City-Celtic live blog! 2-1 City, Full Time

By: Thad | August 8th, 2009

After a brief delay we’ve found a good working stream to view the action from COMS where City are playing Celtic in the final pre-season friendly. City have just taken the lead on a cracking 15th minute goal by Gareth Barry, 1-0 to City.

The goal came on a beautiful cross from right back Zabaleta, it landed in the penalty spot area and Barry deftly knocked it home with his left foot, an unstoppable finish.

17th minute: City forced into an unwelcome change. Toure has a niggle and has come off, Tal Ben Haim is on.

19th minute. City have a strong lineup as we’d expect. Bridge, Tourre, Dunne, Zabaleta and Given at the back, Ireland, Barry, de Jong, SWP, Robinho, and Bellamy

22th minute. Celtic have a corner through City old boy Killen, taking by another old boy Flood. Given had to make a nice save there on Killen’s header.

24th minute. Celtic, in yellow and black stripes, also feature Samaras, who has had one or two boos already (not sure why)–and there’s the equalizer for Celtic, as Killen beats Shay Given. 1-1!

25th minute. Samaras played a beautiful lofted through ball to Killen who got in behind. Samaras looked like Kaka on that one. good finish too.

26th minute. That goal won’t impress critics of City’s defense–you can’t let a through ball down the middle of the pitch beat you so easily. Not sure if it was TBH or Dunne more at fault.

27th minute. Great crowd and atmosphere in the stadium, by the way. Replay shows Dunne did play Killen onside, a well-time run and a great ball but a poor goal for City to concede.

28th minute. City just squander a great chance as Ireland has a bad touch after being played through into the area. Those are the chances we’re used to see him take.

30th. Flood and Robinho battle on the left touchline–a bit of a strange sight. I’ve missed seeing Flood’s distinctive running style!

31th minute. Bellamy, former Celtic man, has barely had a touch; he’s playing in the centre forward position of a 4-3-3. Bridge just tried to spot him but Bellamy could control the pass. Robinho is fouled now 30 yards from goal….

33rd minute. The initial free kick from Bridge cleared easily but a neat follow-up move almost works–but Zabaleta is offside. Celtic go the other way and win a corner through Mizuno.

34th minute. Samaras had a whack there but Dunne deflected it for another corner. Celtic enjoying some pressure at the moment.

35th minute. Decent play there by Robinho to set Bellamy up but the Welsh striker can’t get a shot off. Very entertaining match, this one. Both sides want goals.

36th minute. Half-hearted penalty claims on Ireland’s shot/cross, but it will be merely a corner. On the corner Celtic fans roar as Flood dispossesses Robinho…

38th minute. After a few City passes Robinho moves into the centre of the pitch and lets on fly from 30 yards, but well off target. Celtic fans (many shirtless) are not throwing the ball back.

40th minute. Possession stats say it’s 60-40 City but it feels like a very even match.

43rd minute. Nice counter-attack led by Ireland leads to a corner. That was pretty well-played coming out of the back. Nothing comes of the corner however.

44th minute. I bet Arsene Wenger is (or will be) watching this one with great interest. Cheeky attempt by Mizuno to shoot on a long free kick doesn’t come off.

45th. Tony Mowbray with a smile–a few months ago his West Brom side gave City a great match at COMS in defeat. City there just had the ball for a good 10 seconds in the penalty area but neither Bellamy or Robinho could get a clean shot away.

Halftime whistle! This is about as good as friendly football gets. Both sides have motivation to play well–a good result would give City some confidence heading into the league, and Celtic want to keep the momentum going heading into the Arsenal tie.

Most of the lower sections are occupied but it’s spotty in the upper decks and in the end zones. I’m guessing 25,000 are there but we will see. And yes, Adebayor is on! For de Jong. Bellamy will presumably move to the wing and SWP drop into midfield…

Correction, earlier I said Barry’s goal was on his left foot but the replay seems to show it was the right (not 100% sure!) great finish in either case, do that in the league and it will be on the highlight reels for weeks.

Adebayor is warming up with a few tricks. Could he be about to make his home debut? Tevez is also named on the bench, would be a huge day if he comes on. Also Micah Richards, who is yet to see any preseason action. This was Celtic’s starting lineup for the record: Zaluska, Naylor, Caddis, O’Dea, McCourt, Donati, Flood, Crosas, Killen, Mizuno, Samaras.

46th minute. There’s the kickoff! The stream has moved to www.atdhe.net, for anyone following online…

47th minute. Toure’s early niggle didn’t at all loo serious, for what it’s worth. Given came out of his box to head that one away. Following up Celtic flash the ball across goal but no one can put it home, TBH got an important touch…

48th minute. Adebayor, Bellamy, Robinho all involved in that move but nothing comes of it. Another move through Ireland ends in a curling Robinho shot that’s gathered up at the 2nd attempt. Right back the other way and Given has to go down to scoop up a through ball. End to end stuff!

50th minute. Goal for City!!! Craig Bellamy does really well there, he took down a long ball, took a dribble, beat the defender, then beat the keeper low to the left corner from the right side. Excellent goal! Bellamy making his claim for a starting spot.

