Celtic went into the New Year on top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and on a nine win streak, and their first game of 2012 was away to bottom side Dunfermline. The Celtic fans travelled in good numbers to East End Park and there was good news on the injury front as Emilio Izzaguire was back in the squad after being out with a dislocated ankle since the second game of the season

Samaras once again started and it has to be said that he played well, since the Europa League games he has found a real good run of form. Stokes and Hooper also started along with Brown. Kayal was not in the squad after getting injured in the Old Firm last Wednesday. Celtic were looking to make it ten wins in a row and Dunfermline having already found out that Hibernian had lost to Hearts in the Edinburgh Derby were hoping to get themselves off the foot of the table.

The game started off slowly and both teams were sloppy until the ten minute mark when Celtic started to attack. Samaras played a good ball across the face of goal and it had beaten the goalkeeper but there was no Celtic players in the six yard box who could latch onto the cross. Celtic continued to attack and looked more and more threatening as the minutes went by, it was Anthony Stokes who scored Celtic’s first goal after eighteen minutes. It ended a seven games goal drought for the Irishman.

Celtic pushed on after that and just two minutes later Wanyama forced a save from Dunfermline goalkeeper Smith. But that was Celtic’s last chance for almost twenty minutes as the strong weather conditions turned the game into a battle in midfield. The game then exploded back into life in the thirty sixth minute after Stokes put his second shot of the game wide. This chance was followed by Dunfermline’s first shot of the game but it drifted wide.

It was forty minutes in  and from a Celtic free kick that Wanyama got his second goal of the season, Charlie Mulgrew crossed it in and Wanyama side footed the ball into the net. This confirmed the three points for Celtic and the hoops fans who had filled two and a half stands were singing “Just can’t get enough” nice and loud.

It was the sixty ninth minute when Celtic got their third and Charlie Mulgrew chipped the keeper with a free kick from nearer to the halfway line than the box and that really meant it was party time for the Celtic fans, they had won ten games in a row and had maintained their two point lead over Rangers at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League table. The cherry was put on top of the cake in the seventy ninth minute when Emilio Izzaguire came on and the Celtic fans applauded his every run and touch. It was a great performance by Celtic, their next league game is against St. Johnstone on January 14th but first they play Peterhead in the Cup on the 8th January.

Celtic team celebrate the opener against Dunfermline.

Anthony Stokes was born in Dublin in 1988. He always had a love for football and he dreamed of playing for Celtic. As a young boy in Dublin he played for Shelbourne and Cherry Orchard youth teams. He was then signed by Arsenal and broke into the reserves at the age of fifteen.  He made his first team debut for Arsenal on 25 October 2005, coming on in the 88th minute in a 3-0 league cup win. He then trained with Sunderland and wanted to go on loan to the Black Cats but Niall Quinn decided against it because of the size of his squad. After Sunderland decided against a loan deal for the Irishman it was Falkirk who got him, they got him on loan until the end of 2006. This is where he made a real name for himself. He scored the first hat trick of his career in a 5-1 win over Dundee United on the 28th October, a week later he scored his second second hat trick in a row against Dunfermline. This made him the first player to score consecutive hat tricks in the Scottish Premier League. Ironically, he scored a last minute goal against Celtic in the Scottish cup. The match went into penalties and Falkirk went on to win 5-3. Anthony Stokes’ last game for Falkirk was on 30th December 2005, he scored a hat trick and Falkirk went on to win 3-1. He was a huge success in the SPL and scored sixteen goals in eighteen appearances.

After returning to Arsenal after the loan deal at Falkirk Stokes caught the attention of a few Premier League teams, but it was Sunderland who decided that they wanted him and their £2 million offer was accepted by Arsenal in January 2007, and that was it, Stokes was officially a Sunderland player. At first Stokes was given the number 26 shirt but was later given the number 9 shirt. He made his debut for Sunderland against Ipswich and set up Sunderland’s goal in a 1-0 win over Ipswich. Stokes scored his first goal for Sunderland against Plymouth Argyle on the 10th of February. His first Premier League goal was in a win against Derby County, a last minute goal which took Sunderland out of the Relegation zone. After a while, Stokes was loaned out to Sheffield United. This loan spell was not as successful as his first with Falkirk as he made twelve appearances but failed to score a goal. After Returning to Sunderland he was sent out on another loan to Crystal Palace. Once again he failed to score on this loan after making thirteen appearances. Sunderland then decided that they would sell Stokes to Scottish side Hibernian for a fee of about 500,000 in August 2009. Stokes would be re-united with his former Falkirk manager John Hughes at Hibernian. He scored his first goals for Hibernian against St. Johnstone on 19th September. He then helped Hibernian to a twelve match unbeaten run by scoring five goals in three games. Stokes broke another Scottish football record when he scored the fastest goal in Scottish Football after just 12.4 seconds against Rangers. Stokes was rewarded for his good form with the Scottish player of the month award for December 2009. The Irishman scored the goal of the season in 2009. It was then that Celtic manager Neil Lennon declared his interest in Stokes and after Hibs turned down a first offer they accepted the second offer a few days later.

On 31st August 2010 Anthony signed a four year contract with Glasgow Giants Celtic. Stokes made his debut against Hearts and scored his first goal for Celtic in his second appearance on 19th September. Since joining Celtic Stokes has become a fans favourite. He shared Celtic’s top scorer award with strike partner Gary Hooper at the end of last season having both scored 19 goals. Stokes continues to score and in recent months has really given Giovanni Trapattoni something to think about regarding the coming European Championships in Poland and Ukraine this Summer.

Left: Stokes wins player of the month during his time at Hibernian.

Left: Anthony Stokes when he was an Arsenal player.