Ange Gets Everything Right As Celtic Take A Big Step Towards The Title

Well Hell, what do bloggers know anyway?

That folks – that – was how to win at Livingston!

So Ange got it spot on after all, and that wasn’t just reflected in the result but in the performance. Things were done differently today in every way. We trained on plastic before it. We played the guys most used to the surface. We kept the ball on the deck instead of relying on cross balls. We didn’t score early but we scored early enough.

And something else; something I didn’t expect and which nobody could have predicted. We clearly did some work on set pieces because we looked dangerous today with every one that we had. The opener came from one, but the signs were there before that.

Maeda was excellent. His goal was pure predatory instinct. He and Forrest used their pace to terrorise and the Famous Name got a step closer to the 100 goals. He will surely get there now and he is entitled to all the credit in the world when he does.

The team was aggressive and intent on doing damage. We conceded a really poor goal when the defence appeared to go to sleep for a moment, but we did not let it upset the attacking rhythm of the team. The game required a big, big performance and the team delivered that today in spades. The Livingston “hoodoo” falls … and a lot of the hopes of our rivals fall with it.

Because if we can win comfortably at Livingston – on this most horrible surface, against this most horrible manager who doesn’t feel any inclination to play football – we shouldn’t really fear any other ground in the country.

This was our potential banana skin and so this result is massive.

I was less worried about this one than I am about Ibrox; Ibrox takes care of itself. Today, at the cathedral of anti-football, we were expected to get our big test.

For months whenever I’ve looked at the fixture list this was the one I looked forward to least, but we made sure of the three points with an assured, composed and confident performance. We have been a little flat of late and we needed a big performance …. this was a great time and a great place to get it, and with an eight day break for the team before the Scottish Cup quarter final I think we really are in good shape here.

The bottom line is this; we can only throw it away.

Eight games left folks. Eight games. What a finish it is shaping up to be, with Celtic firmly in the drivers seat.