Saturday 7th January 2023
Celtic were 9 points clear at the top of the Premiership and continuing their fine form since the restart as attention turned to the first of a double-header against Kilmarnock. The home side came into this match on the back of an entertaining draw at Ibrox against fierce rivals Rangers. Kilmarnock were 4 points off of the bottom as they continue their fight to stay in the top division.
This 2 teams lineups coming into the game:
Celtic Kilmarnock
Hart Walker
Johnston Mayo
Carter-Vickers Wright
Starfelt Taylor
Bernabei Stokes
Mooy Chrisene
Mcgregor (c) Power (c)
Hatate Polworth
Jota McKenzie
Furuhashi Robinson
Maeda Vassell
Subs
Oreilly-Mooy 63 min Doidge-Vassell 64 min
Abada-Jota 63 min Lyons-Power 64 min
Giakoumakis-Furuhashi 63 min Armstrong-Robinson
Forrest-Maeda 83 min Murray-Polworth 75 min
Turnbull-Hatate 83 min McInroy- Mckenzie 85 min
First Half
In the early minutes of the first half, Kilmarnock thought they had a decent penalty shout as new striker Kyle Vassell was pulled down by Carl Starfelt, however both the referee and VAR shrugged the claims away. A confident Kilmarnock then had another half-chance, this time through Ash Taylor after a poor clearance from Jota saw his side face trouble, albeit going just over the bar.
Celtic warmed into the game and found the ball hit the back of the net, albeit eventually ruled out for offside, after Aaron Mooy picked out Jota and his cross found the league's top scorer, Kyogo Furuhashi, who tapped home.
Celtic would eventually go in front in the first half just before the half time break in the 45th minute with a great through ball down the left hand side this time from Bernabei and Maeda latching on to it and playing a low driven cross into an on-running Jota to put the ball into the net and give Celtic a 1-0 lead going into half time.
Half Time
The dominance would continue after the break with Celtic breaking with a counter attack with Mooy picking up the ball and carrying it down the right hand flank onto a running Hatate where again a low driven cross was met with a sliding Kyogo to put the ball past Walker in Kilmarnocks net to make it 2-0 to the leaders.
Celtic would continue the pressure with Hatate skipping past McKenzie before unleashing a powerful strike towards the bottom left corner however, it was well dealt with a good save from Kilmarnocks goalkeeper Walker to prevent a third for Celtic.
Walker would again be called upon to deal with another well worked Celtic move this time from a free kick as Matt Oreillys cross from the edge of Kilmarnocks defending box was met by a powerful header from Carter-Vickers and his effort hitting the post.
Giakoumakis would have a shot come off the woodwork as well as a pass from Hatate to Giakoumakis would open space for a shot just outside the the box with a curling powerful effort which would smash off the crossbar which left Walker to stand with no chance of getting to the ball.
Celtic would keep searching for a 3rd goal with Forrest controlling a cross before vollying the ball straight at Walker for the keeper to make the save before hitting the rebound off the post.
Howver danger would not be cleared yet as Celtic would move the ball well again with Forest collecting the ball down the left hand side and playing it back into the box where Abada would strike the ball however another Walker save palming the ball onto the post and out for a corner would prevent Celtic from scoring again.
Full-Time
Next game
The game would end 2-0 to Celtic and making that 19 wins from 21 games this season in the premiership. With Rangers winning 2-0 over at Tannadice. This leaves the gap at 9 points still going into League Cup semi final weekend where Celtic will meet Kilmarnock on the 14th of January at Hampden. Can Celtic continue their winning ways into the League Cup and make it 2 finals in 2 years?
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