Adam Idah’s arrival at Celtic wasn’t greeted by thousands of supporters turning up at the top of Kerrydale Street to welcome the club’s exciting loan signing.
More than a decade on from Robbie Keane’s pop star welcome Kerrydale Street has made way for The Celtic Way, Celtic’s shopping is now in the Championship but there were no grumbles last night over the Irish striker with the questionable scoring record.
With his Norwich background Sutton wasn’t convinced that Idah was the quality signing that Brendan Rodgers was looking for but sometimes sport can come down to nerve, to bottle.
Celtic haven’t been without their problems from the penalty spot in recent times, the memories of Luis Palma’s double miss against Ross County are still painfully fresh.
When they were awarded a fourth minute penalty away to Hibs after Alistair Johnston was wiped out, Idah was unaffected by a five minute hold up, it seemed to focus his concentration before slotting the ball past David Marshall to give Celtic a 10th minute lead.
That was impressive, what followed in the 90th minute of the match was on another level entirely.
Massive balls from Adam Idah 👏👏. Celtic not at their best but a huge three points. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how you win…
Hibs were excellent second half and pushed Celtic all the way. Nick Montgomery needs time.— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) February 7, 2024
After equalising Hibs had the best of the chances, behind a constantly changing defence Joe Hart stood firm to keep Celtic in contention.
With 20 minutes left to play Kyogo Furuhashi joined Idah in attack, a role reversal from the draw with Aberdeen on Saturday but this time there was a very happy ending.
With the clock racing towards 90 minutes Kyogo had to rush his shot just inside the penalty box as Joe Newell raced to block him. The substitute was injured, Andrew Dallas checked on VAR before suggesting that referee Nick Walsh takes a look on the monitor.
Idah kept himself detached and focussed, some fans couldn’t bare to watch but the on loan striker stepped up to score his second penalty of the night to deliver three precious points from a fixture that looked to be slipping away.
With two goals from 110 minutes as a Celtic player Idah has made the desired impact, his nerve can;t be questioned with none of the away fans debating over whether he falls into the quality or project tag.
CLICK HERE for SPFL text report on the match
CLICK HERE for Rodgers’ praise for Idah.
