Frozen Assets

Arbroath gave Celtic another fright last night and showed they could play a bit. Celtic manager Neil Lennon was happy to get through the Scottish Cup replay last night at Gayfield Park unscathed. He was worried about the frozen pitch and how his players would cope with the conditions. The Gayfield Park pitch was rock hard and the SPL leaders struggled at times. After the 1-0 win Lennon said: "It was a performance full of character. It was a horrible night. The pitch got worse as the game went on and you could see how difficult it was to play on. It became almost like an ice rink. I was worried about the safety of the players but they showed their professionalism tonight and great character. The pitch was definitely a leveller." The difference between the sides was down to Adam Matthews' first-half strike into the top corner and Lennon was full of praise for his right-back. he said: "He's a great athlete, he's got great pace and we've been asking him to do more of that. He was far more productive in his offensive play on Saturday and again tonight. He was probably our best outlet and the goal was a real thing of beauty." Arbroath player-manager Paul Sheerin was disappointed that they could not force the game into extra-time after coping well with the visitors. They had the ball in the net in the 66th minute goal thanks for Steven Doris but it did not count as referee Craig Charleston blew fory for a foul on keeper Fraser Forster. Sheerin said: "I didn't see much wrong with the goalkeeper, I didn't see too much impeding. It didn't look like a foul, that's for sure. Over 180 minutes, to match the champions of Scotland the way we have has been excellent and I'm very proud of the players. There is a slight frustration but when you play teams like that you have to equip yourself well and that's what we did.  I said I'd be happy if did ourselves justice and I think we did that."  Despite being behind for most of the game the Second Division outfit turned in a strong second-half performance. Sheerin said of his part-time players: "I hope they learn from it and I hope they want more of it. These are the games you want to be involved in  For the first 20-25 minutes Celtic were very good and caused us a lot of problems.  But after they scored we settled a bit better. Our shape was good and our discipline was good." Source: ScottishFitba

Source: FOOTYMAD