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Trivia
- Craig Burley was again in the newspapers insisting that he had no desire to leave Celtic.
- Celtic agreed to play a Friendly at Celtic Park in early February against Bayern Munich at the request of the German side.
- On the 26/10/99 Celtic signed Ian Wright on a short term contract to the end of the season as cover for Henrik Larsson. When asked what quality the 36 year old former Arsenal player could bring to Celtic, Barnes replied, "Goals. That's what Ian Wright is about." Celtic failed to register him in time for this game, though he was introduced to the crowd at half time and received a standing ovation.
- Moravcik, Mjallby and Burley came back in to the side, with Tebily and Wieghorst dropping to the bench and Blinker out of the squad. Brattbakk was brought back to the bench and McNamara was fit again.
Review
Despite playing for over a hour against 10 men Celtic missed a chance missed to go top of the league in a second lack-lustre performance following the away game to St Johnstone. The game was dull and creatively dead and what with Motherwell doing their best as ever to kick anything in Hoops the fans in the terraces got a little raucous with the poor performance on the park. And of course the Flying Pig was in goal.
Teams
Celtic:
Gould, Riseth, Stubbs, Burley, Mjallby (Tebily 46), Petrov (Wieghorst 64), Lambert, Petta, Moravcik, Burchill (Brattbakk 64), Viduka.
Non Used Subs: Kharine, McNamara.
Motherwell:
Goram, Doesburg, McMillan, Brannan, Teale, Spencer (McGowan 37), Valakari, McCulloch (Nevin 54), Goodman, Twaddle (Nicholas 70), Kemble.
Non Used Subs: Woods, Townsley.
Goals: Twaddle 15.
Booked: Brannan. (Motherwell) Stubbs. (Celtic)
Sent Off: Teale (34) (Motherwell)
Ref: Douglas MacDonald (Scotland)
Attendance: 58,731
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Motherwell | |
| Bookings | 1 | 1 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 1 |
| Fouls | 11 | 15 |
| Shots on Target | ||
| Corners | 9 | 1 |
| Offside | 0 | 4 |
Articles
Celtic 0-1 Motherwell
Celtic suffered a shock home defeat to 10-man Motherwell, which must have had the watching Ian Wright recoiling in horror on Wednesday. John Barnes' side were unable to cancel out Kevin Twaddle's 15th minute strike despite Shaun Teale being red-carded for a trip on Mark Burchill 11 minutes before the break. With Wright sitting in the stands after his free transfer from West Ham, Celtic will have wanted to impress, but instead produced a simply appalling display. With Regi Blinker and Olivier Tebily dropped, Craig Burley and Johan Mjallby were restored to the fold, while for Motherwell John Spencer passed a late fitness test. He went close to scoring after just four minutes when Jonathan Gould produced a stunning reaction stop clawing a goalward bound header away following Twaddle's precise cross.
Twaddle slots home
It was a warning unheeded by Celtic and after 15 minutes they conceded their first competitive goal at Parkhead this season after Ged Brannan's pass cut a static defence wide open. Twaddle raced onto the through ball and as Gould advanced, the former Morton winger, who missed the first part of the campaign through illness, slotted past the Scotland keeper. Quite simply Celtic were struggling, Bobby Petta sending a long range effort well wide and Burley seeing another weak shot deflected wide from distance. Celtic replaced Mjallby with Tebily at the break in a bid to add strength at the back, but their focus was on attack even if they looked badly short of invention.
Static movement
Celtic's shortage of movement was horrendous and they were reduced to ambitious long range strikes, Stubbs going close with an angled drive when nobody offered a run in front of him. Riseth then played in Viduka inside the area, but while the Australian turned well his eventual shot was loose and was sent well wide when he was in a position to do better. Celtic were dominant, but still not convincing with both team and supporters becoming increasingly desperate to no avail as an assured Motherwell defended stoutly in their limited numbers. Tebily ought to have done better than head wide when picked out by a Moravcik corner, while Brattbakk's shot on the turn fizzed wide of the mark in the ceaseless rain.
Teams:
Celtic: Gould, Riseth, Stubbs, Burley, Mjallby (Tebily 46), Petrov (Wieghorst 64), Lambert, Petta, Moravcik,Burchill (Brattbakk 64), Viduka.
Substitutes: Kharine, McNamara.Booked: Stubbs.
Motherwell: Goram, Doesburg, McMillan, Brannan, Teale, Spencer (McGowan 37), Valakari, McCulloch (Nevin 54), Goodman, Twaddle (Nicholas 70), Kemble.
Substitutes: Woods, Townsley.
Sent Off: Teale (34).
Booked: Brannan.
Goal: Twaddle 15.
Att: 58,731
Ref: Douglas MacDonald (Scotland).
Match Report:
Celtic lose chance as Twaddle strikes gold
The Herald 28/10/1999Ian Paul
Celtic ……….. 0
Motherwell .. 1
THEY missed a golden chance to go to the top of the Premier League, but more than that, far more, Celtic missed Henrik Larsson.
