Celts win penalty shoot out!

I was updating you last week on how well Celtic were doing in the league and cup competitions this season. Last week they played in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup against Dundee United. It was a tough game and Celtic were unlucky not to have won it over 90 minutes, but the game ended 0 0 and so went into extra time. After those 30 minutes were over both teams were still deadlocked with no goals scored even though Celtic had come agonizingly close in the final minutes, hitting the bar twice. So, off to penalties they went, and after a nail chewing, gut wrenching 24 penalties Celtic had won it 11-10! Tough luck on United, but well deserved for Celtic. They now play their old chums Rangers in the final in March. Still on track for the treble!

As for Madison Celtic, they won their first indoor game of the season by beating the oddly named Cardiac Arrest team 7-2. Some great goals and some fab saves by El Gato delivered a comprehensive victory. In the previous two games we have drawn 2-2 with Guilford and lost 5-4 to Durham. I think we are hitting our stride now and getting used to the indoor style of play.

More to come next week!

Glasgow Celtic: Season update

OK, I did mention that I would give you an update on how the "real" Celtic
are doing this season.

So...... After 23 games in the Premier league Celtic are sitting top of the league on 54 points with their big rivals, Rangers, second on 50 points. Celtic have won the last 3 Scottish premier leagues and this year are chasing 4 in a row! It has been a bit of an up and down season so far for Celtic. A series of bad injuries to some of their best players early in the season really wrecked Celtic's Champions League campaign this year with a 4th placed finish in their section seeing them drop out of Europe much earlier than expected. However, Celtic managed to remain competitive in the league and the two cup tournaments during this bad European form. Celtic are in the semi final of the league cup and also in the 5th round of the Scottish cup. In the league, Celtic got off to a stuttering start and had to endure a 4-2 defeat at home to Rangers! To their credit, after that horrendous start Celtic went on a 12 game winning streak hitting the top spot in the league. Celtic also gained some measure of revenge by beating Rangers 1-0 at Ibrox park in the last league game of 2008 stretching their lead to 7 points. Since the start of the new year Celtic have had a bit more of a sticky patch drawing at home to Dundee Utd and losing 4-2 away at Aberdeen taking their lead at the top of the league down to only 2 points. Today's 3-1 victory against Hibernian along with Rangers draw against Aberdeen restored a 4 point gap and hopefully Celtic will go on to consolidate their lead even further.

Celtic are well on track for a trophy treble!

Indoor Season Has Started!

Yes, those of us brave or stupid enough to give up our Thursday evenings for the good of Madison Celtic were rewarded with a backs to the wall, come from behind 2-2 draw against one of the many Guilford teams run by Tom....the other Tom. I for one was feeling the pain after only ten minutes of this game and i was completely done in by the end of it! The Christmas and New Year festivities were finally being paid for by my unwilling body and it was not a pretty sight! Through most of this first half we were chasing shadows and my lungs felt like they were breathing in acid! Great running by Carlos and Fribeka kept us in the match and we ended the half only one down. The second half was a bit more even as we finally found our second wind but that didn't stop us going 2 nil down. But we are a tough team and we clawed a quick goal back through Enrique and then a great equalizer from Carlos. We could even have won it if i had managed to control my shot near the end of the game. Final score 2-2.....not bad considering how many of us were struggling to breathe at the beginning!

Happy New Year! Winners of the Fall Awards!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a great time and didn't put more than 5 or 6 pounds of weight on. I'm just back from Scotland and i thought i would start the first new blog of the year with a summary of who won the player of the Fall awards. As it turned out, apart from the best defender vote the polls were not really that close with run away victories for RoRo, Roniildo, and, of course, El Gato! Well done to them all and hopefully they will turn in similar performances in the Spring season, which is only 3 months away! The Best defender poll went down to the wire with La Boca catching The Heckelator right at the end of the vote. Fair result!

So how do we keep ourselves busy on the blog between now and the start of Spring training?

Well, I'll be resuming player focus once i get a few more interviews done and i may provide little summaries of how the indoor season is going. I will also be giving a few more updates on what is happening with the "real" Celtic as their season builds to, hopefully, a successful end. As it gets nearer to the Spring season we will bring back the fitness competition because it was so popular the last time! Any other features you would like to see just mention them to me and i will see what i can do....

...and for those of you who signed up.......

INDOOR SOCCER STARTS THIS THURSDAY AT 8PM!!!

That's all for now....