52nd minute. Will be interesting to see if Celtic wear down in the 2nd half after their midweek match. Can City drop the hammer? Celtic look there for the taking at the moment.

55th minute. Ireland tried to pick out Adebayor in front of goal but Naylor gets there to head behind. Yet again nothing comes of the corner, however.

57th. Fantastic run by McCourt creates a great chance but Mizuno can’t get on to the cross. On the follow-up play, Samaras shot hard from distance but Given saved easily. McCourt beat 3 City defenders on that move.

58th. Another good break by City that doesn’t quite end up in a chance. Ireland and Barry are going to be a terrific combination in midfield, that much is clear.

59th minute. I like this more attack-minded lineup with SWP in midfield, 3 strikers, no de Jong.

60th minute. Huge ovation–Tevez is warming up on the sideline and applauding the City support!

61th minute. Fortune in, Celtic sub.

62th minute. Another break for City but Bellamy is perhaps too unselfish, he went for the perfect through ball and it didn’t work when he could have had a pop himself. More pressure from City, Robinho tries a trick in the box but can’t keep it long enough to get a shot off.

64th minute. Some good control for City working down the right ends up with a good shot by SWP, but right at the keeper. 7-5 City in shots on target department, now.

65th minute. The moment is here–Tevez has taken off his warm-ups and is coming into the match. Big, big applause for the Argentine. Bellamy is off after a job well done.

66th minute. Tevez wastes no time lunging in on a tackle. City get the ball, Robinho plays it to Tevez who wins a corner.

67th minute. TBH with a slighly risky challenge there on Flood in the box. Celtic corner, and it’s headed over by McDonal. Celtic’s best chance of 2nd half.

69th minute. McGeady has come on. Last 20 minutes should be quite entertaining.

70th minute. Dunne pressured into conceding a soft corner by Fortune–he couldn’t find Given on a back pass. Zabaleta wins the ball on ensuing corner.

71th minute. Adebayor, Tevez, Robinho try to combine that time going forward, but the ball is lost over the end line.

72th minute. Tricky winger time! Petrov and Weiss are coming on, SWP is off as is Robinho.

73rd. This move is a good indication that Weiss is going to be very involved with the first team this season. That’s why Elano was sold.

74th minute. Samaras does a couple of rolls on the floor after Zabaleta catches him on the tackle.

75th minute. Nice turn with the ball by Tevez excites crowd…then a Barry tackle creates another break, and Weiss wins a corner.

76th minute. Has to be said, City have looked dire as ever on these attacking corners today!

77th minute. Triple change for Celtic, Samaras gets some applause all around as he comes off. (Perhaps most recognize it wasn’t his idea to be partnered with Bernardo Corradi in the slowest ever Premiership strike partnership!) Flood is off too. McGinn, Ferry and Fox are in for Celtic.

79th minute. More City pressure, but the flag went up very harshly (i.e. wrongly) against Weiss for offside.

80th. Tevez played in Ireland there who almost got to it for a clear shot. City are well on top but Celtic still look capable of grabbing a goal. City need to be a little careful at the back. Free kick for Celtic 25 yards away..

81th. Fox fired a tricky one in that Given is able to grab cleanly on the bounce–he had no room for error on that as Celtic were following up.

83rd minute. Tevez pressuring the keeper almost caused a problem. Celtic have had one or two slightly strange passes played at the back.

84th minute. Game in danger of petering out a bit. I’m greedy and want Adebayor or Tevez to grab a goal.

85th minute. There’s some better pressure, Tevez and Zabaleta try a one-two in the box but Celtic suss that one out. Another corner the other way for Celtic.

86th minute. Celtic played the corner short and got in a fine cross to O’Dea, whose firm header from 7 yards went wide. Could easily have been a goal there. City need to be careful!

87th minute. Is it just me or does TBH look a bit fitter and quicker than this time a year ago? He has done okay today. There’s another City move in the box but Adebayor’s cross is easily dealt with.

88th minute. Another corner for Celtic. Can City deal with it better this time? Sort of…TBH wins the ball, but knocks over Donati in process. Ref stops play, but there’s no foul. TBH won the ball cleanly in the air and caught Donati on the follow through.

90th minute. Celtic having too much of the ball for comfort; 2 minutes to be added.

91th minute. City finally get it for a spell and are playing some proper keep ball.

92nd minute. Barry announced as man of the match–no arguments here. One last shot from distance comes in by Ferry, well wide. That should be it…

And there’s the final whistle…3 valuable points…oops, hold on let’s not get carried away. Still, a good performance by City and easily the most encouraging of the pre-season. Celtic fans enjoyed a good day out and have no reason to be discouraged by the result, their team looked very dangerous throughout. All three goals in the match had real quality. I think I’ve decided that Barry’s goal was in fact with the left foot (got it right the first time!)

Other big news of the day is Tevez’s debut. He looked good out there. Decision time for Mark Hughes on whether to go with him or Bellamy next week–Bellamy’s goal today was first class.

That’s all, we’ll post videos of the goals later on this thread.