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Trivia
- Celtic signed David Hannah from Dundee Utd. on the 27/12/96 for £650,000 with a 4 ½ year contract to July 2001. He made his debut in this game coming on as a sub for Donnelly for the last half hour. Hannah had been in the midst of a contract dispute with the Arabs and was about to take them to court.
- Paul McStay was welcomed back into the team having been out with a serious ankle injury since the first League Cup game of the season back in August.
- A number of players were carrying knocks into the game – Stubbs, Boyd and Cadete. Jackie McNamara was out with a recurrence of the hamstring problem, Peter Grant was out with an injury picked up against Aberdeen and Andreas Thom failed to recover from a back problem.
Review
The Maestro was finally back and the team looked ready to go on the rampage against the worst defensive record in the league. Things boded well for the forthcoming game against Rangers.
Teams
Celtic:
Kerr, Boyd, McKinlay, O’Neil, Stubbs (MacKay, 82), O’Donnell, Di Canio, McStay (Wieghorst, 86), Van Hooijdonk, Donnelly (Hannah, 61), Cadete
Scorers: Cadete (35), Van Hooijdonk (38), Cadete (52), Donnelly (59)
Yellow cards: Boyd (Celtic)
Dunfermiline:
Westwater, Den Bieman, Welsh, Miller (McCulloch, 63), French (Smith, 63), Millar, Tod, Fleming (Ireland, 61), Moore, Britton, Petrie
Scorers: Britton (6, 68)
Yellow cards: Miller (Dunfermline).
Referee: M Pocock (Aberdeen)
Attendance: 45818
Articles
- Match Report
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Dunfermiline | |
| Bookings | 1 | 1 |
| Fouls | 7 | 14 |
| Shots on Target | 10 | 4 |
| Corners | 15 | 3 |
| Offside | 2 | 1 |
Portuguese man of awe
Scotland on Sunday 29/12/1996
Celtic 4 Dunfermline Ath. 2
THIS whole saga almost drowned with incident. For a while, Celtic seemed intent on bashing a barrel-load beyond Dunfermline, but the visitors should rightly have made it 4-3 after 75 minutes when Andy Smith's shot cannoned back off Celtic's crossbar. Amid all this, there was a multitude of other chances, not to say sins.
From a long and painful rehabilitation that stretches back to August, Paul McStay re-appeared here and got back to his busy habits. McStay's ankles might grow sore and his legs might require further outings, but his mind's swift thinking has lost none of its clarity. He probed, he struck sweet and precise passes, and, when the Celtic captain was replaced after 87 minutes, the applause seemed a fitting celebration of his return.
Without getting euphoric about it, given their crying need for points at the top of the league, other little aspects should sustain Celtic. David Hannah, signed on Friday and thus allowing him to flee Jim McLean and Dundee United, played for a comfortable half-hour and will surely strengthen their cause.
Given his natural talent, it is worth lamenting the way his career has been strangled in dispute and near-oblivion at Tannadice, and United's loss will surely be Celtic's gain.
Celtic were quite voracious. The sheer bustle and raking energy of Jorge Cadete must bring comfort to their supporters in an otherwise fraught period. Cadete's spearing runs, his effortless splaying off at angles and endless provision for passing opportunities for team-mates, give Celtic a vigour in attack they noticeably lack when he is missing. Cadete's second goal yesterday, haring beyond defenders and meeting Simon Donnelly's pass to score, was the most perfect illustration.
One wondered what Pierre van Hooijdonk, that large, egocentric Dutchman, made of it all. He loped around here looking not fully fit and not fully interested, despite scoring his goal, and Parkhead's loud anthems celebrating his Portuguese chum might not have been his greatest comfort. Van Hooijdonk prefers the hymn-singing to be about himself. Further pre-match intransigence from Fergus McCann about Celtic's tortured dealings with this player only added to a relationship apparently growing more brittle by the week.
