| Match Pictures | Matches: 1998 – 1999 | 1998-1999 Pictures |
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Trivia
- Having missed the UEFA Cup game against FC Zurich it was found that Rieper needed surgery on the persistent ankle problem that had troubled him all season, putting him out for 6 – 8 weeks. Stubbs’ groin strain was again a question of time and healing. Donnelly was also carrying a knee knack and Riseth a heavily bruised ankle.
- Mahe played out the second of his suspended games. Annoni came back in and Riseth was once more eligible for league games.
- Outside of the immediate game it was reported that following the payment of £1.5million to LASK Linz for Vidar Riseth the club chairman had disappeared. Interpol were involved when false accounting and a shortfall in LASK Linz funds was uncovered.
- On 23/10 Celtic signed (actually put pen-to-paper on 27/10) Lubomir Moravcik from German side MSV Duisburg for £300k. The Slovakian attacking midfielder and playmaker was known to Dr. Jo and had played only five games for Duisburg since a free transfer from Bastia in the summer. The signing was greeted with the regular anti-Celtic banter by the usual suspects.
- Prior to the game Burley gave an interview to BBC TV’s Garth Crooks and during a word association exercise broke down in laughter when asked for a reply to “Josef Venglos”.
- The game brought another injury to a defender with Annoni having to be replaced by David Hannah, after the Italian strained a hamstring.
Review
A win for us, and the loss for Aberdeen equaled their worst post-war record of 10 games without a win.
Teams
Celtic: Gould, Boyd , McNamara, Larsson, Burley , Brattbakk, Donnelly, Lambert, Annoni (Hannah 52), McKinlay, Riseth (O'Donnell 84).
Subs Not Used: Jackson, McCondichie, Burchill.
Goals: Donnelly 12, 70
Aberdeen: Leighton, Perry, Whyte, Smith, Hignett, Jess, Anderson, Buchan (Kiriakov 86), Rowson, Young, Winters (Gillies 77).
Subs Not Used: Inglis, Hart, Esson.
Booked: Burley (Celtic)
Ref: J McCluskey (Stewarton)
Att: 60,081
Articles
- Match Report
Celtic deepen Dons' darkness
The Scotsman 26/10/1998
Celtic 2 Donnelly 13, 71
Aberdeen0
A GRIDLOCK on the roads outside Parkhead on Saturday resulted in this sell-out game kicking off watched by an under-capacity audience. By full-time though, the latecomers had all arrived, and packed galleries witnessed a game that perhaps didn't merit the swell of interest. Still, Simon Donnelly had manoeuvred Celtic into a two-goal lead, allowing those of the hooped persuasion to listen happily to the football scores back in their cars as they waited for the streets to clear.
For those Aberdeen fans who lingered long enough to become involved in the post-match rush, this new confirmation of their side's failings will have been a depressing experience, just like it has been on the previous nine matches. Only once since 1948 have the club experienced such a spell without a win. Indeed the only conclusion to be reached following another abject display by these players is that there has been precious little progress since the darkest days of Roy Aitken and his manic touchline exhortations.
Alex Miller's face afterwards bore the hang-dog expression that comes with the territory as manager at Aberdeen. He talked of playing better than the results have suggested, but these were surely the words of a man with nothing left to offer but crazed dollops of optimism.
Yet what else is there to be said about Aberdeen? They have turned under-achievement into an art form. Some will point to the blooding of youngsters – five of their starting 11 on Saturday were aged under 23 – as a significant plus point but you truly fear for these players. It seems that this Aberdeen disease is so insidious that it strikes down even those so tender, as well as the rest of them.
Robbie Winters has not scored since he joined the club, and it seems that unhappy Craig Hignett is not the only one battling to fend off demons. Eoin Jess was the tidy player he always is, but that isn't enough. He, and Jim Leighton are the only members of this Aberdeen side who will remember coming to Glasgow and regularly slaying Rangers and Celtic. These days it seems they travel south on a damage-limitation exercise.
