1995-08-31: Celtic 2-1 Raith Rovers, League Cup

Match Pictures | Matches: 1995 – 1996

Trivia

• Players wearing the garish away swoops change strip. You love it or loathe it.
• Celtic defeat Raith Rovers who defeated Celtic in same cup a year ago in the final. Celtic win in extra-time.
• Jimmy Nicholl, Raith manager, complains of sportsmanship. Look at his record, and he is complaining about anyone else? “I don’t care if it sounds like sour grapes, we lost because of bad sportsmanship,” said Raith manager Jimmy Nicholl, who had managed a famous win over Celtic in the final of the same competition the previous year.

Review

Tommy Burns’s Celtic knock out League Cup holders Raith Rovers and gain a measure of revenge for the defeat in last season’s final.

Teams

Celtic(4-4-2):
Marshall; Vata, Hughes, Boyd, McKinlay; Collins, McLaughlin (Donnelly, 68), Grant, O’Donnell; Van Hooijdonk, Thom (Walker, 60). Substitute not used: Bonner (gk).
Goals:

Raith Rovers(4-5-1):
Thomson; Kirkwood, Dennis, Sinclair, Broddle; Rougier, McInally (Wilson, 60), Lennon, Cameron, Dair (Graham, 60); Crawford. Substitute not used: Coyle.

Referee: L Mottram (Forth).

Attendance:27,546.

Articles

• Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Articles

The Herald (Glasgow)
September1, 1995
Nicholl hits atCeltic’slack of sportsmanship. Donnelly saves his side from a spot of trouble.

BYLINE:James Traynor

THE Coca-Cola Cup finalists of last season went at one another again last night in the same competition, but this time the more seasoned premier division club survived.It was, however, another dramatic encounter and one which leftRaithRovers’manager Jimmy Nicholl shaking his head in despair at what he considered to beCeltic’spoor sportsmanship.
Celtic, beaten on penalties in last November’s final, took the lead when Pierre van Hooydonk scored his second goal againstRaithRoversin five days — the Parkhead side won 1-0 in the league at Stark’s Park on Saturday — but the Kirkcaldy side equalised with a stunning goal from Tony Rougier.
The third-round tie then careered on into extra time and just when it seemed as though penalties would be required again, Simon Donnelly scored a minute from the end of overtime.

However, Nicholl was saddened by another incident in the closing stages, claimingCeltic’sbehaviour at a throw-in corrupted the spirit of the game.Raith’s keeper, Scott Thomson, had kicked the ball out of play when he sawCeltic’sPeter Grant lying in agony, suffering from cramp, and after the midfield player had been treated, Rudi Vata took the throw-in and hurled the ball into Raith’s territory where van Hooydonk nodded the ball into touch instead of allowing a Raith player to take possession.
“This put us under pressure in one of our corners of the pitch, and I thought it was poor sportsmanship,” said Nicholl. “If this sounds like sour grapes, then it’s too bad. I was disappointed by the manner in which we lost. Nevertheless, we have had some good fun in the Coca-Cola Cup, and it has given us a wee run in Europe.”
Thomson was under instructions not to say too much about the incident, but he did point out: “You can take it I won’t be kicking the ball out of play again.”
After an impressive start, when they surged forward in numbers, it appeared as thoughCelticwere intent on sweeping Raith off the pitch in retaliation for their audacity in the cup final last season, and the vast majority of the 27,546 supporters were enjoying the spectacle.
Eventually, however, Raith, with Shaun Dennis and David Sinclair immense at the heart of their defence, started to push forward themselves, andCelticdiscovered the evening would not be straightforward.
It wasCeltic’sfirst competitive match back in their own stadium since their impressive new stand was completed, but their early promise did not intimidate their Stark’s Park opponents. “I don’t know if we contributed in a footballing sense,” said Nicholl, but as always, they did.
The first half sawCeltictrying desperately hard to break the deadlock, but a post and some sterling defensive play denied Andreas Thom and his team-mates, and even after van Hooydonk had scored in 51 minutes, Raith still refused to roll over. The Dutchman’s goal was scored after Thom had been brought down by Sinclair 22 yards out.
Both van Hooydonk and John Collins, who was watched by Viv Anderson, the right -hand man of Middlesbrough manager Bryan Robson, stood over the ball, but the former took the shot and sent the ball curling over the defensive wall and into the net. Thomson managed to get a hand to the shot, but could not prevent the goal.
On the hour, three changes were made.Celtictook off Thom who had taken a knock in the first half, and sent on Walker, while Raith withdrew McInally and Dair whose places were taken by Graham and Wilson. Then at the opposite end, in 77 minutes, Gordon Marshall was given absolutely no chance of reaching Rougier’s shot.
Donnelly, a substitute for Brian McLaughlin, used a hand 25 yards from his own goal, and from the free kick, Raith’s Trinidad and Tobago internationalist smacked the ball into Marshall’s top left-hand corner.
The game staggered towards extra time, and after a fairly lifeless first 15 minutes of overtime, legs began to tire rapidly. Penalties loomed andCeltic’sfans must have felt haunted by memories of the cup final when Paul McStay’s miss from the spot allowed Raith to take the cup.
In the closing seconds, though, Raith lost possession deep in their own half, van Hooydonk sent in a cross from the right, substitute Andy Walker got a touch on the ball and when Thomson was able only to parry the ball, Donnelly pounced.
It was all over. Although the scorer of the winning goal was honest enough to admit that he had not played particularly well, he was understandably happy with his first goal in 16 months.
“I am delighted to get through,” saidCelticmanager Tommy Burns, “but it’s difficult to understand how we can make life so hard for ourselves.” On the incident which had annoyed Raith, he said: “I don’t think there was a deliberate intention to indulge in bad sportsmanship.”

