| Match Pictures | Matches: 1997 – 1998 | 1997-1998 Pictures |
Trivia
- The search for another striker continued with Barcelona putting a £4.5 million price tag on Juan Pizzi after the Catalan club turned down a request to allow the player to come to Glasgow on loan for three months. Also on the interest list were David Zitelli (Strasbourg) and Kanu (Inter Milan).
- Up-and-coming Youth and Reserve Mark Burchill scored both goals as Scotland claimed their second win in the under-17 tournament in the Netherlands.
- Former Celtic manager Lou Macari joined Nottingham Forest as a scout.
- Mahe was out rested to try and overcome a calf injury for the Liverpool game. Tom Boyd switched from right to left back with Hannah dropping to right back
- Phil O’Donnell’s first goal of the season
Review
[…]
Teams
Dundee United (5-2-3):
Dykstra; Skoldmark (McLaren 84), Malpas, Pressley, Pedersen, Perry; Zetterlund, McKinnon (Easton 13); Marklund (McSwegan 53), Olofsson, Winters.
Scorer: Olofsson (60)
Yellow cards: Malpas, Pedersen, McSwegan (Dundee United);
Celtic (4-4-2):
Gould;
Hannah, Rieper, Stubbs, Boyd;
McNamara, Burley, Wieghorst (McKinlay 53), Thom (O'Donnell 42);
Donnelly, Larsson
Non Used Sub: MacKay.
Scorers: Donnelly (28) 0-1, O'Donnell (43) 0-2,
Yellow cards: Burley, Wieghorst, O'Donnell (Celtic).
Referee: S Roy (Westhill).
Attendance: 11,376.
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Dundee Utd | Celtic | |
| Bookings | 3 | 3 |
| Fouls | 12 | 16 |
| Shots on Target | 3 | 7 |
| Corners | 4 | 7 |
| Offside | 3 | 5 |
Celtic keep it up on half measures
Scotland on Sunday 28/09/1997
SOMEONE has obviously forgotten to tell Celtic that football is a game of two halves -and that you need to perform in both. First Liverpool, then Aberdeen last week, now against Dundee United.
United, with more limited means, gave Celtic a nervous preview of what Tuesday's UEFA Cup tie at Anfield will be like against Liverpool's strikeforce of frightening proportions if they try to defend as deeply as they did in this torrid second half.
Make no mistake, Celtic have it within themselves to win at Anfield. For 45 minutes here, Celtic's visit to the City of Discovery looked like a journey of self-discovery as they knocked the ball everywhere and threatened to swamp United with their flowing football.
Goals from Simon Donnelly and Phil O'Donnell were scarcely just reward for that exhilarating show. However, the astute Tommy McLean sorted out a few tactics at half- time, demanded his offside trap push up and, presumably, kicked Kjell Olofsson's backside because the big Swede shook himself out of his slumber and scored a wonderful 61st-minute goal which turned the game around.
Thereafter, Celtic were sweating and on the ropes for 29 minutes and although they held out, it was not pretty, nor was it good for their supporters' blood pressure.
It's doubtful if Morten Wieghorst and co would have stemmed the flood of danger that looked like drowning United. Certainly Sieb Dykstra's defence couldn't.
From the third minute, when the ever-improving Wieghorst went on a 70-yard run before shooting over the bar, it was one-way traffic. Dykstra was lucky he didn't get into greater trouble soon after he tried to outdo Donnelly outside the box and, not surprisingly, lost out. Then the keeper slipped trying to recover the ball and was fortunate that referee Sandy Roy wrongly judged he had fouled the Celt.
United's plans were not helped by the fact that Ray McKinnon had to be stretchered off in the 13th minute after damaging his ankle, but even the robust midfielder could have done little to negate the constant supply of ammunition that Jackie McNamara, Craig Burley and Wieghorst served up to the clever and quick feet of Donnelly and Henrik Larsson, who are forming a partnership of genuine quality.
They proved their point in the 28th minute when they combined to put Celtic ahead.
A long ball from Marc Rieper dropped over the head of Steven Pressley, who had to turn and chase it back towards his own box. The defender wanted the ball to come down from its high bounce before heading it back to Dykstra but the alert Larsson pounced, won the jump and nodded it to Donnelly who had a comfortable job of heading over the stranded keeper.
Donnelly could have had another three minutes later when Larsson's inventive touch set him up but Dykstra made a great block from the young striker's shot and McNamara blasted a follow-up wide.
Celtic, at this stage, were turning the screw causing havoc every time they went down the pitch. Maurice Malpas only succeeded in stopping Burley from going through on Dykstra by cynically blocking him, at the expense of a booking five minutes before the interval before Celtic extended their lead in the 44th minute.
O'Donnell who had only come on as a substitute a minute earlier for the limping Andreas Thom, scored with as good a first touch as seen in any game. Burley won possession on the right flank, found McNamara who swung the ball out to the other side and picked out O'Donnell ghosting into the box unseen by the defence. O'Donnell did not hesitate and took the cross first time on the run, blasting a left-foot volley past Dykstra.
But that advantage evaporated in a niggly second half in which United hustled Celtic out of their stride. Olofsson gave Celtic clear warning in the 53rd minute when he left their defence for dead before shooting across the face of goal – eight minutes later he pulled United back into the game.
Manager Interview
Wim Jansen post match
“We played very well in the first half but we seemed to tire in the second. However our defence looked solid.
“All four players at the back stuck to their tasks, and whether on the ground or in the air, they dealt convincingly with whatever came their way.”