Celtic 1 - 0 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, November 29th, 2008, 3:00 PM at Celtic Park, Glasgow
Attendance: 55,117
Referee: David Somers
Celtic Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Shaun Maloney (29) None.

Team Managers
Gordon Strachan Craig Brewster

Starting Eleven
Artur Boruc
Andreas Hinkel
Gary Caldwell
Stephen McManus
Barry Robson
Shunsuke Nakamura
Paul Hartley
Scott Brown
Shaun Maloney
Georgios Samaras
Scott McDonald
Ryan Esson
Richard Hastings
Ross Tokely
Grant Munro
David Proctor
Russell Duncan
Ian Black
Don Cowie
Iain Vigurs
Garry Wood
Dougie Imrie

Bench
Mark Brown
Glenn Loovens
Lee Naylor
Paul Caddis
Koki Mizuno
Mark Millar
Cillian Sheridan
Michael Fraser
Jamie Duff
Barry Wilson
Roy McBain
Zander Sutherland
Andrew Barrowman
Adam Rooney

Substitutions
Lee Naylor -> Barry Robson (62)
Cillian Sheridan -> Georgios Samaras (62)
Koki Mizuno -> Cillian Sheridan (89)
Andrew Barrowman for Garry Wood (62)
Adam Rooney for Iain Vigurs (73)
Barry Wilson for Ian Black (86)

Bookings
Artur Boruc (90) None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Ryan Esson (GK) 8 apps -
David Proctor 72 apps4 goals
Richard Hastings 354 apps4 goals
Ross Tokely 459 apps30 goals
Grant Munro 258 apps6 goals
Iain Vigurs 19 apps2 goals
Ian Black 124 apps6 goals
Don Cowie 59 apps12 goals
Russell Duncan 272 apps9 goals
Dougie Imrie 34 apps5 goals
Garry Wood 14 apps3 goals
Barry Wilson (sub) 353 apps83 goals
Adam Rooney (sub) 16 apps3 goals
Andrew Barrowman (sub) 17 apps2 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Iain Vigurs (20 years 211 days)
Oldest Player:Grant Munro (2010 years 122 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 286 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Iain Vigurs (20 years 211 days)
Oldest Player:Andrew Barrowman (2010 years 122 days)
Average Player Age:28 years 79 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Celt's edge it:

Inverness Caley Thistle fans could be forgiven for going into this match with a few nerves given our performance the last time we visited Glasgow. However, this time we were on the other side of the City to play Celtic and ICT gave a great account of themselves.

Maloney scored the only goal of the game on 29 minutes to give the home side a win, and it is a little disappointing that Caley Jags failed to register a shot on goal but that was always going to be the risk this season when relying on unproven strikers. However, there are still a lot of plus points to be taken from the manner in which we conducted ourselves and managed to keep Celtic out of the game for long spells.

BBC Sport saw it like this:

Shaun Maloney fired the only goal of a tense game as Celtic overcame a stubborn Inverness side to move seven points clear at the top of the SPL.

Celtic struggled to break down a well-organised Inverness defence - much to the dismay of the home supporters.

Maloney broke the deadlock after 29 minutes when he collected a superb pass from Shunsuke Nakamura to fire home past Inverness goalkeeper Ryan Esson.

Doug Imrie went close with an audacious chip, but Celtic held on for victory.

The hosts seemed to struggle following their midweek exit and the fluency of their early season form was absent.

Inverness were content to sit deep and attempt to hit Celtic on the break.

Andreas Hinkel and Nakamura appeared the most likely players to carve out an opportunity.

And it was Nakamura who set up what proved to be the only goal of the game.

The Japanese international's clever diagonal found Maloney. and his low effort evaded the despairing grasp of Esson and found the corner of the net.

Five minutes after the break, Inverness were denied a great chance to equalise when midfielder Ian Black sent Garry Wood racing clear.

But Wood was ruled offside in what appeared to be a borderline decision.

Black then tested Boruc with a long drive, as the hosts' inability to score a second goal caused anxiety among the home support.

Scott McDonald blazed high over the bar late on as Celtic failed to double their lead, but recorded their 12th consecutive SPL victory.

Match report written by tm4tj/bbc sport



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 16 14 1 1 40 15 25 43
2. Rangers 16 11 3 2 35 13 22 36
3. Hearts 16 9 2 5 19 19 0 29
4. Dundee Utd 16 7 5 4 22 17 5 26
5. Aberdeen 16 6 3 7 17 18 -1 21
6. Hibernian 16 5 5 6 20 23 -3 20
7. Kilmarnock 16 6 1 9 14 22 -8 19
8. Falkirk 16 4 5 7 19 22 -3 17
9. Inverness CT 16 5 2 9 17 23 -6 17
10. Motherwell 16 5 2 9 17 25 -8 17
11. Hamilton Academical 16 4 2 10 14 26 -12 14
12. St. Mirren 16 3 3 10 10 21 -11 12