Four clear but conceding again: Celtic's trip to Falkirk follows a first league draw and a big appeal ruling
Sunday 1 November 2026 · By Callum Reid
Celtic travel to Falkirk today as league leaders, four points clear of Rangers on the BBC table taken at 13:01 GMT, but Wednesday night left Martin O'Neill with things to chew over. The 2–2 draw with Dundee United in front of 57,969 at Celtic Park was Celtic's first league draw of the season and ended a run of three straight league wins.
Camilo Durán put Celtic ahead after 18 minutes, then Zac Sapsford (28) and Neil Farrugia (31) gave United a 2–1 half-time lead. Liam Scales levelled on 65 minutes. O'Neill was straight about the first half. "We fell asleep and conceded the goal, then another one," he told the BBC. He liked the second half: "Half time allowed us to regroup and I thought the second half was very strong."
The sticking point is goals against. Asked about the BBC's figure of six clean sheets in 24 games in all competitions, O'Neill said: "You are always going to look at goals you concede and think you can do better. Sometimes we just give the ball away in important positions." It is a fair summary of a side with the division's most league goals (27) and eight conceded.
There is a bit of history too. Celtic are now unbeaten in 52 home games against United, according to the BBC's figures, and United have not won at Celtic Park since December 1992.
Today's game kicked off at 13:00 on Sky Sports. When we last checked the BBC's live page, Falkirk led 2–0 at half-time, with Ethan Ross and Scott Tanser scoring. The game was still in progress, so we are not treating that as a result. A win would put Celtic seven points clear.
Off the pitch, the SFA's Appellate Tribunal published its outcome on Thursday. The SFA lists the result for both Celtic and Rangers as "Appeal Partially Upheld". It says the tribunal affirmed that each club's next home Scottish Cup tie be played behind closed doors, set aside the suspended further stadium closure and the suspended further compensatory payment, and affirmed the £100,000 compensatory payment but varied it, so that no payment is due if the other Old Firm club is the visiting side. The BBC, by contrast, reports that the appeals "failed" and were dismissed. Celtic called the punishment "excessive and disproportionate". Rangers had not commented when the BBC published.
On the injury front, we have no update. Earlier this week O'Neill said that Alistair Johnston is out until after the international break, and Auston Trusty has been away because of a family bereavement. Everyone at the club will be thinking of him.
The fixture list is busy. Besiktas visit Celtic Park in the Europa League on Thursday at 20:00 GMT, a date we haven't rechecked today, and the Green Brigade's boycott of home Europa League games applies. Kilmarnock arrive at Celtic Park a week today, Sunday 8 November, at 16:00 GMT.
Four points clear is a decent cushion at this stage. Keeping a clean sheet more often would make it a lot more comfortable.
Green stands are home areas. The gold block is the usual visiting section, in the south-east corner of the Lisbon Lions Stand.
Celtic Park, still called Parkhead and Paradise by the people who fill it, is the home of Celtic Football Club in the east end of Glasgow, at G40 3RE. It is the largest club ground in Scotland, listed at 60,411, and on a full night the noise comes from three sides of a continuous bowl. If you are with the away support, the useful fact is simpler than the folklore: you will almost always be in one corner, with your own turnstiles, and the rest of the ground will be green and white.
The pitch runs east to west, so the goals sit in front of the two end stands, not the long sides. With north at the top of the plan, the Jock Stein Stand is on the left, behind the west goal, and the Lisbon Lions Stand is on the right, behind the east goal. The east stand is named for the 1967 European Cup side. Along the long sides, the North Stand holds about 27,000 in two tiers plus a club level. Opposite it, the older and shallower Main Stand on the south side holds the dugouts, the directors’ box and the television gantry.
Visiting supporters sit in the south-east corner of the Lisbon Lions Stand, next to the Main Stand. A normal league allocation is the lower-tier blocks around 118 and 119, though the exact blocks change with the fixture. League visits are often a couple of thousand seats; cup and European ties can be larger if the safety plan allows it. Tickets come through your own club, not Celtic’s home sale. Disabled visiting supporters who need segregated parking should contact the Celtic Disabled Supporters Association in advance. Those bays are balloted, and the relevant car parks close about an hour before kick-off.
From the away corner you are side-on to the near goal, looking across towards the Jock Stein Stand. The view is clear, but the opposite penalty area is a long way off. Home support wraps around you. The North Stand rises to your right as you look at the pitch, the Main Stand sits beside the segregation line, and the Lisbon Lions lower tier also holds a rail-seating section for home fans, plus a family area. Expect sustained singing. Stewarding on the line is firm, so stay in the allocated blocks.
Leave the car if you can. Traffic on London Road clogs early, and residential parking restrictions are enforced. The simplest routes are the train to Dalmarnock, about a ten-minute walk, or Bridgeton, a little further. From the city centre, a train from Glasgow Central or a bus along London Road will do. If you must drive, use M8 junctions 12, 13 or 14, and allow a long buffer. Official parking is limited and fills quickly.
Turnstiles generally open around ninety minutes before kick-off. Arrive earlier for a European night or an Old Firm game, because the away entry queues and bags are checked. Bring the ticket on the card or app your club specified. Food kiosks and toilets are on the concourse behind the section. After the whistle, follow the stewarded route out rather than drifting towards the home exits on Janefield Street or London Road. The present stands date from the mid-1990s rebuild of a ground on this site since 1892. For a match, the plan is the part that matters: west goal in front of the Jock Stein Stand, east goal in front of the Lisbon Lions Stand, and the visiting seats in the gold corner where that east stand meets the Main Stand.