Raith Roversreleased their grip on the Coca-Cola Cup they won so dramatically last season after a penalty shoot-out againstCeltic.
However, the manner of their defeat left Jimmy Nicholl, the Raith manager, crying foul and claimingCeltichad broken the unwritten law of modern- day sportsmanship.

Deep inside injury time, Scott Thomson, the Raith goalkeeper, sent the ball out of play to allow treatment to aCelticplayer, but on the restart Pierre Van Hooijdonk, who was deep inside the Raith half, headed the throw in out of play instead of allowing the ball to run to the Raith defenders.Under pressure, Raith lost possession from the throw, Thomson parried an Andy Walker shot and Simon Donnelly whipped the loose ball into the unguarded net.
Nicholl said: ” I thought it was a shocking show of sportsmanship. If that sounds like sour grapes, I’m not bothered.”
Nicholl’s side were still in the game at that stage thanks to Thomson, who pulled out several important saves. He was beaten, however, in the 52nd minute in spectacular fashion when a 25-yard free-kick by Van Hooijdonk exploded past him into the net via the underside of the crossbar.
A similarly potent free-kick in the 77th minute by Tony Rougier, Raith’s Trinidadian striker, took the game into extra time before reaching its dramatic denouement.

Celticleave it so late
BYLINE:By Hugh Keevins Football CorrespondentRAITHROVERSwere last night relieved of the Coca-Cola Cup – andCelticwere spared the unthinkable pressure of a penalty-kick decider – by a goal from Simon Donnelly in the very final minute of extra time.Jimmy Nicholl, the Fife club’s manager, claimed that his side had been defeated by bad sportsmanship on the part ofCeltic’sPierre van Hooijdonk.
Celtic’swinner came afterRaithRovershad voluntarily kicked the ball out of play so that the home team’s Peter Grant could receive treatment for injury.
When the ball was thrown back into play by Rudi Vata, it was aimed in the directiom of the Dutchman, who headed it over the dead-ball line once again and motioned his team- mates forward.RaithRoverssubsequently lost possession of the ball from their throw-in andCelticcapitalised.Tommy Burns’s players performed with the demonic energy of men trying to avoid a sudden- death decider, the means by which they had lost last season’s Coca-Cola Cup final to the same side, and they were delivered from further strain by an intervention that was as sudden as it was unexpected.
A goal in extra time atCelticPark had looked improbable until Phil O’Donnell was permitted to burst through on Scott Thomson,RaithRovers’goalkeeper, as the clock ticked away to what had seemed to be the inevitability of penalty kicks.
When O’Donnell’s strike rebounded from Thomson’s body, Donnelly was on hand to bulge the net with a ferocious shot from an unimpeded distance of eight yards.
“I don’t care if it sounds like sour grapes, we lost because of bad sportsmanship,” said Raith manager Jimmy Nicholl.
Burns has often said that, once into extra time in the cup final lost toRaithRoversat Ibrox last November, he knew the game was slipping away from his club.
Last night, however,Celticrefused to settle for second best after almost two hours of play which frequently vouched for the nerve-ridden nature of the occasion.
Van Hooijdonk, theCelticstriker signed in the wake of the cup final lost to the then First Division team, had givenCelticthe breakthrough seven minutes into the second half of regulation time.
Andreas Thom,Celtic’sGerman forward, was brought down by Davie Sinclair five yards outside the penalty box.
Van Hooijdonk, whose speciality with his former club in the Netherlands, FC Breda, was apparently a habit of scoring comic-book goals, brought his sense of the theatrical to Glasgow.
The tall forward took only two steps back from the ball before curling a shot beyond Thomson and in off the underside of the goalkeeper’s crossbar.
Celtic, though, were to be denied safe passage into the quarter-finals of the Coca-Cola Cup with an additional obstacle being placed in their way.
It came with 13 minutes of play remaining and as a result of a second, remarkable free kick from a foreign player.
Tony Rougier, brought to Kirkcaldy from Trinidad, was given the opportunity to test Gordon Marshall inCeltic’sgoal after Donnelly was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball on the edge of the penalty area.
Rougier, who had spotted that Marshall had left too much space to the right-hand side of his goal, curled an unstoppable shot beyond the goalkeeper to take the game into time added on in front of an impassioned crowd revelling in the atmosphere of the first cup-tie played in the reconstructed stadium with its new 26,000 capacity stand.
The echoes of last season’s cup final were not too distant forRaithRoversin spite of the ten months which had elapsed since they defeatedCelticat Ibrox.
Last night, however, they were beaten by what their manager claimed to be tactics alien to the spirit of the game.
oThe other sides to joinCelticin today’s draw for the quarter- finals of the Coca-Cola Cup are: Aberdeen, Airdrie, Dundee, Hearts, Motherwell, Partick Thistle and Rangers.

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from 2023

The boot was on the other foot at Celtic Park in 1995 when a League Cup tie against Raith Rovers descended into controversy over Simon Donnelly’s extra-time winner, which came after Raith had voluntarily kicked the ball out of play so that the home side’s Peter Grant could receive treatment for an injury. When the ball was thrown back into play in the direction of Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk, instead of giving it back to the waiting Raith player, the Dutchman headed it back over the touchline and motioned his team-mates forward. Rovers subsequently lost possession from their throw-in and Celtic capitalised to knock the holders out. “I don’t care if it sounds like sour grapes, we lost because of bad sportsmanship,” said Raith manager Jimmy Nicholl, who had masterminded a famous win over Celtic in the final of the same competition the previous year.

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