Inverness CT 2 - 4 Celtic

League Match
Saturday, August 25th, 2012, 12:45 PM at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
Attendance: 6,100
Referee: Willie Collum
Inverness CT  Celtic

Goalscorers
Ross Draper (82)
Ross Draper (87)
Victor Wanyama (4)
Tony Watt (25)
Charlie Mulgrew (48)
Tony Watt (64)

Team Managers
Terry Butcher Neil Lennon

Starting Eleven
Ryan Esson
Gary Warren
David Raven
Simon King
Nick Ross
Graeme Shinnie
Aaron Doran
Andrew Shinnie
Ross Draper
Shane Sutherland
Billy Mckay
Fraser Forster
Adam Matthews
Emilio Izaguirre
Kelvin Wilson
Charlie Mulgrew
Mikael Lustig
Patrick McCourt
Filip Twardzik
Victor Wanyama
Tony Watt
Gary Hooper

Substitutes
Antonio Reguero
Kyle Whyte
Josh Meekings
Gavin Morrison
Liam Polworth
Martin Laing
Conor Pepper
Lukasz Zaluska
Joe Chalmers
Jackson Irvine
Callum McGregor
James Forrest
Mohamed Bangura
Paul Slane

Substitutions
Gavin Morrison for Shane Sutherland (54)
Josh Meekings for David Raven (55)
Conor Pepper for Nick Ross (66)
James Forrest -> Gary Hooper (65)
Mohamed Bangura -> Adam Matthews (67)
Joe Chalmers -> Emilio Izaguirre (76)

Bookings
Ross Draper (6)
Simon King (60)
Gavin Morrison (67)
None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Ryan Esson (GK) 145 apps -
David Raven 4 apps -
Gary Warren 4 apps -
Simon King 4 apps -
Andrew Shinnie 25 apps10 goals
Ross Draper 4 apps2 goals
Graeme Shinnie 60 apps1 goal
Aaron Doran 32 apps3 goals
Nick Ross 87 apps5 goals
Billy Mckay 28 apps4 goals
Shane Sutherland 69 apps3 goals
Josh Meekings (sub) 24 apps -
Gavin Morrison (sub) 21 apps1 goal
Conor Pepper (sub) 2 apps1 goal

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Aaron Doran (21 years 110 days)
Oldest Player:Andrew Shinnie (2014 years 27 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 201 days
Domestic Players:6 (54.55 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Liam Polworth (17 years 322 days)
Oldest Player:Martin Laing (2014 years 27 days)
Average Player Age:24 years 216 days
Domestic Players:13 (72.22 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Painful viewing:

Inverness slumped to their worst ever home defeat to Celtic as they were humiliated on their own pitch by a rampant Celtic.

The gulf in class was clearly evident as the champions strolled to an embarrassingly easy win over a hapless bunch of journeymen and kids as our two experienced heads sat in the stand, unable to participate because of rashness akin to schoolboys.

I won't go into great detail, but suffice to say that Celtic bossed this game from the start until the last ten minutes when the industrious Ross Draper stole a couple of goals to deny Celtic a much more emphatic win that their superiority deserved.

I'm sorry to report that this was certainly a case of men against boys, and Celtic were not the boys. We were like rabbits caught in the headlights, simply overwhelmed by the champions who were able to cut us open every time they got the ball. The only surprise was that it was only 2-0 at half time as Mulgrew cracked the bar with a brilliant free kick and numerous chances went astray, or Esson denied them the glory of more goals.

As early as the fourth minute, the imposing Wanyama rose unchallenged to power a header home. It was a mystery how Celtic took another twenty minutes to increase their lead, but there was nothing surer, they were going to do it sooner or later. Watt brushed aside a powder puff challenge to waltz through the Inverness back line and coolly slot the ball behind an exposed Ryan Esson.

Inverness were all at sea at this point especially Raven who was caught out time and time again. Our midfield was non-existent and our strikers were nowhere to be seen.

Half Time 0-2

The misery was piled on after the resumption and it was no surprise when Celtic went 3-0 up with a superb text book strike straight off the training ground, Mulgrew doing the needful. Watt stroked home his second and Celtic's fourth as the disgruntled home support could scarcely watch, many now removing themselves from the scene to relieve the pain. At this point, had it been under the Marquess of Queensberry rules, then the referee would have stopped the contest, or Butcher would have thrown in the towel.

We did though, bounce back off the ropes and Draper scored a couple of consolation goals as Celtic took their foot off the gas......thank Christ for that. The second being set up nicely with a chipped cross from Conor Pepper who continues to show promise.

Match report written by tm4tj



None.

Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 3 2 1 0 6 3 3 7
2. Hibernian 4 2 1 1 5 5 0 7
3. Dundee Utd 3 2 0 1 7 2 5 6
4. Ross County 4 1 3 0 2 1 1 6
5. Hearts 3 1 2 0 5 3 2 5
6. Motherwell 3 1 2 0 3 2 1 5
7. Kilmarnock 4 1 2 1 4 4 0 5
8. St. Mirren 3 1 1 1 5 4 1 4
9. Aberdeen 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4
10. Inverness CT 4 0 3 1 7 9 -2 3
11. St. Johnstone 4 0 1 3 2 7 -5 1
12. Dundee 4 0 1 3 0 6 -6 1