SUNDAY OCTOBER 24th
Premier League

Livingston 2

Celtic 4

0:1 Petrov 2
0:2 Camara 14
0:3 Hartson 19
0:4 Sutton 32
1:4 O'Brien 45
2:4 O'Brien 53

Att: 7,695

MIB: Allan Freeland

Celtic: Marshall Varga Balde McNamara McManus Petrov Lennon Sutton Thompson Camara Hartson
subs
Pearson for McManus 26
Juninho for Camara 37
Lambert for Varga 46

A pleasant afternoon in Pleasantville soon turned Almondvale into village of the damned. Despite shaking off the hangover from Donetsk, Celtic's nerve seemed to go again and the new penchant for collapse reared its ugly head once more.

All looked rosy in the garden when, within 30 minutes, Celtic were four goals up. Petrov started what looked as if it was going to be a rout, netting within two minutes, before Camara finally found the touch that had eluded him in Milan, netting a one-on-one on the quarter hour mark. A Hartson tap in and a fourth from Sutton should have ended any semblance of a contest.

Livi's response, like most of the SPL these days, was to apply the Levein model and kick the Hoops off the Park. No surprise then that we had McManus, Camara and Varga all injured and Hartson with a stitched nose.

Defensive ineptitude, courtesy of Bobo, allowed O'Brien to snatch a goal for Livi either side of half time. Celtic's composure went to the dogs as Livi hauled themselves back into the game before Sutton dropped into the back line and steadied the ship.

Meanwhile, Juhnino and Hartson up front only seemed to rattle their sabres at the Livi goal. Crisis ? What crisis? We got three points but the rot is there for all to see. Injuries or not, we lack depth and the confidence is not as it should be. The defence looks rank and Bobo and Varga look rumbled. November could be a miserable month for us with the Orcs, Milan and Shakhtar to come.