YFS
It had been exactly a month since both sides had last won a match, in Celtic’s case they had only played a single match since then. Killie on the other hand had drawn one and narrowly lost out to a very good St. Johnstone team, so both sides were looking for a result.
Celtic had complete control of the first half but were unable to make their dominance count due to the goal mouth heroics of Kilmarnock stopper Mark Ridges. Celtic worked hard and passed the ball about well and their effort finally paid off when Jack Breslin headed home the opener before Theo Archibald added another couple to seal the win for the home side.
Celtic had the first attempt of the match when Aidan Nesbitt blasted a twenty five shot toward the Killie goal, but Keeper Mark Ridgers was up to the task and guided the ball out for a corner with a great athletic save.
It was another twenty minutes before the next opportunity. The ball was played out wide to Kieran Tierney, his cross found Archibald who struck towards goal but Ridgers made another classy save.
Celtic then had an opportunity to open the scoring on thirty three minutes when Archibald ran wide and sent the ball into the penalty area. Regan Hendry ran in and sent over the cross bar from eight yards.
Moments later Archibald made a striding run out wide to match the Celtic break. The ball was played to him and he shot as he entered the penalty area, but the fifteen yard strike went clear of the back post.
The Celtic pressure continued when Tierney saw his shot go clear of the cross bar and he then sent a cross into the box that Joe Thomson headed over from ten yards. Then on the stroke of half time, the ball was again sent wide for Archibald who controlled the ball skilfully before crossing in for Nesbitt. The striker’s close range effort went over the cross bar, in part due to pressure from Mark Dempster.