Celtic 1 Falkirk 1:CELTIC PARK is an angry place just now. A banner displayed before kick-off bluntly warned the Celtic board not to throw the team's title aspirations down the drain as they did, supporters argue, during this transfer window of 2009.
Five minutes from time, with the score locked at 1-1, fury turned towards the referee Alan Muir, who refused to award a penalty as Brian McLean tangled with the Celtic striker Marc-Antoine Fortune. Seconds later the home full-back Lee Naylor fired what should have been a routine cross out of play; cue another eruption.
At full-time, the booing was as concerted as has been the case in Glasgow’s east end for some time. Celtic are now nine points adrift of Rangers. Andreas Hinkel blamed the men in black and pinpointed the lead-up to Falkirk’s goal as a case in point. Celtic’s captain Stephen McManus was challenged, illegally Hinkel believes, by the Falkirk striker Enoch Showunmi before the ball broke to the scorer Carl Finnigan. Georgios Samaras restored parity but Celtic could not secure a winner against the Premier League’s bottom side.
“The team was fine,” said Mowbray. “If I thought there was major surgery required, I would be more concerned. Somewhere along the line we are going to score a lot of goals.” From Hinkel, there was defiance: “Maybe Rangers now think they are champions already, but I don’t think so.”
CELTIC: Boruc, Hinkel (McCourt 76), O’Dea, McManus (Thompson 30), Naylor, McGeady, Crosas (McGinn 65), Zhi, Ki, Samaras, Fortune. Subs not used: Zaluska, McGowan, Forrest, Mizuno. Goal: Samaras 40.
FALKIRK: Olejnik, Barr, McLean, Monteiro, Twaddle, Lima, Arfield, Healy, Flynn (Compton 68), Finnigan (Moutinho 58), Showunmi (Bullen 70). Subs not used: Andrews, McNamara, O’Brien, Murdoch. Booked: Finnigan, Barr. Goal: Finnigan 19.
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: A Muir (Scotland).
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