The Ukrainians came with 16 players, 20 fans, a Ukrainian flag and enough cigarettes to kill a small town. They left with their tails between their legs as the newfound Celtic squad dismantled them rather easily.
With Tavio Palazzolo out of town, Dan Wolka stepped up and put on the keeper attire for this one. Dan had a solid game in the net. We thank Dan for being the man this week!
The scoring opened up not long into the game when Celtic was awarded a free kick just outside of the box. Mark Wolka fired a low screamer through the wall and Alex 'Ace" Christenson was there to fire home the bouncing ball with his "hip". We all know what he really used to score...but it didn't matter. It was 1-0.
Not long after it was Richie Rich Oltesvig's turn to light the lamp. A nice cross came through the box. Ryan Norman and at least two other players "let" the ball go through to Oltesvig who calmly deposited it into the Hoverla net. It was 2-0 and Celtic was looking as strong as ever.
Celtic had a whopping SEVEN subs this week! That makes four games in a row with at least six subs. This new Celtic roster is not only solid on the pitch - they are proving to be reliable. Having subs makes the game easier and it's clearly affected the flow of the game from Celtic.
It was 2-0 at halftime and while Hoverla lit up some smokes, Celtic talked about needing to get back to a possession game and to use the wingers more effectively. That discussion did not fall on deaf ears. Celtic came out and possessed better from the word go.
Hoverla would cut the lead to 2-1 on a solid head goal off of a corner kick. They weren't generating much offense and, to be honest, probably didn't realize that Celtic had a third string keeper in the net. If it weren't for lazy coverage on the corner kick and a third string keeper - Hoverla probably wouldn't have even scored on the play. The 2-1 score seemed to give the Ukrainians some much needed energy as they swarmed around the pitch for a few minutes.
Celtic was not fazed by the Hoverla pressure. They went back to the possession game that earned them the 2-0 lead and got the all-important third goal from the newly rejuvenated Eric Wascha. Wascha, who had himself a stellar two-way game, found a loose ball and fired it home from 25 yards. Unlike the Wascha of old, the new Wascha kept this ball low - only a foot off the ground - and found the side netting. It was a spectacular goal and the Celtic bench erupted in cheers.
Oltesvig was not done with his contributions. He scored his second of the game to make it 4-1 with not much time left on the clock. Richie Rich probably should have had three or four goals on the day but the crafty Hoverla keeper made several nice saves against him and against Ryan Seelhoff among others.
Hoverla would convert a second goal off of a corner kick just as time was running out to make the score respectable. Make no mistake - the score did not reflect the dominant means by which the home team won this game.
MVP: Rich Oltesvig
Honorable mention: Eric Wascha
