| Match Pictures | Matches: 1999 – 2000 | 1999-2000 Pictures |
Trivia
- The first beamback game after installation of the big screens in July. Turned out that the second highest attendance in Scotland was for the beamback when 11,500 turned up to sit in the North Stand and watch on the new screens – all 54 square metres of them. The biggest problem, which was unforeseen, was the queues for tickets and to get in. Many didn’t get in till half way thru the first half but inside, after a few technical glitches a good family day was had.
- Terry Gennoe finally arrived as goalkeeping coach replacing stand in part-timer Henry Smith.
- Michael Kelly gave an interesting interview to Celtic View in which he stated his desire to heal the wounds created during Fergus McCann’s takeover of the club. He also defended deposed Rangers vice chairman Donald Findlay saying, “Just because you sing a sectarian song doesn’t make you a bigot.”
- Celtic had used an independent former Assistant Chief Constable of Strathclyde, John Dickson, to help identify where procedures and security could be increased following the 2/5/99 and the subsequent inquiries. One of these recommendations was immediately implemented – the installation of further close circuit cameras to scan the crowd and approaches.
- There were strong rumours that Craig Burley was about to be sold. Reports linked him with an argument with Kenny Dalglish following the 5-0 defeat of Aberdeen at the start of the season. In the games he had played in, he was asked to play a holding role, quite different to the position he’d been asked to take under Venglos and Jansen, and one which he was loathe to take. Aston Villa, Leicester and Coventry were all said to be interested. Barnes denied any knowledge of moves to sell Burley.
- Mjallby made way for Stubbs return but came on for Viduka from the bench. The second game without Boyd but this time he was out with a back spasm. Petta was preferred to Blinker who was dropped and Wieghorst made way for new bhoy Petrov to start his first game.
Review
Was it the ‘system’? Was it the place? Two games in Dundee; one loss and a get a ‘get out of jail’ in the second with the King of Kings scored in the last minute plus Riseth in a rush of blood getting sent off for serious misconduct and from the free kick came Dundee’s equaliser. Far from it being a ‘sticky pitch’, it was Dundee’s man marking of the attacking players that seemed to snuff out the ‘system’.
Teams
Dundee: Douglas, Miller (Yates 70), Smith, Tweed, Sharp, Boyack, Van Ejs (Grady 66), Rae, Wilkie, McSkimming, Annand.
Subs Not Used: Langfield, Maddison, Raeside.
Goals: Sharp 86.
Celtic: : Gould, Riseth, Tebily, Stubbs, Mahe, Petrov, Moravcik (Petta 58), Lambert (Burley 26), Berkovic, Viduka (Mjallby 86), Larsson.
Subs Not Used: Kharine, Burchill.
Goals: Mahe 68, Larsson 88.
Booked: Van Ejs, Wilkie, Miller (Dundee) Mahe, Berkovic (Celtic)
Sent Off: Riseth (85) (Celtic)
Ref: John Rowbotham (Scotland).
Att: 10,531
Articles
- Match Report
Celtic scrape win but find more trouble on Tayside
Sunday Herald 22/08/1999
Alan Campbell at Dens Park
DUNDEE…1, CELTIC…2
JUST when it looked as if they were going to drop five points in six days on Tayside, Henrik Larsson pounced in the Dundee box in the 90th minute to keep the Premier League title race alive for another week at least.
Such has been the hysteria accompanying the 2-1 defeat by Dundee United that it was being ludicrously suggested in some quarters that Rangers had already retained the championship. Nonsense, of course, but John Barnes will be relieved that a five point gap hasn't opened up thus early in the season.
Larsson's penalty box strike capped an extraordinary climax which saw Vidar Riseth sent off with five minutes left, Dundee then equalising through Lee Sharp, and Larsson missing a sitter before making amends at the death.
Celtic got the result they wanted, but the manner in which they did does not auger well for their prospects of keeping pace with their old rivals. Over-elaboration against tight man-marking defences is rarely effective and may well be their downfall.
Dundee made four changes from the side which beat Aberdeen 2-0 last week, including the exclusion of injured Willie Falconer, who had scored five goals in four games, including two against the Dons.
One of the newcomers, Sharp, was immediately dispatched to tail Eyal Berkovic, while Willie Miller was ordered to stand on Lubomir Moravcik's shadow as Dundee manager Jocky Scott aped the tactics deployed successfully by Paul Sturrock.