In the face of all this, poor Dunfermline might have crumpled, especially after the scary mess Gerry Britton made of a chance in the first half that might truly have altered the course of the match had it gone in. Bold Bertie Paton, that drill-sergeant of East End Park, made an odd remark later about Britton's form being "off the boil" since his wife had delivered him a baby. We've heard a few excuses in our time for the folly of footballers but child-bearing seemed a new one.
Paton took some terrible fits during this. There were periods when his players couldn't have had less respite had they been at the Battle of Stalingrad, so severe was the Celtic savaging, and the Dunfermline boss had an awful time trying to keep his pulse-rate in check.
Paton and his eager side-kick, Dick Campbell, had on-going debates with the standside linesman, which involved them releasing their spleen and him trying to ignore it. When a few jarring Celtic tackles went in, they were beside themselves with rage, which seemed an odd and satirical state, given the muscularity of Dunfermline. But, for the Dunfermline bench, nothing was more painful than that 34th minute.
Dunfermline were already a goal up. When Britton then went cantering through on to Stewart Petrie's pass, only Stewart Kerr stood in the way of the visitors taking a substantial lead. Britton advanced in that rather ungainly, trotting-horse style of his before sclaffing at his shot and sending it two yards wide. Paton and Campbell were clutching at their dug-out roof like survivors at sea.
The game knows instinctively how to convert discomfort into torture. Celtic launched themselves straight up field, Paolo di Canio twisted and squirmed inside the box and, before the Dunfermline rearguard could make themselves regroup, Cadete was screwing a left-foot shot past Ian Westwater and sundry defenders.
The visitors had taken a sixth- minute lead when Britton leapt to meet Allan Moore's cross and force a downward header past Kerr. It was as if Dunfermline should pay for their impudence, not just with defeat, but with stinging regret. Van Hooijdonk trundled an easy second into the net after 38 minutes, after which you could sense a right hiding in the offing from Celtic.
When Cadete added a third after 53 minutes – dashing into the box and ramming the ball beyond Westwater – Dunfermline were rightly regretting their first-half miss.
Donnelly grabbed Celtic's fourth just before the hour, prostrating himself on the turf to glance home Di Canio's cut-back. The game then took its rather demented turn when Dunfermline enjoyed a few breezy attacks and might actually have clawed themselves back into it. Smith, who was newly on as a substitute, almost took Kerr's crossbar away with an almighty thrash from seven yards that should have found the net.
Dunfermline at least had the consolation of a second goal from Britton, a looping header that bounced high beyond Kerr.
"They've spent a fortune, but the most I've had for outlay on a single player is 70,000," a rather miffed Paton explained afterwards. He then revealed that bit about Britton's wife's baby. We can't go celebrating the birth of children at this time of year.
- Manager Interview
Tommy Burns Pre-Match:
On David Hannah: "I have spent a long time considering the right type of players to strengthen our squad," said Burns. "David is an excellent addition: a young, modern, mobile midfielder, making him an important part of our plans."
On McStay’s return: "We have really missed him while he has been out, it is only when you try and buy someone as a replacement that you realise that no-one is quite as good," said Burns.
"The important thing Paul brings is composure. You want to try and put passes together and perform as a team unit; Paul helps all that happen."
"He has got the experience to make up for whatever is lacking in match fitness and he is absolutely thrilled to be back in the team, though both he and I always knew he would make it back,"
Tommy Burns, Post Match:
"Over the last few games, the players have given everything in the knowledge we can't afford to drop a point. Sometimes the silky stuff has to go and you've got to be prepared to sweat and we have shown we can do that," he explained.
Burns has yet to decide whether McStay will figure from the start at Ibrox, but with the player himself adamant he is fit enough for 90 minutes at Ibrox after recovering from a serious ankle injury, the manager is likely to go with experience.
"O'Donnell was outstanding once again, but I thought Paul was easily the best player on the pitch and I certainly wouldn't have any fears or doubts about playing him at Ibrox after watching that," observed the manager.