| Match Pictures | Matches: 1999 – 2000 | 1999-2000 Pictures |
Trivia
- Tom Boyd was facing a lengthy time out after tests on his back injury.
- The SPL Commision of Inquiry into the events of the Rangers game of the 2/5 exonerated Rangers for doing a mock huddle at the end of the gamesaying, “……Rangers did not breach their rules or discredit the SPL with their post-match celebrations.” Celtic in contract were fined £45,000 in a previous hearing.
- Stan Petrov and Johan Mjallby had a bit of a set to on the training ground. Petrov’s recent ankle injury was caused by a rather over-zealous tackle from Mjallby. The two had to be separated and Barnes spoke to Mjallby. Sweden were also due to meet Bulgaria in a European qualifying game.
- Burley was in the papers again making his case for inclusion at Celtic. He said "To be honest, so long as Celtic want me, I can't see me ever wanting to leave."
- Watford were interested in bidding for Mark Burchill as well as trying to get Tommy Johnson. Wolves also made a £1.1million bid for Johnson
- Celtic were looking to bring in a defender from San Jose Clash from the USA, Jamie Clark, son of former Aberdeen and Scotland goalkeeper, Bobby.
- The breaking story of the week was that Allan MacDonald had been in talks with teams from Holland, Belgium, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark with the idea of forming the Atlantic League. How this would fit in with UEFA and the separate national leagues was yet to b e discussed but the moves and talks were started in an endeavour to maximise the commercial value of those clubs outside of the major teams in the Champions League.
- For the game Mahe was out with an Achilles injury, Berkovic was out with a hamstring, Lambert was fit again, Petrov made the bench, Blinker was dropped and Burchill started in place of an injured Viduka.
Review
A fast and tense game with Burchill getting the winner (after scoring 4 goals for Scotland U-21’s during the previous week) and which Williamson was adamant was offside.
Teams
Kilmarnock: Meldrum, MacPherson, Jeffrey (McCoist ,81), McGowne, Holt, Wright, Durrant (Burke, 81), Mitchell, Baker, Lauchlan, Bagan (Davidson, 71)
Non Used Subs: Watt, Hessey,
Celtic: Gould, McNamara, Stubbs (Petrov, 76), Riseth, Tebily, Lambert, Mjallby, Moravcik (Petta, 66), Burley, Burchill, Larsson
Non Used Subs: Kharine, Wieghorst, Brattbakk,
Goals: Burchill (72)
Bookings: Baker ,Wright (Kilmarnock) Burley ,Lambert ,McNamara ,Tebily (Celtic)
Referee: Kenny Clark (Scotland)
Attendance: 14328
Articles
- Match Report
Football: THE CAP FITS FOR BURCH
Daily Record 13/09/1999
IAIN CAMPBELL
KILMARNOCK 0
CELTIC 1
MARK BURCHILL proved a point for club and country by keeping Celtic in touch with Rangers' perfect start to the season last night.
The in-form Under-21 international came in for the injured Mark Viduka at Rugby Park last night and proved himself a more than capable deputy.
National coach Craig Brown has promised Burch a place if he can prove his worth in the build-up to Euro 2000 and he began that process by scoring what could prove a vital league winner for his side.
Most of the 19-year-old's goals have come for his country on international duty – four in Bosnia and Estonia alone last week – and last night's strike was just his second of the season for Celtic.
But it's surely a goal which will go a long way to convincing coach John Barnes that the striker has more than just a bit-part to play in the club's title push.
Rugby Park has proved the graveyard of the Parkhead club's championship hopes in the past – notably last season when Viduka and co. were frozen out on a bitterly cold winter's night.
In the relative warmth of a late summer evening, Burchill rescued Celtic from a deep freeze by latching onto a ball from supersub Bobby Petta to beat Colin Meldrum in the Killie goal and earn his side all three points.
It may have been a littlehard on a battling home side but then Bobby Williamson's side have been hard on Celts in the past.
Killie will take plenty from their performance before boarding the plane for Germany on Tuesday, boosted by the knowldge that UEFA Cup opponents Kaiserslautern took a 5-0 hammering from Werder Bremen last night.
Burchill lined up alongside Henrik Larsson after Viduka picked up a late training injury and Paul Lambert returned after missing Scotland's Euro 2000 qualifiers in Bosnia and Estonia – and skippered the side in the absence of Tom Boyd.
The atmosphere in a packed Rugby Park was electric as both sides went out in search of the pre- UEFA Cup boost they were looking for before Thursday's ties against Kaiserslautern and Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Burchill almost gave Celtic the lead after just four minutes when his pace took him past a despairing Martin Baker challenge before forcing keeper Meldrum to save at his near post.
At the other end, Ally Mitchell volleyed an Ian Durrant corner wildly over as Killie retaliated.