Faced with a Motherwell side forced into virtually total defence after losing Shaun Teale, who was sent off in 36 minutes, the Parkhead team could hardly have had a better opportunity to get themselves into pole position.
Admittedly, they were a goal behind by then, a fine strike by Kevin Twaddle in 14 minutes, but the odds still looked on a home win as the 58,731 crowd roared them on – roars that changed to howls of frustration as their team failed to show the subtlety, or the front line movement and finishing that, of course, is the Larsson trademark.
The appearance of newly signed Ian Wright in the stand was at least evidence that the club recognises the situation, but he was not available to come to the rescue last night. In the end, Motherwell, who had been playing superb football in the opening stages of the game and were looking like seriously dangerous opponents, held out grimly, with the inevitable couple of wonder saves by Andy Goram – no change there, then – and nipped up the league to fifth spot.
They will remember this victory for a while. So will Celtic after their most inept performance of the season. Ironically, the goal was the first one Celtic have conceded at home this term. What about that for timing?
True to form, manager John Barnes did not mess about with ambiguities. "That was our worst performance of the season. We couldn't pass the ball straight. After about 25-30 minutes of the second half, we knew we could have been there all night and not scored.
"I can only hope it was a one-off. I believe it is, because these are international players. I can't accept that this is because we missed Henrik Larsson. If that is the case, this would be a one-man team and I don't think I or any of the players in the dressing-room would accept that."
Billy Davies, the Motherwell manager, naturally felt that every one of his players deserved credit. "They were magnificent in their attitude. We had played the way we wanted to play before we lost Teale and it was a pity then that we had to change things and go into defence. But it needed a disciplined performance, which we got. The goalkeeper was fantastic, but they all did brilliantly. I am glad for our fans that we have achieved this."
Scorer Twaddle, who has come back earlier than thought from a long spell off through glandular fever, was delighted with what he called a rare goal. "The spirit in this dressing-room really is tremendous and I am enjoying being back among them."
In Celtic's case, maybe all the talk about Wright and their chance to go top of the league put them off their usual stride, but they were definitely not at full concentration level in the opening quarter, whereas Motherwell carried on from where they had left off at Tannadice at the weekend, playing excellent football and finding a way through the Parkhead defence in the process.
Twice inside that period, they carved open superb chances, one of which they took and the other they were thwarted only by a fantastic save by Jonathan Gould. The save came after Vidar Riseth, in the right-back role, was left stranded by a penetrating run down the right by Twaddle and, when his cross went all the way to the far post, there was John Spencer with time to aim his header down for the net.
He must have been ready to start the celebrations as he connected, but, incredibly, Gould, got all the way down to beat it away from the line with his right hand.
Before that, Lubo Moravcik had kept Andy Goram on his toes with an in-swinging corner kick that the goalkeeper had to touch over at the last moment, while Burchill mis-kicked completely after a low cross from Riseth before the Motherwell attack came up with a successful ploy in 14 minutes to go in front.
Steve McMillan hit a superb pass inside Stilian Petrov and there was Twaddle, out on the left this time, to take the ball forward and hammer it past the helpless Gould.
Burley replied with a good effort that was deflected for a corner and the equaliser might have come from the corner when Petrov reached the ball with his head only to be defied by a Goram stop, something Celtic have had to get used to over the years.
Motherwell's composure was rocked, however, when Teale was sent off after he and Steve McMillan were caught out by a fine ball towards Burchill by Viduka. Teale was ahead of his team-mate when he tackled and hampered Burchill, who managed to get a shot in that was deflected past the post.
Referee Dougie McDonald, had allowed advantage but then stopped play, gave a free kick just outside the 18-yard line, and ordered off the English defender. The Fir Park side immediately brought on a defender, Jamie McGowan, replacing a forward, Spencer.
Celtic began the second half with Olivier Tebily on for Johan Mjallby, changing to a three-man defence line.
Motherwell gathered themselves for the siege, one of whose few highlights was a fine cross by Riseth that was met firmly in the centre of his forehead by Viduka, who was astonished to see Goram leap up to touch it over the bar.
Davies decided to give the hard-working Lee McCulloch a break and brought on Pat Nevin as frustration spread throughout the stands as Celtic came up against what was effectively a nine-man defence.
In 62 minutes, they made two changes, Morten Wieghorst taking over from Petrov, Harald Brattbakk replacing Burchill. It was the Dane who set up a chance immediately with a ball into the middle, where Moravcik's first shot was blocked, but when he hit the rebound Goram made a superb save.
BBC Match Report
- Manager Interview
John Barnes post match:
“Everyone who pulls on a Celtic jersey deserves the support of the fans. I know thefans have their favourites and other players they do not like as much, but I would urge the supporters to get behind anyone that pulls on the jersey.
“We all want success for the club and the best way to do that is to get behind the team.”
“It was very frustrating.
“We did not pas the ball well and did not play. This was our worst performance of the season. We couldn’t pass the ball straight to each other, we couldn’t even keep it on the pitch and I hope this is just a blip.
“I would be very disappointed if it happened again. No matter the team system or formation we should be able to pass the ball.
“It’s the basics and if we do not do them right then it makes everything else so much more difficult.”