Celtic 4 - 1 Inverness CT

League Match
Sunday, April 21st, 2013, 12:45 PM at Celtic Park, Glasgow
Attendance: 55,000
Referee: Kevin Clancy
Celtic Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Gary Hooper (61)
Joe Ledley (65)
Gary Hooper (73)
Georgios Samaras (88)
Aaron Doran (90)

Team Managers
Neil Lennon Terry Butcher

Starting Eleven
Fraser Forster
Mikael Lustig
Efe Ambrose
Kelvin Wilson
Charlie Mulgrew
James Forrest
Victor Wanyama
Joe Ledley
Kris Commons
Gary Hooper
Anthony Stokes
Antonio Reguero
Josh Meekings
Gary Warren
David Raven
Graeme Shinnie
Aaron Doran
Andrew Shinnie
Owain Tudur Jones
Ross Draper
Richie Foran
Billy Mckay

Bench
Lukasz Zaluska
Emilio Izaguirre
Georgios Samaras
Tomas Rogic
Paddy McCourt
Tony Watt
Beram Kayal
Scott Mathieson
Chris Hogg
Daniel Devine
Charlie Taylor
Nick Ross
Liam Polworth
Shane Sutherland

Substitutions
Emilio Izaguirre -> James Forrest (46)
Georgios Samaras -> Anthony Stokes (68)
Paddy McCourt -> Mikael Lustig (84)
Daniel Devine for Gary Warren (50)
Charlie Taylor for Andrew Shinnie (63)

Bookings
Victor Wanyama (79) Daniel Devine (80)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Antonio Reguero (GK) 24 apps -
Gary Warren 38 apps6 goals
Josh Meekings 58 apps -
David Raven 40 apps -
Ross Draper 37 apps5 goals
Aaron Doran 69 apps5 goals
Graeme Shinnie 96 apps2 goals
Andrew Shinnie 61 apps23 goals
Owain Tudur Jones 51 apps2 goals
Billy Mckay 65 apps27 goals
Richie Foran 165 apps40 goals
Charlie Taylor (sub) 6 apps -
Daniel Devine (sub) 7 apps -

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Aaron Doran (21 years 349 days)
Oldest Player:Owain Tudur Jones (2014 years 266 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 206 days
Domestic Players:6 (54.55 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Liam Polworth (18 years 196 days)
Oldest Player:Scott Mathieson (2014 years 266 days)
Average Player Age:23 years 251 days
Domestic Players:12 (66.67 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Inverness not in the mood to spoil the party:

Celtic strolled to an easy victory as Inverness wilted under pressure in the second half. Goals from Gary Hooper, Joe Ledley, Hooper again and substitute Georgios Samaras had Celtic cruising and their fans dancing before Aaron Doran at last scored a goal, but it was only a consolation as Celtic swept to their 44th League title.

Inverness had only offered token resistance to the Celtic juggernaut as they brushed past us with ease and quite frankly the scoreline flattered us as the Hoops went into party mode. The only thing to brighten up this thumping was the score from Perth later in the day as St Johnstone and County served up a 2-2 draw which means that neither club gained more than one point on our tally.

The second half was a far cry from the first half as we mopped up Celtic's advances fairly comfortably before the break. Once Hooper started the goal spree, Inverness were cut open time and time again and the withdrawal of Gary Warren left gaps at the back which Celtic exploited with pace and precision. This game was always likely to be a tough assignment, and so it proved as Celtic's greater resources gradually took control of the game and the result is no surprise, although Butcher may be a tad annoyed at the manner in which we handed the initiative to the Hoops. However you can't take anything away from Celtic who were always on course to win the SPL, just a matter of when and Inverness need to knuckle down and get on with the next four games which will be more of a level playing field.

Match report written by tm4tj



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 34 22 6 6 82 31 51 72
2. Motherwell 34 16 9 9 59 43 16 57
3. Inverness CT 34 12 15 7 59 53 6 51
4. St. Johnstone 34 11 14 9 41 40 1 47
5. Ross County 34 11 13 10 44 45 -1 46
6. Dundee Utd 34 10 14 10 49 54 -5 44
7. Kilmarnock 34 10 12 12 46 44 2 42
8. Aberdeen 33 10 11 12 38 41 -3 41
9. Hibernian 33 10 10 13 40 47 -7 40
10. Hearts 34 10 10 14 34 45 -11 40
11. St. Mirren 34 8 12 14 41 53 -12 36
12. Dundee 34 6 8 20 24 61 -37 26