2000-10-01: Aberdeen 1-1 Celtic, Premierleague

Trivia

• First game for Larsson with his new look, having shaved off the trademark dreadlocks.
• Celtic were drawn against Bordeaux in the next round of the UEFA Cup, the first round to be played away. The only other British team in the competition were Liverpool. (Hearts were put out by Stuttgart, Leicester City by Red Star Belgrade and Chelsea by St. Gallen).
• Plans to appeal against Petrov’s yellow card against HJK for diving when video evidence showed that he was fouled were dropped when UEFA announced that they did not accept video evidence in that situation and that the result (the card) could not be overturned.
• Youth and Reserve player Paul Shields went on a month long loan to Albion Rovers. The loan would be extended for a further two months.
• Tommy Burns was offered the job of Head of the proposed Celtic Academy.
• It was found that Chris Sutton had broken his nose against HJK Helsinki but he declared himself fit to play against Aberdeen.

• Away from Celtic and football, ex-Celt Frank McAvennie was cleared of intent to supply amphetamines and ecstacy at Newcastle Crown Court on the 29/9/00 after a high profile case.

Review

A red card for Bobby Petta as Mike McCurry went on a card-flashing spree. A marked improvement from Aberdeen.

Teams

Aberdeen:
Esson, Rowson, McGuire, Whyte, McNaughton, Guntveit, Jess, Clark, D. Young, Mackie (Belabed 69), Winters.
Subs Not Used: Preece, McAllister, Mayer, Perry.
Goals: Winters 45.
Booked: D. Young, Whyte, Mackie (Aberdeen)

Celtic:
Gould, Boyd, Valgaeren, Mjallby, McNamara, Thompson (Mahe 37)( Healy 65), Lambert (Moravcik 46), Petrov, Petta, Larsson, Sutton.
Subs Not Used: Kerr, Berkovic.
Goals: Larsson 82.
Booked: Mjallby, Petta, Healy. (Celtic)
Sent Off: Petta (82). (Celtic)

Referee: M McCurry (Scotland).
Attendance: 18,239

Articles

• Match Report (see below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Stats

THE TELEGRAPH
By Neil Irvine

Aberdeen (1) 1 Celtic (0) 1

IT HAS not been the best of weeks for Celtic, but then again it could have been considerably worse. Following last Thursday's bleak UEFA escape in Finland, yesterday marked another salvage operation.

Given the discomfort of Helsinki, and its subsequent wearing effects, Celtic coach Martin O'Neill declared himself satisfied with yesterday's outcome, which leaves the Parkhead club two points above Hibernian at the top of the Premier League.

"All things considered, especially our recent strains, we are very pleased with the point," declared O'Neill.

However, the true test has only just begun. After the short break of the next few days for the World Cup qualifiers, Celtic will need to draw on all reserves of character to regain the winning habit to which they have become accustomed since O'Neill's arrival.

Yesterday's match was a pulsating affair, with Aberdeen keen to prove a point, having lost 25 goals to Celtic over last season's five meetings.

With goalkeeper Ryan Esson showing clean handling and acute positional sense, and their defensive unit aware and alert to the menace of Larsson and Chris Sutton, there was never any threat of Celtic subjecting the home side to the ritual thrashings of 12 months ago.

Indeed, it was the visitors defence which looked the more uncertain in yesterday's opening stages. Under Aberdeen coach Ebbe Skovdahl, youth has flourished at Pittodrie and Darren Mackie, an 18-year-old winger, gave Celtic captain Tommy Boyd a torrid time, before the appearance of substitute Stephane Mahe provided some stability to the visitors' left-back berth.

In the first-half, when Celtic's midweek excursions seemed to be taking their toll, Aberdeen were by far the more sprightly. On the quarter-hour the visitors lived dangerously when the referee refused to award a penalty after Robbie Winters' progress had been blatantly checked by a clumsy Boyd challenge.

More surprising than this decision, however was, the fact that it took Aberdeen – who had by far the lion's share of possession – until the stroke of interval to open the scoring.

This time there was no denying Winters, who lifted the ball over the advancing Jonathan Gould after Derek Young's pass through the middle had exposed a flat-footed visiting defence.

On the resumption of play, Celtic, for once showed some urgency with Jackie McNamara continually feeding the predatorial pair of Larsson and Sutton.
Aberdeen, though, were in no mood to surrender and continued to contain Celtic. However, after a passage of unrelenting pressure, Celtic eventually found a way past a resilient home guard, much to the relief of their vast travelling support.

With only nine minutes remaining, Larsson steered a header beyond Esson's reach, after Lubomir Moravcik had provided the perfect cross from Bobby Petta's short corner.

One minute later, Petta was on the receiving end, himself, when a red card was brandished for a second cautionable offence. However, Celtic refused to give up the search for a second goal.

