Oh the irony.
As Celtic hit brick wall after brick wall on Sunday, failing to break through a brave and belligerent Dundee United backline as their title ambitions suffered another major blow, Ryan Christie had no such problems finding the killer pass.
With just 17 minutes on the clock, Christie lofted a gorgeous chip over the top of a bamboozled Luton Town backline for Philip Billing to volley home at the first attempt.
His second assist of the half wasn’t quite so spectacular, a simple slide-rule cross slammed in by Dominic Solanke, but Bournemouth boss Scott Parker certainly wasn’t complaining.
“Two lovely assists. Nice bit of class in terms of a little flick,” Parker said at full-time, via The Sun. “It was the little bit of class and craft you need in those tight areas in between the lines.
“We’re fortunate we’ve got players in those areas. Players that can operate in real tight spaces between the lines and then have the quality to then feed passes. He (Christie) was very good at that.
“(I am) pleased with him. He’s done well.”
Will Ryan Christie fire Bournemouth back to the Premier League?
Christie’s Man of the Match performance was enough to seal three hard points for a Bournemouth side now sitting pretty at the summit of the table.
The Cherries on top of the Championship cake.
If only Ange Postecoglou could have called upon a player as intuitive, intelligent and unpredictable as the Scotland international while Celtic were slipping six points behind Old Firm rivals Rangers in the Premiership race.
Now, The Hoops had little choice but to cash in on Christie.
The two-time Premiership champion was due to become a free agent in January and his deadline-day departure earned the club a cool £2.5 million, a fee reinvested in the likes of Josip Juranovic and Giorgios Giakoumakis.
But while selling Christie looks like the right call from a financial perspective, from a sporting one, an absence of cutting edge and creativity could be the final line between success and failure for Postecoglou.
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