1999-12-01: Celtic 1-0 Dundee, League Cup Rd 4

Trivia

• League Cup Fourth Round
• Celtic win in the 90th minute.
• Regarded by some as one of the coldest games been too. Scoring in the 90th min & everybody cheered that it wasnt going into ET.
• Mahe sent off by Hugh Dallas same combination as on the infamous day last year.
• It was Dallas's first game at Celtic park since he was hit with the coin after helping the Huns win the league. He had another shocker and wrongly sent Mahe off again for his first tackle.
• Over the weekend Derby County came back to the table and it looked like Burley’s move was back on again.
• Following the loss to Motherwell it emerged that the tactic of going three-at-the-back had emerged as a team consensus following Barnes calling a clear-the-air meeting with the players.
• Marc Rieper was set to make a decision in the New Year whether he would be able to start playing again following his long recuperation from the toe injury and various operations and therapy in an attempt to ease the pain he felt from the injury.
• Berkovic was dropped / rested for the game.

Review

Teams

Celtic: Gould, Tebily, Stubbs, Riseth (Burchill 61), Mahe, Wieghorst, Moravcik, Mjallby, McNamara, Wright (Petrov 45), Viduka.
Subs Not Used: Kerr.
Goals: Wieghorst 90.

Dundee: Douglas, Smith, Tweed, Wilkie, Sharp (Robertson 87), Billio (Grady 78), Van Eijs, Boyack, Rae, Annand (Banger 45),Falconer.

Booked: Stubbs, Wieghorst, Moravcik (Celtic) Wilkie, Annand, Billio, Smith, Banger (Dundee)
Sent Off: Mahe (43) (Celtic)

Referee: Hugh Dallas (Scotland).

Attendance: 40,260

Articles

• Match Report

Wieghorst late strike lifts the gloom at Parkhead;Celtic scrape through amidst controversy as Mahe is again ordered off by Dallas

The Herald 02/12/1999
Ian Paul

Celtic ……….. 1 Dundee …………. 0

THEY left it until virtually the last kick of the ball but Celtic managed to lift their depression and at the same time move into the semi-finals of the CIS Insurance League Cup.
Danish internationalist Morten Wieghorst, making only his third start of the season, headed in the goal in the last minute which sent most of the 40,260 on site home with at least the satisfaction of seeing their team victorious.
On the face of it, the win may not seem all that wonderful but, as Celtic played all of the second half and the last few minutes of the first half with only 10 men, it was perhaps not too bad a performance.
Stephane Mahe was sent off by referee Hugh Dallas just before the interval. That sentence in itself will bring back unhappy memories for Celtic fans, as it was the same combination that brought about riotous scenes when the teams met in the Premier League Championship decider last summer.
Happily, there was no repeat of the histrionics from the Frenchman this time and, in any case, it was the far-side linesman who drew the attention of Dallas to the incident, in which Mahe retaliated with a little kick after Eddie Annand had hauled him down near the touchline.
Celtic had been well on top until that point, although Dundee were well organised and disciplined, and indeed the Parkhead men stayed in charge despite being a man short.
However, the only real threat to the Dens team came from Australian striker Mark Viduka, who once again had a fine 90 minutes, but overall the best player on the field was Lubo Moravcik, and he was well worth the sponsor's man of the match award.
Head coach John Barnes was all smiles afterwards. "I thought we might be in trouble when we went down to 10 men but the players were fantastic, every one of them, and I thought that we dominated the second half and thoroughly deserved the victory.
Obviously after the recent results the one thing that we needed was a win. That was what was important but every player deserves great credit for the performance tonight. Obviously Lubo Moravcik deserved his man-of-the-match award but, while I don't like singling out players, I thought that Morten Wieghorst was excellent."
Wieghorst himself said that the players were getting tired near the end but, like the manager, felt that they would have lifted themselves again if the game had gone into extra time. "It was great for me of course as I have been out for a while and to score a goal was a great bonus. But I think it was more important for the team after recent results. In these circumstances we need to battle for each other and I thought we did that."
Dundee manager Jocky Scott was disappointed in the way his team played. "I thought we were as disappointing tonight as we were good against Rangers on Sunday. At Ibrox we showed great self belief but I don't think that was there tonight. In fact, even when we had the extra man Celtic were still far more dangerous than we were."
With Eyal Berkovic given a rest, Moravcik was expected to be the man to provide the creativity in midfield. He did that a bit more in the openng period, when he was responsible for the two best efforts of his team.
First, he let fly with superb left-foot drive from 20 yards out which left Robert Douglas stranded but came thundering off the bar. A few minutes later he was a lot closer to goal but hit his snap shot wide of the near post.
Before those tries, Willie Falconer, a former Celtic striker, had headed wide when in good position but it was pretty well much all Celtic afterwards.
Ian Wright tried a volley that hit the side netting, then Viduka and Wieghorst worked a smart one-two before the Danish internationalist shot past a post. The Dane, starting only his third game of the season, was in the mood to establish a claim for a regular place, as he illustrated soon after with a shot that the Dundee keeper could not hold at the first attempt.
Dundee defender Lee Wilkie, returning to the side after a spell of suspension, was booked for a foul on Wright.
Just before the interval, a game that had been anything but volatile suddenly erupted.
Annand was beaten to the ball by Mahe, who was caught by a late challenge and then reacted in anger. The far-side linesman, consulted by Dallas, indicated that the Frenchman retaliated and he was shown the red card.
There was further controversy when Wieghorst brought van Eijs down from behind and was booked, by which time the home crowd were in a frenzy, bearing in mind that Dallas was the man who had sent the Frenchman off in the championship game last season. Not surprisingly, therefore, the referee was roundly booed off the field at the break.
Dundee took off Annand, who was booked for his part in the Mahe incident, and replaced him with Nicky Banger.
At the start of the second half, Celtic changed things because of the sending-off, taking off Wright and bringing on Stillian Petrov, leaving Viduka on his own up front. The Australian still looked in great heart and he was on the spot to head what looked a certain scorer from a Moravcik cross but Douglas made a magnificent one-handed stop on his line.
In 60 minutes Celtic produced another attacker in Mark Burchill, who was called into play alongside Viduka, with Vidar Riseth coming off.
Moravcik was brought down as he headed for the penalty area by Barry Smith, who was booked. Then the Slovak was shown a yellow card when, perhaps in frustration, he hauled down Banger.
Dundee sent on James Grady for Billio with 13 minutes to goand then replaced Sharp with Hugh Robertsonbut the tie seemed destined for extra time . . . until the very last minute when Burchill sent over a cross from the left and there was Wieghorst to hed it accurately over Douglas and into the net.

PA Sport Match Report

• Manager Interview

John Barnes post match:
"I thought we might be in trouble when we went down to 10 men but the players were fantastic, every one of them, and I thought that we dominated the second half and thoroughly deserved the victory.
“Obviously after the recent results the one thing that we needed was a win. That was what was important but every player deserves great credit for the performance tonight. Obviously Lubo Moravcik deserved his man-of-the-match award but, while I don't like singling out players, I thought that Morten Wieghorst was excellent."

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Stats

Articles