Livingston’s Liam Kelly admits Celtic ‘battered’ them in shock draw

Follow us on Google Discover

Celtic were held to the most frustrating of goalless draws as Neil Lennon’s side failed to beat Livingston in Saturday’s Scottish Premiership clash.

Livingston goalkeeper Liam Kelly has admitted that his side were ‘battered’ by Celtic on Saturday despite holding on for a historic goalless draw away at the Champions-in-waiting, speaking to the Scottish Sun.

Celtic saw their gap at the top of the Premiership table cut to a still substantial 11 points as they failed to find a way through Gary Holt’s typically hard-working and organised Livi side at Parkhead.

Kelly was undoubtedly the man of the match, the former Rangers shot-stopper producing a series of fine saves as he kept his 14th clean sheet of the league season. In total, the 23-year-old was called upon to make 11 stops while Celtic attempted 18 shots on goal overall, dominating 73 per cent of the possession.

And, after the game, Kelly was quick to praise his side’s remarkable efforts but admitted that luck certainly played a part in a famous point.

“I didn’t know that was our first ever point here and I didn’t expect it either. When you’re playing the best team in the country, you don’t expect to get anything,” said Kelly, who never made an appearance during 12 years at Ibrox.

“That sums up our season. Two goalless draws with Celtic. I don’t know if anyone else has done that. They battered us, but we got that wee bit of luck.”

Kelly was nearly beaten late on as West Brom loanee Oliver Burke raced through on goal, only to spurn Celtic’s best chance of the game as Rangers moved two points closer to top spot, albeit a genuine title race looks all-but impossible at this stage.