The return of Craig Burley to the Celtic engine room at the expense of the injured Eyal Berkovic provided Barnes's side with plenty of grit in midfield and referee Kenny Clark was kept busy watching for fouls in a competitive battle for supremacy.
Killie, so often below their best this season, seemed to relish the cut and thrust of their highest profile game since they visited Ibrox on the first day of the season.
Alan Stubbs was forced to take a safety-first approach to clearing his lines after Durrant, constantly barracked by the away fans, and Mike Jeffrey created a minor panic in the Celtic penalty area.
Then comeback man Kevin McGowne, who had shaken off a nasty calf injury, did extremely well to stop a dangerous Larsson pass reaching unmarked Burchill.
Oliver Tebily also had a shooting opportunity after a Lubo Moravcik corner but Meldrum was able to gather the ball comfortably.
Vidar Riseth, playing in an unaccustomed left-back position, was creating problems with his constant runs forward and it was Tebily again who fired in another shot, this time off target, after the Norwegian had forced another corner.
Celtic came preciously close to taking the lead on the half hour when Larsson played Jonathan Gould's clearance in to Burchill's path.
The young Celt pulled the trigger but Jim Lauchlan got back to pull off a crucial block for a corner.
Moravcik's kick provided Johan Mjallby with a heading opportunity and his effort seemed goalbound until Gus MacPherson, not for the first time this season, deflected the ball round the post.
It was a let-off for Killie, who were finding it more difficult to threaten the visitors.
There was another scare for Williamson's side when a superb Moravcik cross found Larsson and Burley racing in on goal.
It was really the midfielder's ball but the Swede dived at it looking for a spectacular strike and only succeeded in directing it over and allowing worried Killie to breath again.
Lambert attempted to set up Burley with an incisive pass into the penalty area but the impressive Lauchlan was again able to sweep up, with the Scotland man conceding a foul. McNamara was forced to do the same thing on Jeffrey and was yellow-carded for his trouble.
The Celtic defender almost made up for his indiscretion by setting up Moravcik on the edge of the area but the Slovakian's shot was blocked by the considerable stature of Gary Holt.
Paul Wright passed up a glorious chance to put Killie ahead against the run of play four minutes into the second half.
The little striker beat the offside trap to run on to a MacPherson through ball and found himself one on one with Gould.
Wright chipped his shot past the keeper but with half of Rugby Park screaming for offside and the other half anticipating a goal the ball came back off the bar and was cleared to safety.
The Celtic support weren't best pleased when Burley broke through at the other end to set up Burchill for a tap-in but the assistant referee's flag was up right away.
Lauchlan, who had saved Killie with a series of important interceptions, came to his side's rescue again when he beat Burley to a well-flighted Riseth cross with the goal wide open.
Clark earned himself a few Brownie points by allowing the move to continue despite a bit of nonsense between Lambert and Baker before going back to book both of them after the ball had gone out of play.
Barnes, who could see two points slipping away from his side, pulled off a surprise move in the 66th minute when he replaced the influential Morvacik with Dutchman Petta.
The effect was almost shattering for Killie with Petta immediately becoming involved in a one-two with Riseth which ended with the powerful Norwegian's 15-yard drive being deflected just over the top of Meldrum's bar.
Killie decided to fight fire with fire by sending on young Stuart Davidson for his debut – taking off David Bagan – and once again the result was almost devastating.
The teenager flighted a ball on to Jeffrey's head but the striker seemed surprised by the space and time he had been allowed and totally miscued his header.
It as a real let-off for Celtic and they made Killie pay on the break.
Burley sent Burchill racing into the Killie box and the striker this time grabbed his chance by slotting a well struck shot into the corner of Meldrum's net from a tight angle on the edge of the six-yard box.
It was a sickener for the home side who had threatened in the second period but an important signal that Burchill was ready to live up to the high expectations placed upon him.
The goal rocked Killie, who had clearly felt they could take a morale-boosting result from the game.
The desperate Ayrshiremen charged on the visitors' goal and the home crowd yelled for a red card to be shown when Tebily brought Jeffrey crashing down – but the referee opted for a yellow and Durrant missed the chance by blazing the setpiece over the bar.
Larsson almost hit a killer second three minutes from the end of normal time but he fired a drive wide from the edge of the area.
Mjallby also went close, head-flicking the ball inches off target following a free-kick by sub Stilian Petrov, who had replaced Alan Stubbs.
Larsson did have the ball in the net a minute into injury-time after Tebily had created the chance but the striker was clearly offside.
Burley was booked for dissent as Killie desperately tried to retrieve a point but time had run out on them and they were left to rue the decent second-half chances which could have earned them at least a share of the points.
Celtic, in turn, were cheered off by their delirious fans who recognised a valuable win at a bogey ground when they saw one.
- Manager Interview