| Match Pictures | Matches: 2005 – 2006 | 2005-06 Pictures |
Trivia
- Debut for Paul Lawson
- Both Zurawski and Nakamura scored their first goals for Celtic, with Zurawski netting twice.
Review
Celtic dominated the game and Dunfermline had few chances, though former Celtic striker Mark Burchill took a penalty – which was saved by Boruc!
Both Zurawski and Nakamura scored their first goals for Celtic, with Zurawski netting twice. Hartson also got onto the scoresheet following a goalkeeping error Halliwell.
Teams
Dunfermline:-
Halliwell, Tod, Scott Wilson, Thomson (Horsted 77), Ross, Mason (Derek Young 20), Darren Young, Makel, Campbell, Tarachulski, Burchill (Hunt 73).
Subs Not Used:- Murdoch, Donnelly, Craig Wilson, Phinn.
Booked:- Campbell.
Celtic:-
Boruc, McManus, Virgo (Lawson 59), Balde, Telfer, Petrov, Nakamura, Camara, Zurawski (McGeady 90), Hartson, Beattie.
Subs Not Used:- Marshall, Pearson, Wallace, Varga, O'Dea.
Goals:- Zurawski 5, Hartson 10, Nakamura 58, Zurawski 74.
Att:- 9,244
Ref:- K Clark.
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
Dunfermline Ath 0-4 Celtic
BBC
Celtic returned to form with a fine win over a benevolent Dunfermline side at East End Park.
Maciej Zurawski scored his first goal for the club after five minutes – a low drive past Bryn Halliwell.
John Hartson took advantage of a poor Halliwell clearance to double the lead before Artur Boruc saved Mark Burchill's penalty.
Shunsuke Nakamura tapped in his first Celtic goal before Zurawski scored again with a neat finish from 12 yards.
Dunfermline applied good early pressure to the Celtic goal, but the visitors opened the scoring with their first foray upfield.
Zurawski, restored to the starting line-up, picked the ball up on the left wing and drove into the box before unleashing a low drive past Halliwell at his near post.
If the keeper was disappointed with his contribution to that goal, he would have been devastated at his role in the second, which arrived five minutes later.
Scott Thomson gave him an awkward passback to deal with, and Halliwell simply knocked the ball into the path of Hartson who gleefully sidefooted the ball into the net from the edge of the box.
Dunfermline might have been expected to collapse having lost two goals so early in the game, but they took the game to Celtic again and their persistence won them a penalty after 25 minutes.
Burchill was barged over by Adam Virgo and the former Celtic striker took the spot kick himself. But Boruc preserved his side's two-goal lead with a fine save low to his left.
Boruc continued to look a solid performer in the Celtic goal as he dealt comfortably with a well-struck Darren Young volley just after half-time.
Hartson saw a close-range shot well saved by Halliwell after 57 minutes, but the keeper was helpless as Nakamura scored Celtic's third a minute later.
Zurawski showed quick feet to get away from Thomson on the left and he waited for the Japanese midfielder to dart into the six-yard box before releasing the pass that allowed Nakamura a tap-in.
Zurawski was at last showing the type of form that led Gordon Strachan to spend £2m on him in the summer and he might have scored a fourth with a nimble turn in the box, only to fire over, and moments later he had a headed goal disallowed for offside.
Boruc again did well to deny Bartosz Tarachulski after the striker had bustled his way through the Celtic defence.
But Dunfermline gifted Celtic another goal when Thomson failed to deal with a Hartson head-flick and Zurawski was able to slot the ball past Halliwell.
Dunfermline: Halliwell, Tod, Scott Wilson, Thomson (Horsted 77), Ross, Mason (Derek Young 20), Darren Young, Makel, Campbell, Tarachulski, Burchill (Hunt 73).
Subs Not Used: Murdoch, Donnelly, Craig Wilson, Phinn.
Booked: Campbell.
Celtic: Boruc, McManus, Virgo (Lawson 59), Balde, Telfer, Petrov, Nakamura, Camara, Zurawski (McGeady 90), Hartson, Beattie.
Subs Not Used: Marshall, Pearson, Wallace, Varga, O'Dea.
Goals: Zurawski 5, Hartson 10, Nakamura 58, Zurawski 74.
Att: 9,244
Ref: K Clark
Zurawski puts zing into Celtic
Ewan Murray at East End Park
The Guardian, Monday 29 August 2005 03.32 BST
Article history
Routine is scarcely a word to have described the SPL campaign so far. So it was almost a surprise that Celtic should see off Dunfermline's challenge in traditional manner yesterday.
The three points were vital for Gordon Strachan, even at this premature stage, as they brought Celtic back to within five points of the early pace-setters Hearts, and a point ahead of Rangers, who were beaten 3-0 by Tony Mowbray's Hibs at Ibrox on Saturday. It has already been that sort of season.
"People in England maybe look up here and think there are four big games a season in Scotland, but that certainly won't be the case this year," Strachan said. "Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen have all improved – and that makes for a better spectacle. It maybe won't be as much fun for Rangers and Celtic supporters, but it will be fun for everyone else."
Dunfermline have not tasted victory over Celtic in a league match at East End Park for 16 years, and though they controlled large segments of this game, they lacked the guile to break through a mediocre Celtic defence.
To make matters worse, the Pars' weak link is also their back line, and that was to make all the difference as the much maligned Polish striker Maciej Zurawski finally found his scoring touch after his £2.2m summer move from Legia Warsaw.
Zurawski scored twice, his first goals in Celtic colours, and John Hartson maintained his excellent early-season form with another goal. There was a first strike in green and white, too, for the Japanese playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura.
Though Celtic's first two goals owed plenty to their hosts' generous defence, Nakamura's strike was the culmination of sublime play from the born-again Polish striker, who turned a defender before waiting for his team-mate to run into the area and supplying him.
The former Celtic striker Mark Burchill saw a first-half penalty excellently saved by Artur Boruc with the score at 2-0, and that was to prove pivotal as Celtic moved up a gear in the second period.
Rangers' manager Alex McLeish labelled Hibs' first win at Ibrox in a decade, and their biggest there in 103 years, as a "smash-and-grab" affair. But in that was an unfair comment after the substitute Ivan Sproule celebrated a second-half hat-trick. Despite winning last week's Old Firm match, therefore, Rangers find themselves trailing Celtic and six points behind high-flying Hearts after defeats to Aberdeen and Hibs on either side of that tempestuous Glasgow derby.
While the defending champions floundered, Hearts were making it five wins from as many games at Tynecastle, edging past a spirited Motherwell side and showing in the process that they can win matches in a variety of fashions. George Burley's team lacked the sparkling attacking verve that has been the hallmark of their early-season form, and had to rely on a world-class save from Craig Gordon in the dying seconds to secure another three points.
But their run continues, and with games against Paul Lambert's struggling Livingston and Inverness Caledonian Thistle to come after the international break, Rangers could well be the team under pressure when they visit Tynecastle on September 24.
Hearts are disproving the theory that beating the Old Firm is the key to success by their performances over the very teams whom the Glasgow duo are dropping points to.
Burley took time to join his adoring supporters in a hostelry not far from Tynecastle after the match, as cries of "We shall not be moved" filled the air in Edinburgh's West End. If the Old Firm keeps taking it in turns to self-destruct, they might not be.