SATURDAY AUGUST 13th
SPL

Celtic 3

Falkirk 1

0:1 Duffy 39 pen
1:1 Hartson 49
2:1 Thompson 75
3:1 Thompson 90

Att: 57,782

MIB: Alan Freeland

Celtic: Boruc Telfer Balde McManus Camara Petrov Lennon Thompson Nakamura Zurawski Hartson

subs
Maloney for Zurawski 60
Beattie for Nakamura 79

Last season the diary commented on the strange phenomenon of managers whose team bear no relation to way they played the game as players. A hard case like Tony Mowbray builds a team based on the ball being passed around, while a luxury player like George Graham builds the most utilitarian side imaginable - and now we have John Hughes, a player who spent the majority of his career driving opponents in to the ground with one swift thump bringing his Falkirk team to Celtic Park with the intention of out-passing and outplaying us. You have to admire that kind of attitude.

We still should have buried them, but it's hard to play to your full potential when you're carrying three passengers; Zurawski is still finding his feet, Thompson was having the mother of all nightmares and Camara probably thought he played quite well.

All this meant was that in the first half Celtic were effectively playing with only eight players, thus Falkirk were getting more of the ball than they could possibly have expected. A

fter weathering a brief period of pressure -basically two long range efforts from Zurawski and Telfer - Falkirk took the lead. The defence was split by a neat pass letting the forward run through clear on goal. Boruc looked to have the situation under control when Camara decided that pushing the forward to the ground would be the best option. Penalty, and I suppose we should be grateful the ref wasn't reaching for the red card at the same time. So 1:0 at half time.

Cue the Alan Thompson good and bad show. For all but three moments Thompson had possibly his worst game for Celtic; however those three moments comprised of the diagonal pass to Nakamura to cross for the equaliser and the two goals that gave us the victory. Whatever way you look at it he was probably the most valuable player on the pitch. But if it hadn't been for another Mo Camara master class he would also have been the worst player on display. Not even Thompson's worst can compare to the 90 minutes of sheer ineptitude that we currently have sitting in the left back spot.

With a visit to Mordor looming on the horizon we can only hope that reports of their defensive weakness are underestimates.