A golden goal from the prolific Grieg Spence earned Celtic a 1-0 win over Rangers to put Stevie Frail's u-19 side into pole position to lift the SPL title.
With just seven minutes left to play the former Alloa striker timed his run to the front post perfectly to connect with a Richie Towell cross to give Celtic a richly deserved win at Murray Park.
Youth coach Stevie Frail said: "We're delighted with the win, it's a tough place to come but we had a game plan, the players stuck to it and we're thrilled with the three points and also the performance.
"At times we had to be more direct, you can't play football all the time but ultimately we got three hard earned points.
"We've told the boys that nothing is won today, the game is over, we've picked up three points and we'll be in tomorrow working hard for the Falkirk match next week.
"They are young boys and they'll naturally be high after coming to their rivals ground and winning well. They need to temper things however and make sure that they are ready for the next match.
"We got three points today and we have to focus now on the game at Falkirk which will be just as tough."
Celtic started with the team that had beaten Livingston in midweek to reach the final of the SFA Youth Cup and enjoyed the bulk of possession throughout the first half.
Rangers were content to defend in depth with only two inswinging free kicks from Sean Fitzharris causing them any real concern.
The best chances of the first period came in the final minute when a snap shot from the Rangers Rhys McCabe came back off the post before Celtic raced to the other end of the park with Spence turning well onto a Paul Slane pass but finding his shot held by the Rangers 'keeper.
Within a minute of the restart James Keatings struck the post with Celtic upping the tempo and forcing Rangers further back without carving out much in the way of clear cut chances.
The match was following a familiar pattern with Celtic finding it almost impossible to break through the well organised Rangers defence.
With sixteen minutes left to play Darren McCauley replaced Keatings who seemed to take a bad blow on the ankle with Rangers almost snatching the lead in the 78th minute when Archie Campbell escaped from Declan Gallagher only to find Towell heading his net-bound shot round the post.
In the 83rd minute Celtic made the decisive breakthrough thanks to Spence.
After being forced across the Rangers 18 yard box Callum Bagshaw exchanged passes with Towell on the right with Spence timing his run to perfection to slide in at the front post to net before being mobbed by his jubilant team-mates.
Rangers were content to defend in depth with only two inswinging free kicks from Sean Fitzharris causing them any real concern.
Within a minute of the restart James Keatings struck the post with Celtic upping the tempo and forcing Rangers further back without carving out much in the way of clear cut chances.
The match was following a familiar pattern with Celtic finding it almost impossible to break through the well organised Rangers defence.
With sixteen minutes left to play Darren McCauley replaced Keatings who seemed to take a bad blow on the ankle with Rangers almost snatching the lead in the 78th minute when Archie Campbell escaped from Declan Gallagher only to find Towell heading his net-bound shot round the post.
In the 83rd minute Celtic made the decisive breakthrough thanks to Spence.
"It was a well worked goal and something that we've been working on," Frail explained.
"We knew that the Rangers goalkeeper is good coming out for crosses so we wanted balls played in hard and low.
"We knew that the Rangers goalkeeper is good coming out for crosses so we wanted balls played in hard and low.
"Richie Towell put in a good cross and it was a great finish from Greig Spence. Greig did well to get across the front and get his touch in.
"We had a similar incident on Wednesday against Livingston when Richie opted to shoot rather than square the ball to Greig, but he put across a fantastic ball today and it was a great finish from Greig."The overall manner of the performance was great and I felt that Greig was exceptional playing up on his own.
"He held the ball up well, led the line and scored a well deserved goal.
"If we had lost today we'd have been hoping that Rangers slip up, we won the match and that is part of players development.
"Part of a players development is being involved in games like this where it is all about gaining the three points."
Celtic played out the remaining minutes expertly with the ball played into the corners to eat up precious time.
RANGERS: Adam; Durie, Cole, Scott, Wylde; McCabe (Dick), Wiktorski, Hutton (McAusland), Ness, Naismith (Wright); Campbell
Subs: Weir, McGeouch, McNeil
CELTIC: Guardino; Towell, D Gallagher, Hughes, Lowden; Bagshaw, G Gallagher, Keatings (McCauley 74); Slane, Spence, Fitzharris.
SUBS: Kennedy, F Twardzik, Marsden, Jones, McGregor, O'Donell
2 comments:
That'll do for me Joe.....thanks.
Spence seems a bit of a goal-scorer...we've maybe got a wee diamond there??
Spence has certainly caught fire in the last month.
Moving from Alloa to Celtic u-19s is a completely different challenge.
He looked no more than ok in the first half of the season but has really come on loads in the last month.
His last two goals, against Livi and Rangers, were real instinctive stikers goals, sniffing out a chance, gambling on where the ball might go and 'mysteriously' being in the right place at the right time.
There isn't much to him physically but he can take the treatment and is always getting himself between defenders and the ball looking to turn and create an opening.
Hopefully there will be a big crowd at the Youth Cup Final on April 28 to give the bhoys some backing and a flavour of what it means to be a Celt.
Post a Comment