| Match Pictures | Matches: 1999 – 2000 | 1999-2000 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic returned from the winter training camp in the Algarve on the 16th January.
- Blackburn Rovers made an appeal to take Stewart Kerr on loan for the rest of the season but were knocked back as there would be no goalkeeping cover for Gould with Kharine still out injured with a hand injury.
- Fernando de Ornelas, a Venezuelan midfielder arrived as a triallist. His agent was Ian Wright. He was a free agent but had played with Real Zaragoza and Crystal Palace. Nicholas Ouedec, a French forward who had been on trial at the club returned to France on the 21st January when his wife refused to re-locate to Scotland after he alleged that Celtic had offered him a 3 ½ year deal.
- Lubo Moravcik signed a further one year extension to his contract making him a Celtic player to July 2001.
- New signing Rafael Scheidt was rushed to hospital and operated on for acute appendicitis. Recovery from this and return to any degree of fitness would take a further two weeks at least.
- Larsson was back in training and kicking a ball again.
- Stubbs was out with a stomach upset, Tebily was on African Nations Cup duty, Lambert was recovering from an ankle injury. Boyd, Johnson and Petta came in. This draw left us 6 points behind Rangers who also had a game in hand
After the game Lauchlan and Ian Wright were involved in a tunnel bust up with Lauchlan receiving a further yellow and Wright being reported to the SFA for the incident and further argy bargy with fourth official Willie Young in which the bold Willie was ‘pushed’ about by Wright and picked up a straight red.
Review
Not a great game both goals coming from deflections. The overall feel was poor and Blinker spit the dummy when he was subbed. Wrights after-game incident and the subsequent charge of bringing the game into dispute made for a poor day at the office.
Teams
Kilmarnock:
Meldrum, MacPherson, Lauchlan, Dindeleux, Baker, Mitchell (Mahood, 85), Durrant, Holt (Canero, 89), Reilly, Cocard, Smith (Jeffrey, 85)
Subs not used: Marshall, Hessey
Goals: Reilly (40)
Bookings: Lauchlan, MacPherson, Smith
Sent Off (post game): Lauchlan
Celtic:
Gould, Riseth, Mjallby, Boyd, McNamara, Blinker (Wright , 72), Petrov, Berkovic (Johnson, 82), Healy, Moravcik, Viduka
Subs not used: Kerr, Burchill, Petta
Goals: Viduka (31)
Bookings: Boyd, McNamara, Petrov, Wright
Sent Off (post game): Wright
Referee: Kenny Clark
Attendance: 14,126
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| |
Kilmarnock | Celtic |
| Bookings | 3 | 4 |
| Red Cards | 1 | 1 |
| Fouls | 12 | 14 |
| Shots on Target | 6 | 2 |
| Corners | 5 | 2 |
| Offside | 1 | 9 |
Sore point for stale CelticThe Scotsman 24/01/2000
ALAN PATTULLO
Kilmarnock 1 Reilly (40)
Celtic 1 Viduka (31)
THERE was no samba beat, with new Brazilian signing Rafael confined to bed with appendicitis, and, indeed, little rhythm of any sort as Celtic fell further behind Rangers at the top of the Premier League last night at Rugby Park.
It is a tune most have heard before but Celtic, in the new millennium, continue to stumble while Rangers soar. This draw at Kilmarnock should not be sniffed at, but however industrious Bobby Williamson's struggling side proved, the Celtic fans will see this as two points dropped rather than one gained. In his heart of hearts, coach John Barnes will also.
Last week he was spotted proudly clutching a rather underwhelming Manager of the Month bauble. It was strange to think this distinguished footballer – with championship medals and goals in the Maracana to his name – seemed so tickled by this Christmas crackeresque prize. However, such glee perhaps stemmed from the haranguing he has experienced in the process of building Celtic into his own team.
But Barnes has been nothing if not brave in the face of such criticism. Last night he made a surprising change to his starting 11, bringing Colin Healy into the fray. The youngster slotted in beside Regi Blinker in the centre of midfield, and with Stilian Petrov also patrolling this area it did seem a rather lightweight boilerhouse. Indeed, the only flames being stoked in the early stages were Kilmarnock's, their players no doubt fired up by the criticism aimed at them after a less than startling season so far. This time last year, Kilmarnock were still in contention for the championship and many were naming them as the antidote to continued Old Firm dominance. The only monopoly they are now in danger of breaking is Aberdeen's franchise on under achievement.
Still, Kilmarnock sought to spear their opponents straight from kick off, with Andy Smith and Christophe Cocard getting in Celtic's and, it must be said, each other's way. Time and time again Smith would make exasperated "talk" signs with his hands at Cocard, as though he was about to burst into The Birdie Song. Smith received a message rather more clearly than he might have wished when, in the 20th minute, he was booked for diving in the box. Sixty seconds later, Mark Viduka flung himself down in the Kilmarnock penalty area, after a challenge by Ally Mitchell, but the referee was similarly unimpressed, though curiously no card was plucked from his pocket after Viduka's theatrics.
The Australian striker had already caused a stir, with a header from a Jackie McNamara cross that went inches wide of Colin Meldrum's post, but it was Kilmarnock who had the nearest goal-scoring opportunity, Gary Holt's acrobatic header marvellously saved by Jonathan Gould in the 26th minute.
Six minutes later the Celtic fans who were celebrating after Viduka found space in the box, and aimed a curious shot at the Kilmarnock goal. It bobbled, and spun, before finally arcing over the already grounded Meldrum and into the net. The shot had struck Jim Lauchlan, thus giving it a confusing trajectory.
It looked odds on that Kilmarnock would wither, but Williamson's side continued to cause Celtic problems, and while most were musing how they deserved to be level, they duly went and grabbed the equaliser they merited.
Four minutes before the break, Cocard overran the ball, luckily for the rampant Mark Reilly, whose subsequent shot ricocheted off Vidar Riseth and sped into the corner of Gould's net. The fortune had indeed favoured the brave.
It was a similar story in the second half, with Kilmarnock pressing remorselessly, as Celtic began to fluster in the knowledge that the three points were beyond them.
- Manager Interview
John Barnes post match:
"It is a big setback.
"Obviously, Rangers had a good win on Saturday, and are six points ahead of us. We need wins and also other teams to take points off Rangers.
"Unfortunately, we have to rely on them dropping more points than we needed them to before this match.
"It is disappointing, I can't deny that. We played as individuals rather than as a team. We can feel sorry for ourselves, and say we didn't have Paul Lambert, Morten Wieghorst and the like, but we had able players out there.
"I thought we would go on and win after opening the scoring, but we didn't. That's the most disappointing thing."
"Regi was playing no worse than anyone else and, in fact, has been doing well this season, but I wanted to put on a forward to try to win the game.
"If he was annoyed, that's good, because it shows he cares."