Ah, back to the mid 70s for me as I boarded the bus at the Aclet in the rain, just like I used to when I was a lad.

By the time I’d got my sleep out, it was still hossing down and we were approaching Glasgow. Thankfully the sun broke through, we hopped off the bus as they were looking for a pub, and we were in the Blackfriars bar just gone eleven. At twelve we met up with the two Petes in the Babbity Bowster, where the Ossian was superb if expensive. Half an hour later, via the Drum & Monkey, we were with the Shields/Hartlepool crew in the Spoons by the station, where I just won the SAFC trivia contest thanks to knowledge of Dougie Maguire, then the slowest taxi ride in history to Parkhead. My ticket was openly described as “ restricted view” and I couldn’t remember any pillars of note, but this one was the size of Iain Hesford’s big brother and covered the whole of the goal.

Fulop

Bardsely Collins Ferdy McCartney

Henderson Leadbitter Steed Reid

Richo

Jones

Again, the one up front, but we can now look at this formation with optimism rather than despair. As the kick-off approached, there was a well-observed minute’s applause for Bobby Robson and the young Scottish player whose name I shamefully can’t bring to mind, then we set off at a fair pace. OK, Celtic are in the middle of a European two-legger against Dinamo Moscow, but we looked like a proper Premier League out fit, and it took only 15 or so for Richo fire just wide, then hit the opener soon after when he burst free of a pedestrian defender and cracked home a low shot . We looked by far the more composed side, and went close on several more occasions, most notably when Henderson beat the keeper but not the bar from distance. Although Steed wasn’t operating in the left wing position that he excelled in on Sunday night, Reid put himself about in that area, and we were well happy with the display at the break. I shared my Aero bar (healthy eating isn’t Glasgow’s forte) with Margaret and Martin Ellwood, once of Stanhope but now in Stoke, and discussed the impact Cana might have.

Celtic, as you’d expect, came at us a bit more in the second half, but we soon got the upper hand again thanks to some excellent defending by Ferdy, and when the ball whipped in from the left, Jones powered in a header to cap a great battling display. Based on his play in the last three games, I think we can write off last season as far as he is concerned. He looks every inch the bustling centre-forward he promised to be when he first arrived on Wearside, and defenders will not enjoy playing against him. We followed the goal with some excellent football, passing the ball about with aplomb, and kept the home side on the back foot. Being a friendly, there followed a flurry of substitutions with Cana and Campbell making their debuts. Campbell looked very pacy and keen, and could well benefit from a full ninety minutes alongside Jones, and Cana produced a few tackles that would have drawn appreciation from Kevin Ball. Noz and Murphy got a run out, but Celtic took advantage of our chopping and changing to pull a goal back from a corner and dominated for fifteen minutes or so before we decided to hold on to what we had and defended well for the last ten. As the clock ticked down, there was another moving rendition of the Bobby Robson song, and we showed real professionalism to keep the home side at bay.

All in all, a performance to really instil confidence for the season to come. Should the Daren Bent situation continue to frustrate, Richo really looks the business just behind Jones. Back him to score a dozen or more this season.

Final Score: 2-1

Man of the Match: Richardson – sharp, instinctive, effective.

Sobsy

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