We were brought crashing back to reality less than twenty four hours after savouring the euphoria of Robbie Keane's signing. The Irish striker made his first team debut at Rugby Park after arriving at the club only the previous day and just like his namesake Roy he soon discovered that the dream of playing for the Celts can sometimes become a bit of a nightmare. Roy's first start for the club back in 2006 saw lowly Clyde beat us 2-1 in a Scottish Cup tie and in one of those strange quirks of fate Celtic were beaten 1-0 by SPL strugglers Kilmarnock's 1-0 last night in Robbie's first game.
Manager Tony Mowbray played Keane and fellow new bhoy Diomansy Kamara from the start in a much changed Celtic side and the performance of the team accurately reflected that of an unfamiliar group of players thrown together for the first time. Despite that unfamiliarity and a somewhat disjointed all-round display the Celts continued to create plenty of opportunities in front of goal. Keane himself had a few chances to get on the scoresheet but it was not to be the dream debut we craved and boss Mowbray was faced with yet another uncomfortable post-match debrief.
"For me, it's about trying to win every game." he said "We've said that. We haven't won tonight, so we're obviously disappointed, but we keep going. It's a long way to go. I'm sure there'll be some twists and turns and we'll look to try to get the next three points when they come. When those big games come along, let's see how the flow of the points total is. You go away and win at Ibrox, and you win at Easter Road, and you win at Parkhead in both games and let's see when the pressure comes on where the points go and how the table's looking."
Of course the media couldn't contain their glee at the fact that we'd been brought back to Earth with a bump and the boss was asked how the low of defeat to Kilmarnock compared to the high of the Robbie Keane signing the previous day. "Highs for who?" responded Mowbray. "Highs for you or highs for me? Players coming in, that's what we're trying to do. I've been saying that for a long time. We are going to try to build this club to the point where we can compete very successfully, both domestically and in Europe. I thought he (Keane) played well. He brings a different dimension to our team. At times, he made the team tick by positions he takes up on the pitch. I'm sure he'll be a huge benefit for us as we move on."
"We came here trying to claw back the three points and it didn't go our way," he said. "You've got to give them a lot of credit, I thought they defended fantastically well. But i was disappointed with the nature of the goal. At the other end we did create chances, we ended up in some decent areas but didn't take them. That's football, you have to sometimes take it on the chin and keep going, keep building up and look forward to the weekend and try to get it going."
Marc-Antoine Fortuné also believes the title is still within our grasp, in fact he insists that we WILL win it. "Now we have to win every game that is coming," he said "It will be difficult but we can do it. Why not? We've shown that we are a big team, play very well and have a lot of chances. We have to complete that with goals and not conceding. We will do it, I'm confident about that."
Fortuné doesn't think that the huge changes in the side brought about by the new signings will have a detrimental effect on the team due to the calibre of player that the manager has signed. "It's not a problem," he said. "We need time but, as I say, it's only top players in the team. We know what we have to do, so we will do it."