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Celtic back to winning ways.
After some very bizarre results in recent games, Celtic played host to Postal Aylesbury in Porterstown. A cool morning with lots of cloud, but importantly the dry weather continued.
Celtic set off like a train, and showed they were up for the challenge against their rivals with whom they shared 8th position in the league table at start of play. Within minutes Gentian took up where he had left off last week before he was injured. He raced into the box and crossed into the 6 yard area only to see the opportunity go abegging. Another chance was equally spurned soon after. On 7 minutes however, Ahmad Shah beat a couple of players as he was challenged on the right hand side, and as he weaved his way into the box, he shot coolly into the far corner to beat the Postal keeper. 1-0
22 minutes later, Celtic were fortunate to benefit from an own goal that gave them a cushion as half time approached. In fairness to Postal, they were competing very well and could easily have been on level terms, but they did not capitalise on the chances they created. They were very unfortunate on one occasion when they hit the inside of the post and the ball came across the goal line before Darius dived on it to save. They did have one success however in the first half when they pulled one back before half time with a vicious free kick that Darius had no chance of stopping.
Celtic were a transformed team compared to the one that had finished the game the previous week against Mount Merrion, but they had on that occasion been badly hit by significant injuries/sickness. Today with their squad back to full fitness, they showed what they were capable of. Darius Horincar was showing how important he is to the team in goal by claiming the ball when it came into his area. He did get over-enthusiastic on one occasion when he bravely came out to thwart the Postal attacker as he raced in for what looked like a certain goal – well done Darius, though he got penalised for handling outside his area.
Kamil Suchomski and Ryan Shiels were making decisive interventions, not allowing the ball to bounce when Postal decided to go route-1 with the long high ball. Both were initiating attacks in support of their team mates in front of them. The central defensive partnership of Myles McCague and Daniel Hanrahan was very effective and restricted the opponents to few very clear shots on goal, with both back to their best. In front of the back 4, Ryan Brady was outstanding, reminding us of his stellar performances earlier in the season. He was everywhere, often supporting the defenders, clearing his lines and setting up attacks. He capped it off with a stunning strike from the edge of the box when he picked his spot in the left hand corner of the net after the influential Gentian Ramadani passed perfectly from the left wing when he had received the ball from Kamil. It was a beautifully worked goal indeed.
Before Ryan’s exquisite strike to make it 3-1, the Postal defence were at sixes and sevens and Karl Sampil was in the right place when the ball rebounded back off him into the net. Postal did manage to score a second late on, but it was too late for a revival by the visitors.
Matthew Coughlan was making important interventions in the middle of the park, and his touches were outwitting the Postal midfielders, and setting up Celtic attacks. Karl Sampil was overall performing much better on the wing where he had more opportunity to express his skills. Up front Angelo Horincar had gone very close to scoring on a couple of occasions in the early stages of the game but the Postal defenders prevented the striker from finding the net.
The Celtic starting 11 were supported by James Daly up front and Harry Whelan on the wing in the second half. While they are a year younger than most of their team mates, you would not have known as they were proving very competitive. James was unlucky not to be on the scoresheet when his free kick, after he had been taken down on the right hand side, was too hot for the keeper to handle, but the referee deemed that the ball did not cross the line, though Celtic attackers were convinced it was a goal.
The game thus ended in victory for Celtic, which was a great lift after the disappointment of the previous week when the loss of players had led to their defeat. Celtic are in the middle of the table with half the games played in the season, and they are looking forward to a challenging run-in and a crack at a top-4 place and possible promotion. Training has a new venue for the rest of the season and it will take place in Porterstown Park on Thursday at 6pm.
