| Match Pictures | Matches: 1999 – 2000 | 1999-2000 Pictures |
Trivia
- Following Larsson’s leg break in the away game against Lyons, Larsson returned with the Celtic party and underwent surgery to set the fracture at Bon Secours hospital. It was revealed that both bones in his lower leg were fractured but what had appeared to be bone displacing his sock in film of the incident was a shinpad and the bones had not broken the surface of the skin in a compound fracture.
- With Larsson out for the rest of the season a debate started as to which strikers would support Viduka. Tommy Johnson would not be recalled from Everton where he was out on loan. Stan Collymore’s name suddenly started to crop up. Collymore had played with Barnes at Liverpool and was at that time on loan to Fulham and out of favour at Aston Villa. On the day of this game Barnes was given the OK to seek another striker.
- Tommy Burns, former Celtic player and manager, was dismissed as manager of Reading after a disappointing start to the 1999-00 season. He moved back to Scotland with his family.
- McNamara was out with an ankle injury picked up against Lyon. Burley, Mjallby and Moravcik were dropped to the bench. Blinker, Petrov, Petta and Wieghorst came in. Brattbakk never even made the squad despite Larsson’s injury.
Review
A dull game only enlivened by the controversy over the late winner. Petrov played at right back
Teams
St Johnstone: Main, McQuillan, Dasovic, O'Boyle, Kane, Lowndes (Simao 66), Bollan, Griffin, O'Halloran, McCluskey,McAnespie.
Non Used Subs: Robertson, O'Neil, McBride, Thomas.
Goals: Lowndes 29.
Celtic: Gould, Riseth, Tebily (Mjallby 90), Wieghorst, Stubbs, Lambert, Petta, Blinker, Petrov, Burchill, Viduka.
Non Used Subs: Kharine, Burley, Healy, Moravcik.
Goals: Burchill 48, Wieghorst 90
Bookings: Dasovic, McCluskey. (St Johnstone) Blinker. (Celtic)
Ref: Hugh Dallas (Scotland).
Attendance: 10,200
Articles
- Match Report
Burchill's strike helps ease the pain of losing Larsson
The Herald 25/10/1999
Rob Robertson
St Johnstone 1 – Celtic 2
Parkhead men narrow gap on Rangers at top
A controversial last minute header by Morten Wieghorst gave Celtic a deserved win, although the decision by Hugh Dallas to allow the goal has left St Johnstone players fuming.
They surrounded Dallas at the final whistle, clearly angry that linesman Bob Gunn had deemed the ball to be over the line before Paul Kane tried to clear it from under the bar.
The uproar caused by the late goal was one of the few talking points in a game which never scaled the heights.
The name and influence of Henrik Larsson was clearly on the minds of Celtic supporters, who faced their first game without him since his serious injury against Lyon.
Before kick off they chanted his name and sang Please don't take our Henrik away to the tune of You Are My Sunshine.
Despite the loss of such an influential player, their evening was brightened up somewhat by a goal-scoring performance from his young replacement, Mark Burchill, although St Johnstone's goal scorer, Nathan Lowndes, ran him close as man of the match.
On the positive side for Celtic, Burchill and Mark Viduka looked comfortable playing together and showed good movement.
On the negative side, their defence looked shaky and strong running straight at them by Lowndes and George O'Boyle created a few chances which came St Johnstone's way.
Although the season is still young, Celtic will look on the win as a huge boost to their morale as they go into a difficult period of the season which begins with a home game against Motherwell in only three days time.
Up until last night, Celtic had only beaten St Johnstone at Perth once in the last four visits, with last season's 1-0 defeat in April effectively ending any hopes they had of winning the league so clearly they will take much from last night's win.
Beforehand, Barnes sprang a few surprises with his team selection and the way he utilised the players at his disposal.
Burchill was always going to replace Larsson but no-one could have predicted his decision to bring in Stilian Petrov and play him on the right side of defence.
Bobby Petta and Regi Blinker, who both had excellent games, were brought into midfield with Craig Burley dropped and Johan Mjallby and Lubo Moravcik, who was rested on the bench.
Despite the rigours of last Thursday's UEFA cup match against Lyon, who beat Nancy 2-1 last night to go one point clear of Auxerre at the top of the French first division, Celtic started at a frantic pace taking the game to the home side.
Within 17 minutes they had three decent efforts on goal, the best of them coming after only nine minutes when Viduka rose unchallenged in the box to get on the end of a Wieghorst corner, his header narrowly going over the bar with Alan Main stranded.
Both Petrov and Wieghorst had long-range efforts in that period and although they highly troubled Main it showed the confidence in the Celtic ranks to try such things.
Viduka and Burchill were gelling well early on and it was a head flick from the big Australian which put his striking partner clear. However, as he bore down on goal, Gary Bollan made a magnificent blocking tackle just before the young striker had a chance to shoot, knocking the ball away for a corner.
St Johnstone had always looked good on the break and started to come into it more as they gained confidence from the fact they had survived the early Celtic pressure.
Despite that, it was always going to take a good move to break down the Celtic defence and as it turned out a piece of intricate play involving Nick Dasovic, O'Boyle, and Lowndes that broke the deadlock.
It was Dasovic who dispossessed Paul Lambert in midfield before feeding O'Boyle who played an inch-perfect ball in to Lowndes who showed great composure to slip the ball past Jonathan Gould from just inside the box.
For the remaining 60 minutes of the first half Celtic tried desperately to find a way through the home defence but despite good move- ment from Viduka and Burchill there seemed to be a lack of understanding between them and the midfield players.
Indeed, it took a bit of indecision in the St Johnstone defence and a piece of opportunism by Burchill to bring Celtic back into the game. Four minutes after the restart Blinker played a ball into the box more in hope than expectation which the striker latched on to.
Both Stuart McCluskey and John McQuillan looked like they were going to crowd him out but their meagre tackles allowed Burchill to turn them and fire a low shot into the corner of the net.
His role in creating the goal seemed to rejuvenate Blinker who started to dictate things in midfield. Despite his promptings, Celtic were still relying too
heavily on long-range efforts although a shot from Bobby Petta slipped past Main's right-hand post.
Despite being pinned back for most of the game St Johnstone always looked dangerous on the break and Lowndes came close although at the first possible sign of dominance by the home side Lambert simply raised his game to close down any holes in front of the Celtic defence.
Ten minutes from time Celtic had the ball in the net after a move involving Petta and Viduka who put in an inch perfect ball to Burchill but the young striker's effort was ruled out for offside.
From then on in if anybody was going to win it was going to be Celtic but no-one could have predicted the last minute shenanigans from a Wieghorst header from a corner kick which Main touched onto the post and Kane seemed to kick clear. Despite the controversy surrounding the goal Celtic were worthy of the result.
- Manager Interview
John Barnes post match:
"It didn't look as if it was a goal and St Johnstone are entitled to feel hard done by, but these things tend to even out over the course of a season.
"We had a spot of good fortune, but I am sure that will be balanced by decisions in the future. St Johnstone have had the same sort of fortune in the past and will do again."
"We weren't always able to play the sort of football we like to, but we chipped away at them and ground out the result.
"Overall, I felt we were the more progressive side."
Pictures
Stats
| St Johnstone | Celtic | |
| Bookings | 2 | 1 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
| Fouls | 13 | 10 |
| Shots on Target | 2 | 6 |
| Corners | 6 | 7 |
| Offside | 0 | 2 |