1996-08-24: Kilmarnock 1-3 Celtic, Premier Division

Celtic:
Marshall, Boyd, McKinlay, McNamara, Hughes, Grant, McLaughlin (Di Canio, 57), O’Neil, Van Hooijdonk (Anthony, 89), Thom, Cadete
Unused Sub: Donnelly
Scorers: Di Canio (61) 1-1; Thom (64) 1-2; Cadete (89) 1-3.
Yellow cards: Cadete (Celtic).

ON the ground where they probably lost the league last year, Celtic flirted with failure again, going behind through a horrendous goalkeeping error, before hauling themselves back. But after scoring they crashed in waves against a crumbling Kilmarnock defence further eroded by the seeping pools underfoot, adding two superb goals and spurning innumerable opportunities.
Jorge Cadete's mesmeric pace and close control dismembered Kilmarnock. He played a crucial part in the first two Celtic goals and finished with a smashing left-foot shot in the last seconds which almost friction-dried the sodden netting as it spun in it.
Kilmarnock had gone ahead in the first half, looking easily as capable as Celtic in creativity and fortitude, and could have killed it shortly after the break when John Henry, slipping through the Celtic defensive sandwich at the back, cushioned a Paul Wright cross on his chest and then, faced only with the fallible Gordon Marshall, swept the ball past the post from six yards.
From then on, inevitability and the unstoppable Cadete took over. The man with the long hair plastered to his skull in the deluge played a one-two with Paolo di Canio, who had just come on. The Italian seemed for a second to be overwhelmed by the import of it, but then stabbed with his right foot, where the left seemed more appropriate, for his first competitive goal in Scotland.
The second was entirely to the credit of Cadete. He took a hammered pass on the inside of his foot, seared past two defenders who brought up sprays of water as they slid fruitlessly past and then, when he saw Andreas Thom trotting into place to the left, threaded a perfectly-weighted pass to him and stood admiringly as the drookit German sent Dragoje Lekovic the wrong way.
The elements added a fitting backdrop to the occasion. Just before the start the wind had sprung up, blowing away the clamminess, the rain drove down horizontally and the floodlights came on. Celtic, wearing their Day-glo away strip which would cause sore eyes in a blackout, went into their usual prayer huddle, but when they unfolded the only thing changed from their normal array was Brian O'Neil in the centre of midfield.
Their midfield had been stripped of choice, with Phil O'Donnell, Paul McStay and Morten Wieghorst missing, but, with Simon Donnelly and Di Canio on the bench, it was clear the plan depended on strength and speed in place of craft and strategy.
Kilmarnock are at their best at fever pitch, so it seemed to be questionable tactically, although Celtic opened as if they might inundate the home team in the splashy gloom. Brian McLaughlin created alarm in the retreating defence twice inside three minutes, sending a skiting shot wide and then setting up Cadete for an uncharacteristically weak finish.
Little art was coming from the midfield and threats were on the periphery, with Jackie McNamara continually incisive on the right. But although the front players had a series of one-twos going, they were smothered capably in the dangerous areas. Understandably, there was a creative hole in the heart of the side.
Kilmarnock's pacy play took them ahead in 26 minutes. John Henry buzzed in on the right, his low cross was blocked and bobbled out to the loitering Mark Reilly on the edge of the box. His shot was fiercely struck but straight and Marshall, in a slow and arthritic collapse, allowed the ball to squirm out of his hands, through his legs and over the line. The goalkeeper also managed to spill two other shots in the dying embers of the half.
Di Canio had come on for McLaughlin while Henry was still holding his head in his hands. His first, rather stiff-legged run took him up the right wing. He passed to Pierre van Hooijdonk who delivered a delicious through-ball to Cadete with a clear run on goal. Somehow he managed to tuck the ball over the diving Lekovic but it skittered off the turf and wide.
Van Hooijdonk hit the post as Celtic players piled in formations into the Kilmarnock box. Tosh McKinlay shot over from close range after John Hughes had used his head as a hammer to deliver the ball 40 yards to Di Canio for the cutback to Thom and the chip to the full-back.
The Henry miss, the introduction of Di Canio and Cadete's sublime contributions had turned the game, and Celtic's confidence and self-belief grew as the torrents abated. Kilmarnock were glad it was all over long before Cadete's final flourish signalled the curtain. By then the spotlights had gone out and the sun had come up again.

While Burns was saluting his Italian ace, he refused point-blank to condemn the blunder made by keeper Gordon Marshall.
He said: "One thing Gordon doesn't need is people lambasting him.
"My job is to protect my players – he plays in a difficult position and he's made some great saves but only mistakes are highlighted.
"I don’t have a magic wand that can help me bring in another keeper.
"Marshall is a player like everybody else and he deserves the same chance as everybody else."

Alex Totten the Kilmarnock manager said, "We were better than Celtic for an hour and were quite comfortable at 1-0.
"We should have gone two up when John Henry missed that easy chance. If he puts that away we're looking good. It proved to be the turning point of the match.
"The bottom line is that we could only score one goal when we had them on the rack.
"Against Celtic and Rangers you get punished if you don't take chances – we found that out the hard way again."