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Trivia
- Testimonial for Norwich physio Tim Sheppard.
- Large Celtic support travel south and earn plaudits for their behaviour.
- 5,000 Celts in the 15,000 crowd.
Review
Teams
Norwich:
Celtic:
Norwich scorers: Coote 39, McVeigh 55
Celtic scorers: Larsson 56 Burchill 83 Moravcik 88, 90
Referee:
Attendance: 15,034
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Celtic's preparations for the resumption of the Scottish League programme suffered a minor setback when midfielder Alan Thompson was stretchered off during their friendly at Norwich.
Thompson was injured in an accidental collision with Canaries defender Brian McGovern seconds after replacing star striker Henrik Larsson, who was withdrawn from the action after taking a much less serious knock.
The former Bolton and Aston Villa player has bruised his shin and may not recover in time for the weekend Scottish Cup clash with Stranraer.
The Bhoys won the match thanks to three late goals from Mark Burchill (83) and Lubo Moravcik (88 and 90) – although by then Norwich had introduced a whole host of veterans onto the field including former Rangers pair Robert Fleck and Dale Gordon and keeper Bryan Gunn, now on the Carrow Road backroom staff.
While the match was still a genuine contest, the Canaries more than matched their illustrious visitors and took a 2-0 lead before a wonder goal from Larsson brought his side back into the match.
The game, a testimonial match for long serving Norwich physiotherapist Tim Sheppard attracted a crowd of 15,034 to Carrow Road including an estimated 5,000 Celtic supporters.
Norwich went in front six minutes before the interval when Adrian Coote caught Ramon Vega in possession on the edge of the box before rifling a low shot past keeper Robert Douglas.
Norwich gave Celtic a tough game
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The Canaries changed their entire team at the interval while Celtic stuck with six of their starting line-up. The City reserves stretched their lead 10 minutes after the restart.
Scotland under-21 striker Alex Notman threaded through a delightful ball into the path of Northern Ireland youngster Paul McVeigh, who slipped the ball past substitute keeper Jonathan Gould.
Less than a minute later Celtic were back in it as Larsson hit a tremendous volley on the turn from the edge of the area which gave Robert Green no chance.
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill confirmed afterwards that Alan Thompson's injury was not a serious one.
O'Neill said: "He's got a couple of gashes down his shin but hopefully he should be OK, although Sunday might be a bit too early for him."
Of the game, O'Neill added: "It really was an excellent workout for us. It was a good competitive friendly and Norwich played extremely well.
"In fact it was just what we needed after our week in Florida. When you are over there with the sun on your back it's easy to forget what you are coming back to but this was certainly a timely reminder for us."