Johnstone missed the poise of Duberry, and presumably his handling ability. He was joined on the bench by the estimable Chris Millar, who was to go off injured late in the match, as Derek McInnes looked to his own giant, Jordan Robertson, to unsettle the Celtic defence. However, it was mostly one-way traffic on a pitch with more potholes than a Scottish B road.It was a matter of Celtic chiselling out chances rather than constructing them with flowing football. But they did enough to keep Graeme Smith, in for Peter Enckelman, alert in the home goal. He had to dive sharply to save a Kris Commons free-kick, then his punch from a high ball was volleyed over by Commons, and then he watched a Murphy header sail over the bar.He was at his best, though, when Samaras somehow negotiated a way through the defence and drove at goal. Smith’s outstretched leg denied the Greek and the hosts seemed to gather some heart from this series of missed chances.They could not force Fraser Forster into a save of any degree of difficulty in the first half but Stevie May had a chance to shoot before Celtic closed down the danger and Cleveland Taylor was energetic if not hugely dangerous. His best effort -- and the only moment of adrenalin- inducing threat for the home side in the first period -- was when he neatly lobbed towards the back post, but his effort drifted to safety after a deflection by Scott Brown.Just when it looked like the ball would soar through a pleasant evening like a balloon at a children’s party, there was a moment of football. Joe Ledley, combative and assured in midfield, fed Brown at the edge of the area and his clever touch freed Kayal. The ball then took a series of bounces that confounded both the Israeli and Gartland before the former neatly flicked the ball around Smith.It was surely then a matter of Celtic seeing out the game. The problem with this strategy was that possession football was as easy to achieve as playing cards on a surfboard in a riptide. This meant the tide of the game occasionally flowed towards Forster and it unnerved the Celtic support.Danny Grainger deserved better than to see his cross drift across the face of the goal and Robertson worked hard, but unsuccessfully to free May. Millar came on and the Perth side made their first demand of Forster when Liam Craig shot; the Englishman dived left to save brilliantly.Duberry, on for MacKay, was forced into defensive defiance as Celtic pushed forward frantically. Three headers in as many seconds from the Englishman kept Neil Lennon’s side at bay but Ledley almost made the game safe with a header from a corner that was blocked in mass of bodies.Then the game erupted in incident. Emilio Izaguirre and Grainger were booked, Brines missed Duberry handling the ball so many times in the box it seemed he was auditioning for the Harlem Globetrotters. Millar limped off, leaving the hosts with 10 men and all three substitutes used.Celtic missed two chances to close out the match. Brown raced clear and smacked the ball off the bar and Smith did well to punch away Shaun Maloney’s subsequent header. At the final whistle, Lennon marched to the Celtic fans to take their applause. He is back on the touchline. Controversy continues on the field.

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