Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Celtic v Maryhill Magyars

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The Celtic Star

·22 de setembro de 2025

Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Celtic v Maryhill Magyars

SANDMAN’S DEFINITIVE RATINGS: CELTIC @ MARYHILL MAGYARS…

Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“You get in there, you get the job done and you get the hell out,” Tom Petty.

VINDALOO – 6/10 – Didn’t look too happy with his passing options, certainly first-half with the sun in his eyes, although he IS comfortable using his feet. Handling good and nothing wrong with his confidence. Expect he was affected by some unstable moments ahead, drawing him in to become one of the shaky trinity at the centre of our defence.

Vídeos OneFootball

Kieran Tierney seen during the Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

KATIE – 6/10 – Solid enough from KT, nothing spectacular but decent linkage with King Tut up the wing. And he did manage to see out a 90 minutes which may be encouraging. Provided he’s not picked up a knock…

Liam Scales celebrates. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

OF JUSTICE – 6.5/10 – The Wicklow wonder keeps you wondering, particularly when he’s passing like Stevie Wonder…But overall, his balance of positive versus negative trumps on the good side, shrugging off an early yellow for bitch-slapping Tony ‘Barcaskelper’ Watt to throw in a glancing-headed goal and cap off a decent afternoon.

Cameron Carter-Vickers wins the header. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

GET CARTER – 5.5/10 – Bit of a worry, to be honest – lapses that once were anomalies appear to be happening with heart-stopping regularity; his eye-off-the-ball speciality was accompanied today with a blindside from five yards. The big fella needs to sharpen up those synapses – does Lennoxtown have an electro-shock therapy room he can use before Thursday?

Colby Donovan celebrates after the Partick Thistle v Celtic match. Premier Sports League Cup tie. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

MELLOW YELLOW – 6/10 – Another workmanlike, busy performance from the rangy 60s crooner. Has been providing competent cover in the right-back role and might have a shout to be a permanent fixture if he maintains a consistent, quality level.

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Callum McGregor at Firhill. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

CALMAC – 6/10 – Quietly efficient outing for the skipper. Main concern was him coming through unscathed, whch he did pretty much without breaking sweat.

Benjamin Nygren at Firhill. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

NEGAN – 6/10 – Drifted a bit, anonymous for a period then would pop up in advanced role looking for trouble. Still not convinced he’s any upgrade for us and definitely don’t believe we can operate with him and Reo like that against any sort of top-level opposition.

Reo Hatate in action. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

HAKUNA HATATE – 7/10 – Got into a groove and appeared to be enjoying himself, picking off a few sumptuous passes, evading Thistle’s attempts to stifle his space. These are the games Reo uses to lift his spirits and confidence. Let’s hope there’s an immediate knock-on effect to get him out of his early-season slump.

Yang scores the opener. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

YING – 6/10 – Well, ye might have smiled when ye scored! Still referring to himself as ‘Birmingyang’, he did enough today to ease us through, grabbing a bit of the limelight with a headed opener, even if he celebrated like a Zombie whose johnny burst with Bonne Blue.

Sebastian Tounekti during the Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

TUTANKHAMUN – 8/10 MOTM – Quickly becoming the go-to player. Certainly the bhoy most likely all game, looking on it while others warmed into the game. Had his opponents in a mental tailspin, unsure whether to engage or stand-off; that was them absolute toast even despite the double-team (no, Jamesy…) and he took full advantage. Twisting, cutting, penetrating, a searing knife into melting butter, topped off with a beautiful first Hoops goal. Has now hit the ‘Mikey J False Dawn’ record of two good games in a row, so we await with interest what comes next…

Kelechi Iheanacho at Firhill. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

ITCHYCOO PARK – 6/10 – Now, that’s how a centre-forward puts in a quietish-but-effective performance, showing that although service not great and your sharpness not peak, you can still provide movement and link-play and affect the game. Adam.

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SUBS –

Paulo Bernardo at Firhill. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

SAINT BERNARDO – N/A – Gametime at least. And at last.

Daizen Maeda at Firhill. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

LORD KATSUMOTO – N/A – Looked like Daizen of old in a few incidents, i.e bewilderingly mental.

Michel-Ange Balikwisha at Firhill. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

BALIKMORY – N/A – Not much shown again in the way of dynamic wing-play, though did make the tackle to instigate the fourth goal.

Arne Engels with Brendan Rodgers at Firhill. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

THE TERMINATOR – N/A – Came on, took a nasty whack; not exactly his most auspicious start to a season, I’m sure.

Luke McCowan celebrates. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

HIGHLAND TOFFEE – 6/10 – Luke, a belter! Strode forward, slammed in a sweet strike, shut up the luvvies in the stand who’d been hurling abuse at him and then dropped their theatre binoculars; “You’re nothing but a glorified graffitti yob who thinks he’s Jackson Pollok, you beastly hooded warbler!”…”Your butler has eczema!”…”I say, fellow, you cre… Oh, dash. Call the chaffeur, we’re leaving.”

Brendan Rodgers applauds the Celtic support. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

THE NOTAPRODDYGAL – 7/10 – Would he gamble? Would he rest the starting eleven? No. More worryingly, the starting eleven look like they’ll also line up on Wednesday. I don’t know too much about Red Star – only that they’re probably better than Dalmellington Red Star from the old Ayrshire Sunday League – and that ongoing midfield situation will afford us no grip in the game. For today, though, it sufficed and BR got his semi-final berth with minimum fuss.

MIBBERY – 2/10 – Wasn’t much Clancy Drew and cohorts were really going to manage, but an early yellow for Liam had me wondering. Fortunately they got bored and the Hoops strolled, so no harm done.

Celtic fan protest. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

OVERALL – 7/10 – Firhill for frills – sunshine, party atmosphere, hundreds of bedroom posters of Pistol Pete getting donated to the linesman’s paper mache collection and fireworks up the back from the forest elves on the hill who’d emerged to watch the game for free. On field it all went smoothly enough after an initial period of finding our feet. We took over sometime after the opening quarter and the result wasn’t ever in doubt. Difficult to assess given the quality of Thistle but you can only credit the Bhoys for going about it professionally and setting up the chance to terrify the Zombies at Hampden in the semi-final.

Sebastian Tounekti celebrates with the Celtic support at Firhill after Liam Scales makes it 2-0. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Now we go get down to business in Belgrade and really see what this squad’s made of. No more room for error. Or excuses. The season starts here…

Go Away Now

Sandman

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