Up front, Eddie Annand was left to plough a lone furrow with Steven Boyack operating as a link between the midfield and thesolitary striker.
Celtic preferred Alan Stubbs to Johan Mjallby, but there was no place for another defender who has been out of favour, Tom Boyd. Not that the Celtic defence was likely to be unduly tested by such a negative formation and so it proved in the first half as Dundee were unable to force Jonathan Gould into a save even once.
On the matter of containing Celtic, Scott's side were far more adept. With the space available to their two playmakers as cramped as the press facilities at Dens Park, Celtic, who had to replace the injured Paul Lambert with Craig Burley midway through the half, struggled to create chances despite their overwhelming share of possession.
Much of this advantage, though, was wasted weaving pretty patterns in the centre of the field where there was no danger whatsoever to Dundee. Packing their men behind the ball they were also deploying an efficient offside trap which caught out Larsson and Mark Viduka on the few occasions incisive passes got through to the strikers.
Robert Douglas in the Dundee goal had to make good saves from Stubbs, Moravcik and Viduka, but the lack of clear-cut chances from such a massive share of the ball must surely have disturbed Celtic's new manager, as would the very limited contribution from Stilian Petrov, making his starting debut for the Parkhead side.
The second half opened with Celtic in much more direct mode, especially down the left flank where first Stephane Mahe and then Bobby Petta, after he replaced Moravcik in the 58th minute, were able to reach the byline and tease the Dundee defence.
Earlier, Berkovic had been left with only Douglas to beat as he slipped the Dundee defence but his weak sidefoot trickled past the keeper's left hand post.
The directness of Mahe in particular, who had been booked seven minutes later following an unsavoury clash with Frank van Eijs and then refused to shake his adversary's hand, paid off in the 68th minute.
Declining to employ the little flicked one-two, which has been Celtic's favoured method of entering opposition penalty boxes, the temperamental Frenchman simply kept his head down, shrugged through a couple of challenges, and fired the ball past Douglas to show his boss that direct route can be just as effective.
As tempers, especially on the Dundee side, became heated, Celtic were denied what looked like a definite second goal from up in the eyrie in the main stand which passes for a press box.
Six minutes after the first goal, Larsson sent in a fearsome volley from 15-yards which almost broke the Dundee crossbar, before bouncing down apparently over the line and then out. But Mr Rowbotham, who was in an even worse position to judge, did not see it that way.
Even so, having got their noses in front, Celtic seemed to have the points in the bag until Riseth got himself foolishly sent off for a scything challenge on Annand, who at the time was posing no threat to the Celtic goal.
Berkovic was then booked for kicking the ball away as Riseth marched off. As he did so he raised his hands in salute to the Celtic support, who responded in kind.
Their cheers, and Riseth's nonchalant attitude, were put in perspective two minutes later when the weakened defence was caught out by a Boyack free kick headed across goal by substitute James Grady and then nodded past Gould by Sharp.
Barnes sent on Mjallby for Viduka to shore up the defence and then Larsson had a chance to reclaim the lead but shot straight at Douglas when it was easier to beat him. However, he restored his side's pride with that dramatic winner.
Dundee will announce on Friday plans for a £350,000 share issue, some of which will likely find its way to Scott to strengthen his squad.
The same sum would not pay the wages of the Celtic squad for a month, a statistic which only underlines the huge financial gap in Scottish football.
For that reason, Barnes' side will be expected to do better than scrape to 2-1 wins as they travel around Scotland this winter.
- Manager Interview
John Barnes post match:
“The pitch was very stick and maybe the people up at Dundee learned from Dundee Utd that we don’t like to play on such a surface.
“But we have to get used to that – that is what we are going to be up against every week.
“After we beat Aberdeen 5-0 when we created seven chances I made the point that we won’t do that every week and we have to be more clinical in front of goal.
“I would only worry if we weren’t creating chances but we are.”
“Vidar Riseth admitted that it was a silly challenge – it was very reckless regardless of whether it should have been a yellow for a first offence, or a straight red card which he received.
“He is in danger of being sent off in a situation like that because it was a silly thing to do in a dangerous area, so for us to come back and get a win makes me very happy.”
Pictures
Stats
| Dundee | Celtic | |
| Bookings | 3 | 2 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 1 |
| Fouls | 17 | 9 |
| Shots on Target | 3 | 7 |
| Corners | 0 | 8 |
| Offside | 1 | 9 |