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Trivia
- Earlier in the week the Bhoys had conceded 2 goals to Hamburg at home in the 1st Round of the UEFA Cup.
- McStay (long term ankle injury), Stubbs (ankle ligaments), O'Donnell (torn hamstring) and McKinlay were all out injured, Jackie McNamara was coming back from injury and Peter Grant was playing through an ankle problem whilst captaining the side in McStay's absence.
- Also bubbling under during the week was McCann's intention to take the matter over Collins' move to Monaco to the courts and the possibility that Celtic could be drawn further into an investigation over the use of dodgy agents with respect to Alan Stubbs' transfer.
- The club were being linked to moves for Joe Parkinson of Everton and Georgi Kinkladze of Manchester City
- Oh yes – plenty of ill feeling with the Arabs and the fhans gave the Press Box a bashing after the winning goal which resulted in the glass front being shattered and the journalists inside being terrified.
Review
A win away from a goal in the last minute with a depleted team of 10 men for most of the second half after Brian O'Neil's dismissal.
Teams
Dundee Utd:
Maxwell, Bowman, Shannon (McQuilken, 73), Pressley, Perry, Benneker, Winters (Coyle, 83), McKinnon (Johnson, 78), McSwegan, Hannah, McLaren
Scorer: McSwegan (87)
Celtic:
Marshall, Boyd, MacKay, McNamara, Hughes, Grant, Di Canio (McLaughlin), O'Neil, Van Hooijdonk, Thom (Donnelly), Cadete (Wieghorst, 89)
Scorers: Van Hooijdonk (45), MacKay (90)
Yellow cards: Perry (Dundee United); Hughes, O'Neil (Celtic)
Red card: O'Neil (Celtic).
Referee: W. Crombie (Edinburgh) Attendance: 12,152
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
- Match Report from the Scotsman
New players strike up traditional tune
THE more things change the more they stay the same.
Celtic's cosmopolitan collection of expensive strikers bears little resemblance to the Parkhead sides of old yet, somehow, they have helped preserve the club's trademark ability to claim victory when all seems lost.
"There's nothing better than scoring a winning goal in the last minute," said manager Tommy Burns after his developing side had done their bit for tradition at Tannadice on Saturday.
The abandon with which Celtic players and fans celebrated the scrambled 90th-minute winner was as free as their disappointment had been deep two minutes earlier. It was then that Dundee United fashioned a late intervention of their own, claiming a richly-deserved equaliser in their first game under the tutelage of Tommy McLean.
Add to that the adversity which forced Celtic to play most of the second half without red-card victim Brian O'Neil, and the reckless reaction of their fans to the final whistle is given some perspective.
Housed in the old corner stand and behind the goal at the other end, Celtic's sea of green and white, speckled as it is these days with the yellow of their fluorescent away strip, reverberated throughout to the strain of Di Canio, Thom and Pierre.
But the gamut of emotions to which they were subjected in the closing minutes proved explosive. For many, this meant refusing to leave the ground until Celtic players reappeared from the dressing-room; for others it meant pounding on the Tannadice press box till its window smashed.
By that time, a number of United fans had also let circumstances get the better of them and were ejected from the stadium. The host club's chairman, Jim McLean, must be as disillusioned with the modern game's sideshow as he patently is with its main event.
Yet for long periods, the game seemed incapable of sparking so intense a reaction. Celtic had the upper hand for most of a disappointing first half, but nonetheless had a dubious refereeing decision to thank for their half-time lead.
Steven Pressley's faint touch back to goalkeeper Ally Maxwell was adjudged by Bill Crombie to be a passback and Paulo Di Canio moved inside the box to tee up the indirect free kick. Although such opportunities rarely produce goals, Pierre van Hooijdonk collected the lay-off and somehow rammed the ball past the entire home XI, who were assembled, grid-iron style, on the goal-line.
While there was an element of fortune about Celtic's opener, their luck lasted only four minutes into the second half when O'Neil was sent off after receiving two yellow cards, both of which appeared to be for persistent fouling.
United pressed home their numerical advantage, but were twice denied by the woodwork and once by a goal-line clearance. The equaliser finally arrived two minutes from time when Gary McSwegan held off the challenge of John Hughes before slicing a shot high into the net from ten yards.
Celtic's response was instant. Jorge Cadete had two efforts thwarted inside the six-yard box before his third and final attempt brought about the winning goal. The Portuguese striker headed Di Canio's cross on to the post and Malky Mackay followed up to tap home.
It was the 36th successive league game in which Celtic had avoided defeat – a Premier Division record.
Celtic's cutting edge to Saturday's clash was a double-edged sword. Their traditional rousing finale will surely stand them in good stead this year, but more of such unsavoury incidents off the park are a blast from the past we could do without.