| Match Pictures | Matches: 1999 – 2000 | 1999-2000 Pictures |
Trivia
- Burley’s move to Derby was off because of a dispute over a £250k bonus Burley thought Celtic owed him. Derby had bid £3.00million rising to £4mill based on appearances.
- Lambert resumed light training following his dental surgery after losing four front teeth in the last game against Rangers. Lambert, who was knocked unconscious on collision with Albertz knee, still could not remember the incident. Tom Boyd was also back in training.
- Andy Walker joined Kilwinning Rangers.
- A three-man independent jury of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne heard Celtic’s case against UEFA over compensation for the transfer of John Collins from Celtic to Monaco. Fergus McCann was payig all the costs of the hearing. A decision was expected in six weeks.
- A bankrupt Mike Galloway was in the papers when he announced that he would sell his Scotland shirt as well as other shirts collected from his playing days
- The Celtic share price had started to slide and some investors were starting to ask questions as to what exactly was going on behind the scenes at boardroom level, let alone at footballing level. All this uncertainty was making institutional investors – the ones that made share prices rise and fall – twitchy and ready to offload the shares.
- Tebily and Viduka were reinstated following their international excursions with Wright and Burchill dropping to the bench. Jamie Smith was included in the party.
Review
In the pre-match press conference Barnes had showed a degree of hubris so far not seen in his machine-gun style saying that he hoped he would be given time. In the afternoon prior to this evening kick off Rangers lost to Dundee. Another chance to gain ground on Rangers was spurned in a hard game played in poor conditions.
Teams
Motherwell:
Woods, Doesburg, Kemble, Teale, McMillan, Twaddle (Nevin 67), Valakari, Brannan, Townsley (Nicholas 80), Goodman, McCulloch (Davies 85).
Subs Not Used: Thomas, Brown.
Goals: Brannan 9, Townsley 44, Goodman 49.
Celtic
Gould, McNamara, Tebily, Stubbs, Mjallby (Wieghorst 76), Mahe, Berkovic, Petrov, Riseth, Moravcik (Wright 64), Viduka.
Subs Not Used: Kerr, Smith, Burchill.
Goals: Berkovic 20, Viduka 26 pen.
Booked: Stubbs.
Referee: Jim McCluskey (Scotland).
Attendance: 12,775
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
Articles
But 'Well won't let Celtic cash in
The Herald 29/11/1999
Ian Paul
Motherwell 3-2 Celtic
ANYTHING Rangers can do on a November Sunday, Celtic can match it. Having heard that their great rivals had faltered against Dundee in the afternoon, the Parkhead side proceeded to emulate them, albeit away from home and in a ferociously contested encounter at Fir Park.
With a gale that played wicked tricks with the ball, both teams had a hard time playing the game as they felt it should be played and the conditions made for plenty of mistakes in defence.
In the end, Motherwell showed the greater application and made fewer errors, proving to one and all that they are undoubtedly a team to be taken very seriously nowadays.
This was their sixth win in seven games, a tremendous run for a team outwith the Old Firm, and they managed it after losing an early lead and going behind, yet emerging triumphant by the finish.
There were few football niceties to be admired in the dreadful weather, but the teams certainly gave it their best shot and on chances created it could have been about 8-7.
As it was, the three goals scored by Ged Brannan, Derek Townsley, and Don Goodman were enough to overcome Celtic, who could boast only an Eyal Berkovic goal and a penalty by Mark Viduka.
Motherwell fought every inch of the way, took advantage of some sloppy defending, and grabbed their chances more readily than Celtic. That left them the winners, and Celtic still trailing Rangers by four points with a game more played.
The Parkhead side had two other good penalty claims refused, but overall they did not quite have the ambition of their opponents, who simply refused to let the game slip away from them. The booing that greeted Celtic as they left the field was testament to the way their fans felt about the golden opportunity missed. But, still, it was quite a Sabbath day for the outsiders, was it not?
The Parkhead fans would not agree, of course, and as they left the bitterly cold stadium their ire was understandable, They had arrived gleefully chatting about the Rangers defeat by Dundee, confidently anticipating a victory that would reinvigorate the title race and give Celtic a glimpse of ultimate success.
