It was a poor performance from Celtic, but we came away with the three points. They say it's games like this that are the mark of Champions, and they may well be right. However, we must improve if we are to win anything this season. Too many players are not playing well enough and we don't seem to be gelling together as a team.
Once again we found ourselves a goal up and failed to capatalise on the lead. Hibs equalised and we were fortunate to get the winner.
Magnus Hedman started in goal but it is surely time to bring David Marshall back into the team. Hedman's performance today was terrible. He made a mess of most things he came up against, including simple punches and catches which should be routinely dealt with. Instead, we had a few heart in mouth moments due to the poor show from our goalkeeper.
Again, our defence were all over the place. Jackie McNamara is spending too much time looking after the other three and is losing his own concentration. Bobo Balde played slightly better than he has been doing recently but his distribution is schoolboy-like and he is not playing the way we all know he cane. Joos Valgaeren played okay but out of position again.
Stan Petrov was also played out of position and is no use on the right-hand side. Not his own fault, but there is no point in playing Petrov out there. Alan Thompson was poor - he gave the ball away on numerous occasions and he is back to his old tricks of acting like a superstar. Martin O'Neill should have a wee word in Thompson's ear about his attitude problem.
Stephen Pearson, who was superb last week in Dundee, was injured today and missed out. Luckily, Aiden McGeady played brilliantly and set up our two goals. There is still no sign on Juninho.
Chris Sutton partnered John Hartson up-front, and dropped back in the second half when Camara came on. Sutton appeared to be more interested in arguing with the referee than getting on with the game, and picked up another stupid booking for back-chatting. We do not need this. Sutton is looking frustratedand this is affecting his game.
Hibs were the better team today. They looked very comfortable and have a good side. They will no doubt be a threat in years to come if Tony Mowbray can keep his players together.
Magnus Hedman almost caused a goal early on, when he spilled the ball in his box. Luckily the ball was cleared away by the Celtic defence.
I said before that we needed an early goal to settle things down. Celtic took the lead after 17 minutes, but things did not settle down. A wonderful cross from Aiden McGeady was headed home by John Hartson. A great goal from Celtic.
A Joos Valgaeren mistake was capatalised by Stephen Whittaker and his curling shot from outside the area rattled the post, cue sighs of relief from the Celtic support.
Sutton was unlucky with a chip later in the first half, but the teams left the field at half time with Celtic carrying a 1-0 lead.
Celtic could have doubled their lead at the beginning of the second half, when Bobo Balde bulleted a header over the bar from an Alan Thompson free-kick.
Stan Petrov was replaced by Henri Camara on 57 minutes. Petrov picked up an ankle injury and hopefully he will recover in time for Tuesday.
Camara looked lively and finally showed some hunger and desire in a Celtic jersey. He was one of our best players today, despite only playing for 40 minutes or so. He had two shots saved easily by the Hibs goalkeeper in the space of ten minutes of coming on, and his pace was causing Hibs a lot of problems.
Hibs were still playing well, and equalised with 12 minutes to go. Gary Caldwell was the scorer; he knocked the ball home from a corner, which was flicked on. Once again, Hedman looked suspect but in truth, so did the whole Celtic defence. It was a well deserved goal from Hibs, backed by a strong away support.
I, for one, did not see Celtic coming back from this one, and was contemplating being four points behind this time tomorrow night. If anyone was going to score another, it looked as though it would be Hibs.
However, Celtic showed great spirit to fight back, and got the goal with only six minutes remaining. Henri Camara took what appeared to be a foul throw to Aiden McGeady, who danced past the Hibs defence, slotted the ball through to John Hartson, who done superbly to put the ball into the back of the net.
It was yet another massive goal from John Hartson who has scored so many important goals for this club in recent seasons. Hopefully he will be rewarded with a contract extension in the next week or two.
So it finished 2-1 and we were probably lucky to come away with a win. The only players who I would give pass marks today are John Hartson, Henri Camara and Aiden McGeady. The rest must give themselves a shake, the word on the street is that there's some mob from Italy coming to Celtic Park on Tuesday night.
Bring them on.
Celtic: Hedman, McNamara, Balde, Valgaeren, Varga, Lennon, Petrov (Camara), McGeady, Thompson, Sutton, Hartson
Come On The Hoops Man Of The Match: Aiden McGeady
Come On The Hoops Moment To Remember: Our second goal, which was a great move.
Come On The Hoops Moment To Forget: Magnus Hedman and the Celtic defence today.
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