| Match Pictures | Matches: 1997 – 1998 | 1997-1998 Pictures |
Trivia
- The Celtic Interim results were published with a £7million made despite a vast increase in the wage bill. Turnover was up 24% to £15.5 million. The number of season ticket holders was up to 42,500.
- Despite these results Fergus McCann still pledged to depart in approximately 18 months time as he originally had intended and said he would do.
- Dominic Keane and Willie Haughey, who had earlier in the season left the Board, were in the process of making a bid to take control of Livingston.
- Boyd returned after suspension, Annoni dropped to the bench.
Review
An easy win with two goals in the second half set up a quarter final place and kept the dream of the treble, mentioned as so important by Jock Brown earlier that week, still alive. Stephane Mahe’s first goal for the club.
Teams
Dunfermline:
Westwater, Shields, McCulloch, Tod, Barnett, Fraser (French ,45 ), Shaw (Bingham ,77 ), Robertson, Smith, Den Bieman (Curran ,65 ), Petrie
Scorer: Bingham (81)
Celtic:
Gould , Boyd , Mahe, McNamara (Donnelly ,88 ), Rieper , Stubbs , Larsson , Burley , Brattbakk (Jackson,89 ), Lambert, Wieghorst
Subs not used Annoni
Scorer: Mahe (50), Brattbakk (67)
Bookings: Petrie ,Smith (Dunfermline) Stubbs ,Wieghorst (Celtic)
Referee: W Young (Clarkston)
Attendance: 12,700
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Dunfermiline | Celtic | |
| Bookings | 2 | 2 |
| Fouls | 15 | 15 |
| Shots on Target | 5 | 8 |
| Corners | 9 | 9 |
| Offside | 0 | 4 |
Brattbakk delivers as Celtic keep treble alive
The Scotsman 17/02/1998
Dunfermline1 Bingham (81)
Celtic2 Mahe (50), Brattbakk (67)
CELTIC'S passage into a quarter-final meeting with Dundee United or Inverness Caledonian Thistle was more smoothly carved than the scoreline may suggest.
On a night when Harald Brattbakk's goal gave the visitors an ultimately insurmountable 2-0 lead and brought a smile to the scorer's face the width of Ian Westwater's goal, the winners were, almost uninterruptedly, in control of their fate.
Even when David Bingham scored for the home side nine minutes from the end, there was no trembling among the Celtic defenders, midfielders and forwards, who had exerted such an authority in every part of the field that they should have won more handsomely.
Bingham, who was a second-half substitute for George Shaw, flicked Hamish French's cross from the right past Jonathan Gould from close range. It was the last act of a beaten team.
If Dunfermline were the types to panic, they would surely have been submerged in the flood of Celtic's surges from the earliest moments of the match.
Instead, they demonstrated remarkable composure, keeping their head above water by looking around and carefully examining ways to survive. These usually took the form of calmly heading clearances to neighbouring team-mates, rather than inviting danger with the wild, aimless swing that could have sent the ball skidding towards an eager visiting forward.
Dave Barnett, Andy Tod and the others in the home defence, of course, are not reluctant to take desperate measures when the occasion demands, and there were times when expediency took precedence over cool deliberation.
Either way, the Fife side were able enough during the first half to contain opponents who were lively, inventive and eager to confirm that they were entitled to be short-priced favourites to reach the last eight.
None was cleverer or more adept than Henrik Larsson during those frequent thrusts. It was the Swede's stunned pass to Craig Burley from Alan Stubbs's driven clearance that allowed Burley to play the ball first-time into the path of Brattbakk, the Norwegian creating the one moment of hesitancy in the home defence up to that point.
As Barnett and Tod were pestered by Brattbakk, the ball was knocked forward by the striker, but struck Ian Westwater and ran away to safety.
Brattbakk also gave Tod a sweaty moment when he cut in from the left and tumbled over the defender's bent knee, but referee Willie Young quite properly refused the Celtic fans' claims for a penalty kick.
Brattbakk, never short of willingness or the pace with which to apply it, was once again released through the middle by Larsson, but this time just nipped the ball away from Westwater and was forced out wide to the left. From there, the chance was lost, but it was another indication of Celtic's ability to create space through pace and intelligence.
Morten Wieghorst then had his goal disallowed, perhaps a little unfortunately, and had his name taken for his protest against the decision.
Jackie McNamara, who had been involved in most of the visitors' attacks, this time fed Stephane Mahe on the left and the Frenchman cleverly drove the ball low towards the far post. Wieghorst arrived in time to push the ball over the line and was inflamed by the arresting flag of the far-side linesman.
Those pulverising attacks Celtic had produced at the start of the match were re-created in the opening minutes of the second half, as if the interval had given them access to some renewing elixir. It was clearly a more potent fuel, for it brought the goals that their earlier superiority had failed to deliver.
Mahe was an unusual and unlikely scorer of the first, being a left-back, and there would be plenty of Celtic fans willing to argue that Brattbakk was just as unexpected a scorer of the second. His only goal before this match had also been in the cup, however, so perhaps it was not entirely a shock. It was certainly no surprise that he should find the net at the end of the move that gave him the chance.
The striker was left with a simple knock into the empty net after Larsson had played McNamara down the right and the little midfielder had swept the cross invitingly to Brattbakk, leaving Barnett and Westwater, the only two Dunfermline players in the vicinity, skinned.
Seventeen minutes before that 67th-minute excitement, Mahe had received Wieghorst's pass out on the left and made to cross after getting the better of Greg Shields.
Instead, the Frenchman suddenly wheeled outside the defender and drove the ball low from the angle, and a slight deflection helped it to lodge just inside the far post.
- Manager Interview
Wim Jansen post match
"You know before you start that if you want to go into the next round of the cup you have to win, and we showed great concentration in our work tonight. From the first minute, we played well, with good concentration and good movement.
"Anybody who saw the game would think we deserved to win. Of course, I'm very happy for Harald Brattbakk. It was not only good for him to score, but such an important goal. Hopefully, he will carry on and do it in the games coming up".