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Trivia
- The game was moved to Firhill. Alloa were drawn at home but arranged to move the tie to Partick Thistle’s ground to maximise the income from the game for the Third Division side.
- Alloa had beaten Motherwell in the previous round to win the home tie against Celtic
- McCann had now won backing from the SFA to pursue Celtic’s claim for compensation over the transfer of John Collins to Monaco. Celtic wanted £3.00 million for the player who had moved under the freedom-of-movement Bosman ruling when out of contract. McCann’s argument was that the the Bosman Ruling applied to free movement within the European Union and Monaco are not involved in that free trade agreement.
- Alloa were managed by Tom Hendrie who would go on to manage St Mirren before returning to Alloa in 2003.
Review
Once more a slow start from Celtic and a profligate attitude in front of goal gave way to a second half performance of more fire and five goals.
Teams
Alloa:
Balfour, Valentine, McCormack, McAneny, Cowan, McAvoy, Kane, McKay, Dwyer, Irvine, Nelson.
Subs: Moffat, Gilmour, McAnenay.
Goals:
Alloa: McAneney, 48
Celtic:
Marshall, Boyd (Wieghorst), McKinlay, McNamara, Stubbs, Grant, Di Canio, O'Neil, Van Hooijdonk, Thom (Donnelly), Cadete (McLaughlin)
Goals: Celtic: Thom, 41; Cadete, 51; Van Hooijdonk, 53, pen; Cadete, 62; Cadete, 72
Referee: S Dougal (Burnside).
Attendance: 12,582
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
Celtic take time to click
The Scotsman 05/09/1996
WHEN Celtic and Alloa last met in this competition, a win for the team which featured Tommy Burns as a player was a step on the way to winning the trophy. The class of '82 might have lacked the glamour of today's team, but it is arguable if they would have taken as long to confirm their superiority as Celtic did at Firhill last night. It took four second-half goals in 20 minutes as well as the spur of losing an equaliser to Alloa, to kick-start a machine that gleamed on the outside but wheezed a little underneath the chrome. Celtic fielded the team who were, with the exception of Paul McStay, the strongest available. For the first time, Paolo di Canio and Alan Stubbs were both on from the start in the same game following their £5 million transfers from AC Milan and Bolton. Celtic also gorged themselves on the cosmopolitan talents of Andreas Thom, Pierre Van Hooijdonk and Jorge Cadete. The composite picture should have been enough to render a Third Division side, even the one who eliminated Motherwell in the previous round, weak at the knees. There was, however, a lot of posturing but nothing of an intimidating nature from Celtic until the game had reached a mature stage. The first serious attempt at goal took half an hour to arrive and, when it did, Robert Balfour was the equal of Di Canio's inventive chip to the far post. Otherwise, it was an exercise in making life difficult for themselves so far as Celtic were concerned. Di Canio squandered a great chance from a Cadete cut-back, swivelling on the six-yard line and shooting wildly over the bar. Celtic eventually made the breakthrough five minutes from the interval. Cadete and Stubbs played a 1-2 on the edge of the box and the latter let the ball run through to Thom, who finished with an angular drive that was as incise as the other attempts had been erratic. Celtic's carelessness was more durable than could have been imagined, however, and Alloa, who had ceased to be involved in the game in an attacking sense from early on, were allowed to equalise four minutes after half-time. A corner kick saw Gordon Marshall put under pressure by Peter Dwyer and the ball rebounded to Paul McAneny, who looped a header over the line. Celtic's embarrassment was to last only three minutes, however, Cadete scoring when a Tosh McKinlay corner was headed on by Brian O'Neil to the Portuguese forward. Cadete converted from close range and Celtic's relief was evident when Van Hooijdonk put them 3-1 up after 54 minutes. Mark Nelson brought down the Dutchman when he was in the act of shooting and Van Hooijdonk stood up to take the resultant award and finally put the outcome of the tie beyond doubt. Cadete grabbed his second after 62 minutes following a 50-yard run from Di Canio. The Italian's pass to Morten Wieghorst, a substitute for Tom Boyd, was turned over the line from close range. Cadete's hat-trick came after he moved on to a long ball from Peter Grant and struck a low shot beyond a belatedly overworked goalkeeper.