Larsson to rescue in Celtic's close shave

The Scotsman 02/10/2000
Glenn Gibbons at Pittodrie

Aberdeen 1 Winters (45)
Celtic 1 Larsson (80)

DESPITE carrying unblemished credentials to Pittodrie, Celtic were entitled to be more pleased than Aberdeen with a result which had, until Henrik Larsson's intervention ten minutes from the end, appeared beyond them.

Looking disjointed, uncertain and ineffective for most of the match against an Aberdeen side suffused with a resurgent, youthful exuberance, the Parkhead side seemed doomed to their first league defeat by Robbie Winters' goal shortly before half-time.
This was a day on which Martin O'Neill's team confirmed their growing suspicion that leading the SPL offers opponents a huge incentive.
Often untidy, the game was marked by a spread of cautions which covered Derek Young, Derek Whyte and Darren Mackie of Aberdeen and Johan Mjallby and substitute Colin Healy and culminated in the two yellow cards issued to Bobby Petta – for fouls on Young and Phil McGuire – which brought the winger's ordering-off eight minutes from the finish. Unfortunate not to garner full points, this was the Pittodrie side's day.

A spectator wearing two eye patches would have little difficulty spotting the difference between the present Aberdeen and the team who, last season, were treated by Celtic as a source of income as regular and reliable as family allowance. Whether it was three points or the League Cup final at issue, the Parkhead side were offered so little resistance while picking up their dividend that they aggregated a 25-1 scoreline over the five-game series against Ebbe Skovdahl's pushovers.

Now, there is a liveliness of spirit and an energetic commitment about them which clearly came as a shock to Martin O'Neill's team. It has unquestionably been achieved by the widespread introduction of youthful enthusiasm, embodied by players such as Young, McGuire, Mackie, Chris Clark and Kevin McNaughton.

It is a startling statistic that only five of the team who started this match – Winters, Eoin Jess, Derek Whyte, Cato Guntveit, and David Rowson – would not qualify for the under-21 team. This does not mean that Aberdeen have been transformed into a formidable side, playing the kind of football which will terrorise the rest of the country. Indeed, there was an abundance of occasions in which the young players betrayed their inexperience. These were exemplified by Mackie on the right, the 18-year-old winger frequently outpacing whichever opponent was in his way and ruining promising moves either by misplacing the cross or hitting it too early from a wide position when he had the opportunity to carry it closer to areas in which maximum damage could have been caused.

Even so, his marauding, and that of Jess, Winters and Clark frequently disturbed the composure of a Celtic defence which entered the match with only seven goals against them in their eight unblemished league outings. Long before Winters made it eight, Aberdeen should have been given the most convertible opportunity of all, but were denied by referee Mike McCurry and his assistant.
As early as the 13th minute, a long clearance from goalkeeper Ryan Esson allowed Winters to bolt past the Celtic defence and into clear space just inside the penalty area. When Tom Boyd made the challenge from behind and Winters hit the turf, it appeared to be a penalty kick, but neither official – the referee behind the play, the assistant in line out on the right – allowed the vociferous claim. Television seemed to confirm that what contact there was, occurred just outside the box.

Even if it took Aberdeen until the dying seconds of the first half to establish their lead, nobody in the stadium could have argued with the justice of it. Celtic had spent the entire 45 minutes without exerting an ounce of pressure on the home side. A couple of long-range shots from Thompson which had no chance of troubling Esson and a neat 1-2 between Larsson and substitute Stephane Mahe – he replaced the injured Thompson after 37 minutes – which ended with the Frenchman falling as he duffed his cross straight to Esson were all they could muster by way of a "threat".

Bothered from the earliest moments by Mackie on the right, the starting 3-5-2 was changed by O'Neill to a 4-4-2 to cope, but it was not enough to halt Winters. He was given his chance after Jess had supplied Young, whose through-the-middle pass allowed Winters to beat Jonathan Gould in the chase and chip the ball past him from just inside the area.

Celtic's failure for most of the time to bother the home defence derived from an unusual inability to attack in numbers or with any verve. With Lubo Moravcik benched – he replaced Lambert for the second half – there was an obvious lack of creativity, leaving Larsson and Chris Sutton to expend most of their energy on wild goose chases. When the Swede was the recipient of Celtic's first genuine, thoughtfully-constructed and executed opportunity – sent clear inside the box by Stilian Petrov's precise through ball – he produced a poor finish, miscuing his chip yards wide of Esson's left post.

Larsson, of course, is not in the habit of regular profligacy and, with his next chance, scored the equaliser. Moravcik played a short corner on the left to Petta, took the return, and crossed impeccably to the striker, whose header from six yards flew to the right of Esson.

