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Trivia
- The tie was staged at Hibernian's Easter Road ground in freezing conditions.
- The day before Rangers had hit 10 against non-league opposition in the shape of Keith FC.
- Whitehill Welfare had been unbeaten in 'East of Scotland' competition for several months, until they crashed to defeat against Civil Service Strollers the week prior to the Celtic match.
- Their squad included many players with League experience, including veteran midfielder Derek Steel (ex-Raith Rovers, East Stirlingshire and Arbroath).
- They also included Jamie O'Rourke among their substitutes, son of Hibernian legend Jimmy O'Rourke.
- Diminutive left-sided attacker Ross Middlemist found himself in direct competition with Jackie McNamara, a former schoolboy teammate. The former Edinburgh University student had cancelled a trip to Australia in order to play in the game and cross swords with Jackie.
Review
The undoubted star of the show was Scott Cantley, a goalkeeping postman who enjoyed a long spell with Whitehill before moving onto the Junior circuit with Musselburgh and Whitburn. He was playing for Bonnyrigg Rose as recently as 2008. As Tommy Burns' swashbuckling Celtic liberally peppered his goal throughout the match he produced save after save during what the Not the View fanzine described as "a performance beyond belief". John Hughes and Pierre van Hooijdonk in particular were thwarted before the big Dutchman finally broke Cantley's resistance to vouchsafe the Celts a slender lead five minutes before the break.
The second half continued in much the same vein although not before Celtic were given an almighty fright around the hour mark. Tricky midfielder John Bird led McNamara a merry dance down the right hand side and unleashed a looping cross from which substitute Ricky Smith – a pizza franchise supervisor from Dalkeith – thumped a meaty header off the base of Gordon Marshall's post.
After this 'hearts in mouths' moment, the match remained alive until fifteen minutes from time when Donnelly inelegantly bundled in a Morten Wieghorst knockdown.
Five minutes later van Hooijdonk belatedly added sheen to the scoreline, nodding in his second of the match with Wieghorst again the architect.
Celtic progressed to the fourth round, where opposition awaited them in the irksome shape of Raith Rovers.
Teams
Whitehill Welfare:
Scott Cantley,
Stewart Purves,
Ian Brown,
Derek Steel,
Raleigh Gowrie (Darren Cameron 80);
Ross Middlemist (Ricky Smith 62),
Davie Millar,
Willie Bennett,
John Bird;
Mike Sneddon,
Ian Tulloch (Jamie O'Rourke 82).
Celtic:
Gordon Marshall,
Jackie McNamara,
Tom Boyd (Brian O'Neil 82),
John Hughes,
Tosh McKinlay;
Morten Wieghorst,
Paul McStay,
Peter Grant,
John Collins (Brian McLaughlin 82);
Pierre van Hooijdonk,
Andy Walker (Simon Donnelly 57).
Referee: L Thow (Prestwick).
Attendance: 13,100.
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
from the Independent by David McKinney
Cantley's big day
Whitehill Welfare 0 Celtic 3
Two late goals added gloss to a workmanlike performance by Celtic, which was enough to see them progress to a meeting with Raith Rovers in the fourth round of the Tennent's Scottish Cup.
Yet if the win was convincing enough in the end, Celtic failed to match Rangers' 10-goal feat of Saturday and were given a thoroughly uncomfortable afternoon by the team which has dominated non-League football in the east of Scotland for a number of years.
Celtic had controlled most of the game yet found more difficulty in breaking down the Whitehill defence than they have against many Premier Division opponents. Scott Cantley, an amateur goalkeeper playing for the semi-professional side, had an inspired afternoon surrounded by a phalanx of defenders as the home side repelled Celtic's first-half attacks.
He made tremendous saves throughout the 90 minutes, none better than in the 13th minute when he palmed away a header from John Hughes at a corner. He also twice denied Pierre van Hooijdonk on two occasions.
However, despite their domination, Celtic did not ever reach the high standards they have set this season and, if cup ties are all about winning, Tommy Burns, the Celtic manager, must hope his players can raise their game for the title run-in.
Van Hooijdonk relieved Celtic's frustration six minutes from the interval by scoring with a precise shot struck with the outside of the foot from a low Andy Walker cross. The goal, arriving when it did, gave Celtic some heart going into the break.
Whitehill came close through Ross Middlemist, who almost made Gordon Marshall pay heavily for a poor clearance, but the striker's shot was deflected for a corner.
In the final 20 minutes Celtic camped around their opponents' penalty area, Simon Donnelly struck the post with a curling shot and Hughes later hit the bar with a header from a corner.
In between Morten Weighorst headed across goal for Donnelly to tap in Celtic's second in the 75th minute and, five minutes later, Weighorst again rose above the Whitehill defence to give Van Hooijdonk his second and Celtic's third goal.
For Celtic there was the added bonus of a return to action for Brian O'Neil for the first time this season. He came on as a substitute for the final 10 minutes, having recovered from a knee ligament injury.
The Whitehill Welfare team enjoyed the standing ovation afforded to them by their supporters on the final whistle, throwing their shirts into the crowd. In such circumstances, the moral victory is one to be celebrated.
Goals: Van Hooijdonk (39) 0-1; Donnelly (75) 0-2; Van Hooijdonk (80) 0-3.
Whitehill Welfare (4-4-2): Cantley; Purves, Steel, Brown, Gowrie (Cameron, 80); Sneddon, Bennett, Millar, Bird, Middlemist (R Smith, 62), Tulloch (O'Rourke, 82).
Celtic (4-4-2): Marshall; McNamara, Boyd (O'Neil, 82), Hughes, McKinlay; Weighorst, McStay, Grant, Collins (McLaughlin, 82); Van Hooijdonk, Walker (Donnelly, 57).
Referee: L Thow (Prestwick).
Man of the match: Cantley.
Attendance: 13,100.