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Trivia
- A blunder by goalkeeper Andrews costs Celtic a draw in Hungary.
- Honved only a shadow of the great side of the 1950's and 60's.
- Celtic said to be bidding £350,000 for Dundee's Ray Stephen.
- On the following night Celtic drew 1-1 with Motherwell at Fir Park in the Reserve League. The Celtic team was Murdoch, Traynor, Baillie, McNally, Elliot, Stark, Murray, Archdeacon, Mathie, Miller, McGhee. Subs McStay (Murray), McCarrison (Mathie). The Celtic scorer was Joe Miller. Midfielder Steve Murray received a severe knee injury following a challenge which ended his career.
Review
This was described as a dull game of little incident.
Honved scored in 8 minutes when Andrews blunndered by allowing a 30 yard free kick from Fodor to slip in under his body.
Celtic looked slow at the back with McCarthy's exposed for pace on a few occasions and they lacked punch up front with McAvennie not at his best following an ear infection.
Considering their poor run of domestic form this wasn't the worst result for Celtic and Billy McNeill was confident about going through in the return game at Parkhead.
Teams
HONVED:
P Distzl; S Salloi, L Distzl, J Czuhay, L Cseh, S Sijarto (Csehi 75), S Varga, I Fodor (Zhircher 79), J Sass, J Gregor, K Kovacs.
Honved scorer : Fodor (8)
CELTIC:
I Andrews; C Morris, A Rogan, R Aitken, M McCarthy, D Whyte, P Grant, P McStay, F McAvennie, A Walker, T Burns.
Referee: I W M Van Swieten (The Netherlands).
Att: 9,000
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
The Times (London, England) (Sept 8, 1988)
Byline: Roddy Forsyth, Budapest
Honved 1 Celtic 0
“Fodor continues the torment of Celtic's uneasy defence”
The inability of Celtic to discover their best form was again illustrated last night by an unconvincing performance against the Hungarian champions in the first round of the European Cup. Nevertheless, the Scots were permitted to nourish their hopes of progress in the tournament by opponents who failed to press home their superiority, and who were even content to substitute Fodor, their goalscorer and most impressive player, with 20 minutes left.
Celtic started briskly and carried the game to their opponents. But within six minutes there was an ominous sign of unease in their defence when Gregor carried the ball past Andrews and seemed certain to score, but delayed his shot too long and the Celtic goalkeeper was able to smother the danger.
The Celtic manager, Billy McNeill, chose to make a significant change to the team which beat Hamilton Academical at the weekend and he replaced Miller with Whyte. The Scottish champions reverted to the formation of three at the back, five in midfield and two forwards, which they employed frequently last season. However, Celtic, were caught flat once more in the eighth minute, and this time it proved costly as Rogan was forced to halt Fodor illegally as he broke down the right. Fodor took the free kick but although he struck it forcefully enough, Andrews seemed well placed to stop it.
To general surprise, however, the ball passed below him to his left and the Hungarians rejoiced in an unexpected goal. The loss of such an early goal clearly unsettled Celtic. Their principal tormentor was Fodor, whose close control around the edge of the penalty area produced several opportunities for the striking partnership of Kovacs and Gregor. Whenever Celtic were able to move forward on their own account they were unable to generate significant momentum because of Honved's effective off-side trap, and it was significant that Celtic manufactured only one direct threat to the Honved goal, from the advancing full-back Rogan .
Evening Times 9th September 1988
