1996-08-06: FC Kosice 0-0 Celtic, UEFA Cup Qualifier

Celtic:
Marshall, Boyd, McKinlay, McNamara, Grant, McStay (Wieghorst 83), Thom, Cadete (Van Hooijdonk 80), O'Donnell, O'Neil, Donnelly.
Non-Used Subs: Hughes, McLaughlin, Kerr.

CELTIC failed to take any satisfaction from conceding nothing in the away leg of their UEFA Cup qualifying tie in Slovakia last night despite being reduced to ten men for the last 35 minutes.

There was too much that was slipshod about their performance against an ordinary side to allow Tommy Burns' players a credit mark and the manager made no attempt to absolve his side from blame.

Even the red card shown to Simon Donnelly was the Celtic player's fault. Donnelly committed a foul on Vladimir Janocko that was late, reckless and the definition of violent conduct.

The referee was therefore given no option but to dismiss the player, whose offence was, to add insult to injury, committed halfway inside his opponents' half of the field.

Burns said: "I think that Donnelly was upset at losing the ball to his opponent and had a mad swing at him. The referee was right to do what he did."

Celtic will doubtless look to the loss of Alan Stubbs and Paolo di Canio through injury and their sparing use of Pierre van Hooijdonk – he played just 12 minutes as a substitute – and reason that they will have a stronger side as well as home advantage in the second leg.

The Slovaks have such an undistinguished record in Europe that they have yet to go beyond the first round of any competition in which they have played. Celtic, though, ought to have put the qualifying round beyond Kosice's reach before they had left their ground.

Jorge Cadete had a glorious opportunity to score presented to him in the second half.

A misplaced header from Janocko wrong-footed the Slovakian defence and left the Portuguese forward with only the goalkeeper to beat. Cadete somehow contrived to put the ball past Norbert Juraoka's right-hand post, however. It was a mistake which was indicative of the game.

It was carelessness which prevented Celtic from taking the lead and eccentricity which almost caused them to go behind. After Cadete had struck the post in the 27th minute, the ball fell conveniently to Brian O'Neil when he had the goal at his mercy. The defender had time to steady himself and succeeded in keeping the ball low but his final shot was weak enough to allow Bsolt Hornyak to stop the attempt from crossing the line.

Gordon Marshall, Celtic's goalkeeper, took the prize for inexplicable behaviour when he conceded a penalty kick after Stefan Karasek had propelled a long ball from his own half.

Marshall first touched the ball but then let it squirm from his grasp. Janocko was quickest to react and Marshall pulled him to the ground.

The goalkeeper, who was booked for his misdemeanour, first redeemed himself by diving low to his left-hand side to save Vladislav Zvara's spot-kick. Marshall then immediately gave away an indirect free kick for taking too many steps, but when the ball was stabbed to Ivan Kozak, Celtic's defence managed to smother his shot.