As they had to do so many times in the past decade, they trooped home after a let-down at the crucial time. It has become something of a habit that Celtic cannot seem to overcome, the one where Rangers leave an opening and they can't get through it.
Manager John Barnes left out Ian Wright and Mark Burchill, with Viduka and Oliver Tebily, both of whom missed out against Hearts last week after being on international duty, returning to the team. Motherwell replaced striker John Spencer, who has a hamstring injury, with Don Goodman.
It was an unusual formation, with Viduka the lone spearhead in attack and Berkovic and Lubo Moravcik playing just behind. At any rate, in the driving rain the players struggled to stay upright, let alone worry about positions. However, Viduka nearly broke through in the opening minutes when Berkovic laid the ball into the penalty area, but he was just beaten to the ball by Steve Woods.
The real impact was made in nine minutes, none the less, when Motherwell went in front. A slack Jackie McNamara pass went into the path of Goodman, who was aiming to shoot when he was tripped by Alan Stubbs, whose name went rightly into the referee's book. The punishment was administered by Brannan, who hit a marvellous, low free kick well out of Jonathan Gould's reach.
Celtic endeavoured to respond immediately and Viduka, who seemed to lose the ball as he was challenged by two Motherwell defenders, somehow was able to get a shot in.
After 15 minutes, the lone Celtic striker seemed to be complaining to the bench about a hand injury, but it was some time before he was able to get treatment. However, he was happy enough in 21 minutes when his team drew level.
He fed the ball to McNamara, whose pass to Stilian Petrov resulted in a fine cross, which was met by a glancing header from Berkovic, who ran off in joy after he saw Woods fumble his attempt to halt it on the line, no doubt because of the wind.
Viduka then set up and finished off the incident that led to Celtic's second goal in 26 minutes. The Aussie fastened on to a loose ball and went on a powerful run into the box, where the pursuing Shaun Teale brought him down from behind. Referee Jim McCluskey had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. There was no reticence, either, about the striker's spot-kick, which went high into the net behind Woods.
Motherwell were going all-out for an equaliser and it came in 42 minutes when Goodman fed Townsley, who cut inside Stubbs and drove the ball past Gould.
Motherwell took up where they left off at the start of the second half and, after Townsley had shot past from a good position, they took the lead once more in 50 minutes. Mjallby miskicked the ball and it went to Goodman, who moved inside and hit the ball accurately away from Gould.
It was non-stop excitement and Mahe joined in with a run from the left from a Viduka pass. He should have shot, but carried on and went down when challenged by Doesburg. Referee McCluskey was not convinced of the penalty, however.
He looked to be wrong, though, and again it looked that way when Viduka was wrestled to the ground as he turned around Teale inside the penalty area. From our seats, both looked like penalties, all right.
In 65 minutes, Celtic changed the formation, taking off Moravcik and putting on Wright.
Soon after, Motherwell replaced Twaddle with Pat Nevin, but it was Goodman who ought to have scored his second when he was in the clear instead of hitting the ball against Gould.
Next to join the fray was Morten Wieghorst, who came on for Mjallby.
Then Vidar Riseth presented Nevin with a chance and the former Scotland man was not far away as he tried to bend the ball around Gould from an acute angle.
Berkovic then put Mahe through on the left, but the Frenchman shot across goal and past the far post.
With seven minutes left, Motherwell replaced Townsley with Stephen Nicholas and near the end John Davies came on for McCulloch.
By then, however, the game was up for Celtic.
- Manager Interview
"We created chances but we didn't have much good fortune. However, I suppose we've had our share in the past. I thought we should have had two other penalties besides the one we scored from, but the referee thought otherwise.
"All season I have been asking my players to pass the ball but it was impossible tonight.
"I thought we created enough chances to win the game. Motherwell probably adapted to the conditions better."
"We changed to three at the back as they played last season. It was what they wanted and felt happier with. We will probably stick with it for the rest of the season.
"We were buoyant when we heard of Rangers' result, but we were under no illusions that because they lost, we were sure to win. We knew before then that Motherwell were on a run and would make it difficult for us.
"When they beat us earlier in the season, we played badly but I thought generally speaking we did OK tonight in the conditions.
"I was not happy with some of the defending, in particular at the second and third goals."