The Petta ordering-off arrived two minutes later, leaving Celtic with a taxing final eight minutes and suitably gratified at not having lost their unbeaten domestic record on a day when it seemed more of a probability than a possibility.

PA Sport Match Report

Managers Comments:

Martin O'Neill, post match:
Aberdeen 1 Celtic 1 By Chris Roberts, PA Sport
Shaven-headed striker Henrik Larsson proved to a cut above the rest as he produced a late header to rescue his side a point at Pittodrie.

The new-look Swede, who had his dreadlocks chopped this week, rescued a point after it threatened to be Robbie Winters day after the in-form striker had bagged his fourth goal in two games.

The late sending off of Bobby Petta meant that Celtic had to dig deep for the last eight minutes to secure a share of the points which keeps them two points ahead of Hibernian at the top of the Premier League.

Martin O'Neill's side again showed great resolution after their gruelling trip to Finland in midweek, but they were buoyed by their UEFA Cup second-round draw against French side Bordeaux.

Aberdeen, however, were also on a high after their 5-3 victory over Dundee United and it was them who made the brighter start and in the fifth minute Jonathan Gould had to gather a dangerous cross from Darren Mackie.

Celtic, however, came back into the game and Aberdeen keeper Ryan Esson had to save low from Alan Thompson's 25-yard effort in the 10th minute and three minutes later Larsson blasted wide with a 30-yard free-kick.

But Aberdeen should have had a penalty in the 14th minute when Derek Young flicked the ball into the path of hat-trick hero of last week Winters and Tom Boyd sent him crashing in the box with a reckless challenge.

The referee Mike McCurry, however, waved away the protests which angered the striker and the home fans and Boyd was fortunate to survive a penalty and a red card.

A minute later and Johan Mjallby deservedly received a booking for a reckless tackle on Chris Clark as the game started to hot up.

Thompson then found himself space in the 21st minute and delivered a dangerous cross to the back post, but Larsson could not get on the end of it and Kevin McNaughton was on hand to clear the danger.

Thompson tried his luck in the 29th minute with a dipping effort from 25 yards which Esson comfortably saved.

But Celtic suffered a blow in the 37th minute when Thompson suffered what looked a hamstring injury and he was replaced by French defender Stephane Mahe.

That did not seem to affect the visitors and in the 42nd minute they came within inches of taking the lead when Larsson hit a 30-yard free-kick which took a deflection from Eoin Jess which took it just past the post.

A minute before the break and Mahe almost got on the end of Larsson's chip, but he just failed to reach it.

But Pittodrie erupted in the last minute of the half when Jess found Derek Young and he threaded the ball through to Winters, who coolly lifted it over the on-rushing Gould.

O'Neill was forced to make another change at the break when the injured Paul Lambert was replaced by Lubo Moravcik.

Celtic stretched the home defence in the 49th minute when Jackie McNamara got to the by-line but the Scotland international's pull-back went behind the waiting Chris Sutton and the chance went begging.

McNamara made amends moments later when he found Petta with a great throughball, but the winger's cross across the face of goal was hit just too strongly for Sutton to get on the end of it.

The frustration of the visiting fans began to boil over and linesman Graeme Kerr appeared to get struck by a missile and referee McCurry came to have words with the fourth official on the touchline.

But Aberdeen looked dangerous on the break and they should have doubled their lead in the 62nd minute when Jess crossed from the left to Winters, whose header looped just over the bar.
They had another chance when Clark took David Rowson's ball in his stride, but blazed over the bar with just Gould to beat.

The fans' frustration was beginning to get to the players and Petta received his first yellow card in the 73rd minute for a show of petulance after clashing with Rowson on the touchline.

But Celtic grabbed the equaliser in the 80th minute through Larsson, who had all the time in the world from eight yards out to head Moravcik's cross back into the corner of the net.

It was his 13th goal this season and that gave the visitors the impetus, but they suffered a huge low just a minute later when Petta picked up his second booking of the game for a late tackle on Philip McGuire and he was sent to the dressing room.

Celtic faced an anxious last eight minutes, and their relief was plain to see at the final whistle.
Teams
Aberdeen: Esson, Rowson, McGuire, Whyte, McNaughton, Guntveit, Jess, Clark, D. Young, Mackie (Belabed 69), Winters.
Subs Not Used: Preece, McAllister, Mayer, Perry.
Booked: D. Young, Whyte, Mackie.
Goals: Winters 45.
Celtic: Gould, Boyd, Valgaeren, Mjallby, McNamara, Thompson (Mahe 37), Lambert (Moravcik 46), Petrov, Petta, Larsson, Sutton, Mahe (Healy 65).
Subs Not Used: Kerr, Berkovic.
Sent Off: Petta (82).
Booked: Mjallby, Petta, Healy.
Goals: Larsson 82.
Att: 18,239
Ref: M McCurry (Scotland).