12 hours ago
11
Martin O’Neill warned Celtic could be in trouble if they do not strengthen their squad despite resuming his supervision of the team with a 4-0 victory over Dundee United. A dominant display seemingly banished concerns there might be lasting damage from Wilfried Nancy’s brief but torrid tenure, when Celtic lost six out of eight games.
O’Neill returned to oversee a first clean sheet since his final game in caretaker charge and equal the two biggest wins of the Premiership season, which also came under his watch. Two first-half goals in five minutes, from Yang Hyun-jun and Arne Engels, sent Celtic on their way, with substitute Benjamin Nygren and Daizen Maeda scoring after the break. “We played really well,” said the 73-year-old. “It was nice to see players performing well, playing with confidence, and it was just nice to win.”
O’Neill pointed out the importance of a goal-saving block from Liam Scales on Owen Stirton and also admitted his concern that Julian Araujo might have received a red card for a late tackle on Will Ferry. “If the confidence is kind of fragile, then that sort of thing can change again, then it gives the opposition a big boost,” he said. “But we rode that one out and we saw it through.”
Celtic are yet to make a January signing after failing to meet their objectives in the previous two transfer windows. “I am hopeful we are going to get some people in,” O’Neill said. “But just when you think that something might happen, things change around. We obviously need to do it, even just to give help to the boys. If we pick up injuries to really key players we could be in serious trouble.”
Kieron Bowie earned Hibernian a point in a 1-1 draw with Motherwell. After a first half that struggled to get going, the match burst to life after the break. Motherwell’s Tawanda Maswanhise grabbed his 15th goal of the season when he finished off a devastating counterattack in the 52nd minute, but Bowie levelled in the 69th minute from six yards out.
Falkirk boosted their top-six hopes with a 2-0 win at St Mirren, who suffered a third straight defeat. Finn Yeats broke the deadlock after 55 minutes with a superb curling effort from 25 yards and Calvin Miller made the points safe six minutes later.
Neil McCann began his Kilmarnock reign with a 1-1 draw at relegation rivals Livingston, who are four points behind them at the bottom of the table. Connor McLennan put Livingston ahead on the stroke of half-time, but were denied a second win of the league campaign by Marcus Dackers 20 minutes from time.
On Sunday, leaders Hearts are at Dundee while Aberdeen host Rangers.
Rangers beat the Dons 2-0 at Ibrox on Tuesday and the Aberdeen defender Mats Knoester thought there were enough signs of encouragement to suggest his team, who remain under the interim charge of Peter Leven, were capable of getting a more favourable result in the rematch.
The Dutchman said: “If we can finish at least one or two of these very big chances and don’t allow them to score so easy in a set piece, then it can be a whole different game and a whole different picture also from the outside.”
-
This story will be updated