Their fans, however, refuse to let go of these grander times, and their way of dealing with today's grim reality is to rummage for reminders of how it used to be. They sang "We hate Rangers more than you", recalling the days when it was Aberdeen, and not Celtic, who constantly offered the Ibrox club the greater challenge. Not these days, though. The Celtic fans ignored them, and there was a similarly haughty response from the Celtic players to the meek challenge offered by their opponents.
Afterwards, Jess admitted that the problems affecting Aberdeen are as much in the head as anywhere else. "It's a belief thing," he said. "We have to believe we can come to places like Parkhead and get a result. That wasn't the case today."
Both he and Miller talked about the lack of a cutting edge, and the urgent need to find it. A miss by Robbie Winters said everything about Aberdeen impotence on Saturday. A mix up between Enrico Annoni and Paul Lambert allowed the former Dundee United striker a clear opportunity to equalise, but while his shot was well saved by Jonathan Gould, Winters will know the chance was scorned.
This defensive mistake was typical of a Celtic performance which was far from stirring, but even mediocre is enough to deal with Aberdeen in their present incarnation. If it wasn't for Henrik Larsson – surely one of the finest foreigners to have graced Scottish football – they would have struggled to inflict the necessary damage.
Anyone who saw the Swede leaving, or at least trying to leave, Parkhead on Saturday evening will have been left in no doubt of the high regard in which he is held. All you could see was a tousled tangle of dreadlocks amid a mob of autograph-hunters, and even such giddy youngsters were wise enough to appreciate the peripheral, but crucial, roles he played in both Celtic goals.
For the first he was the bridge in a one-two with Donnelly, allowing the youngster the chance to pierce the Aberdeen rearguard, and hoist the ball over Leighton. The game-clinching second was again down to Larsson intuition. His pass to release Vidar Riseth was sumptuous, and the Austrian in turn crossed to the back post. Leighton could only palm the ball clear, and Donnelly reacted smartly to head the loose ball back into he net.
He celebrated his double by falling to his knees in front of the Celtic fans, and then later paid homage to his manager, Dr Jo Venglos, for sticking by him "when I haven't been playing well". Presumably it was meant as a compliment – and God knows his manager needs them in the light of Craig Burley's childish fit of mirth when asked about him on BBC's Grandstand – but Donnelly's comment also highlighted the lack of options in this Celtic squad, especially during these periods of injury infestation. Annoni added to this when he limped off just after half time, having pulled a muscle in his leg after a mix-up with Tommy Boyd. At least there is talk, rather less loose than usual, of new signings, and never have they been required more.
Still, Donnelly's appreciation seemed testament to a growing togetherness in the Celtic camp, and when Venglos was told of his comments he looked visibly moved. "It means that my English is getting better," was his reply. "I have to speak six languages, and if you have no practise for six or so years then it can be difficult. I know that my grammar is bad at times."
Alex Miller has rather more pressing concerns than mangled syntax. His side travel to Motherwell next week, and it is a game which, in plain English, they must now win.
It is also a game by which Aberdeen are better-judged. Visits to Glasgow were once title-deciders, now they simply carry ache to the souls of their followers. They have lost eight games in a row at Parkhead, a shuddering statistic that stretches back to 1993. As for Celtic, to paraphrase Dorothy Parker, they are on their way, but they aren't there yet.
- Manager Interview
Dr Jo Venglos, post match
“The important part of the game for us was the quality shown by the team as a whole. We attacked well and we defended well and that was good when we had to make changes again. I think we worked well as a unit, and when my players had the ball, they had two or three options, and we looked to be enjoying playing.”
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Aberdeen | |
| Bookings | 1 | 0 |
| Fouls | 4 | 8 |
| Shots on Target | 3 | 5 |
| Corners | 5 | 4 |
| Offside | 1 | 0 |