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Celtic Crazy have done it again. I correctly predicted the 2-0 scoreline and that the opening goal would come from set play. I was wrong about Martin O'Neill playing his strongest side. McNamara, Sylla, Moravcic and Guppy were brought in to replace Thomson, Lennon, Lambert and Larsson. The opening exchanges suggested that Celtic were going to struggle to cope with Livingston. Guppy's right foot cross was dummied by Sutton, hit the post and was missed by Hartson but Livvy seemed to settle quicker. Their quick passing up front was giving the Celtic defence some problems and a neat ball inside brought off a save from Douglas and when Fernandez struck the rebound the shot beat Douglas only to be cleared off the line by Balde. Slowly Celtic began to take control and Culkin was called in to action in 18 minutes when a Sutton lay off was struck by Moravcik and the keeper produced a good save. Shortly afterwards Petrov powered towards goal and his powerful shot was knocked over by the keeper. Moravcik produced a great strike from a 20yd free kick on 25 minutes. It was headered clear by a defender and broke to Sylla. His powerful strike from a narrow angle was saved well by Culkin. On 30 minutes Rab Douglas got down well to save a Livvy free kick, but Celtic were still applying most of the pressure. Balde got a slight touch to a Moravcik free kick but the keeper dealt with it comfortably. Another Moravcik free kick on 35 minutes from the right side of the penalty box was headed on by Sutton. Balde coming in at the back post towered over the defender to head home. Before the half was over Celtic had another couple of chances. On 40 minutes, Moravcik cut inside from the left and shot from 30 yards bringing out a good save from the keeper. John Hartson got on to the end of a long ball and shot over with 2 minutes of the half left. A lot of the second half was disappointing. Livingston were failing to make much headway against the Celtic defence, but Celtic seemed unable to put together a constructive move to finish the game off. As the last quarter of the match approached Sherif tried a shot from outside of the box which was held by the alert Douglas. A minute later John Hartson headed wide from a Guppy cross. In the 83rd minute Sutton strode forward and released a shot that went over the bar. A goal was soon to follow and again it came from set play. A Guppy corner from the right was met by Hartson who despatched it into the net assuring Celtic of victory. In the 91st minute Chris Sutton struck a free kick from outside of the box round the wall and into the net. The "goal" was chalked off because the referee had decided the kick was indirect. This seemed ludicrous as the kick had been given for a hefty challenge not obstruction. LIVINGSTON: Culkin; Brinquin, Santini, Andrews, Rubio, Quino, Toure Maman, Wilson, Bingham (Tosh 57), Xausa (Aurellio 70), Fernandez (Lowndes 65) CELTIC: Douglas; Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren; Sylla, McNamara, Petrov, Guppy, Moravcik (Lennon 68); Sutton, Hartson |