2001-09-08: Celtic 3-1 Dunfermline, Premier League

Match Pictures | Matches: 2001 – 2002 | 2001-2002 Pictures

Trivia

Review

Teams

CELTIC:
Kharine, Valgaeren (Hartson 72), Balde, Tebily, Agathe, Lennon, Petrov (Healy 75), Thompson (Crainey 69), Moravcik, Larsson, Sutton.

DUNFERMLINE:
Ruitenbeek, Doesburg (Nicholls 70), Thomson, Rossi, McGroarty, MacPherson, Nicholson, Mason, Dair (Hampshire 45), Crawford, De Gier

Referee: JR Underhill
Attendance:57,956

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Articles

The Herald (Glasgow)
September10, 2001
Marvellous Moravcik's two-goal show kills offDunfermlineand tells manager Martin O'Neill he is ready for Rosenborg;Lubo states his case for Champions League slot

BYLINE:Jim Reynolds AtCelticPark

LUBO Moravcik's main reason for extending his contract atCelticfor one more year was the lure of being involved in the Champions League and there is little doubt that is what spurred him to the heights againstDunfermlineon Saturday.
It was as if the 36-year-old was throwing down a challenge to manager Martin O'Neill. As if he was asking: "Can you afford to leave me out when the Champ -ions League gets under way against Rosenborg on Wednesday night?"
The answer would, surely, be a resounding no. The little Slovakian was absolutely magnificent in aCelticside in which excellence was in abundance and class stood out throughout the 90 minutes.

Forget what the scoreline says, becauseCelticwon this match in a canter and had plenty in reserve. If they had doubled their tally of three it would not have flattered them.And there was Lubo, in the middle of it all, running the show asCeltic, for the first time in their history, started a match without even one Scot in their line-up.
Apart from two tremendous strikes which brought the first and third goals, Moravcik pushed himself all over the field with all the enthusiasm of a much younger man. He does not know how to hide.
O'Neill illustrated just how keen the man is to be involved in the thick of things when he told us after the match: "I asked him if he wanted to come off, or go for his hat trick. I saw the look on his face and thought I had better keep him on."
TheCelticfans had other reasons to be cheerful. Bobo Balde, the huge central defender bought from Toulouse, made his competitive debut. The crowd got behind him right away and he responded in some style. He is quick, can play the ball on the ground, and is so powerful and strong.
There was one incident when he even knocked over team-mate Joos Valgaeren to get to the ball. That in itself is quite a feat, considering the size of the Belgian.
There was also the return of Bulgarian midfielder Stillian Petrov. Although he has made a couple of international appearances since recovering from a leg break, this was his first top-team match forCelticand he was given a rapturous reception from the fans.
He looked assured and was early on involved in two crunching tackles which he won. "That is the way I play and I won't change," he said. "Just after I broke a leg I wondered if I would ever play again, but I was given every encouragement by Martin O'Neill and everyone at the club. It is great to be back and I appreciate the reception I got from the fans. I didn't know until just before the match that I would be playing and I was really surprised.
"I was pleased with the way I played, although I should have scored. I feel ready to play in the Champions League on Wednesday, but that will be the manager's decision."
The match itself sawCelticnever having to go into top gear as they passed the ball about with style and confidence, although in the very first minute it looked as if it might well beDunfermlinegoalkeeper Marco Ruitenbeek's day when he pulled off a stunning save from Henrik Larsson after Chris Sutton had knocked down a Moravcik free-kick.
In nine minutes, however, the keeper giftedCeltictheir first goal when he sent a clearance straight to Moravcik, who was some 30 yards from goal. With Ruitenbeek off his line, Lubo promptly sent the ball back over his head and into the net.
It tookDunfermlinea further three minutes before they managed to get the ball intoCeltic'shalf, but solid defending made sure there was little they could do in the positive sense.
Celtickilled off the match with the very last move of the first half when Larsson showed incredible skill before sliding a reverse pass to Sutton, who stroked the ball past Ruitenbeek.
The Fifers did manage to look more aggressive in the second half, and Dmitri Kharine, in theCelticgoal, had to make a couple of fines saves from Jack de Gier.
However,Celticstruck again in 71 minutes when Balde produced a marvellous crossfield pass. Moravcik let it bounce once in the box before lashing an unstoppable drive into the net.
Steve Crawford did manage to get a consolation goal forDunfermlinefive minutes from time, a wonderful strike which I doubt if Kharine had even seen as it flashed past him, but it was all too little on an afternoon whenCelticwere so professional.
Dunfermlinemanager Jimmy Calderwood said afterwards: "With all due respect toCelticand the vision of Lubo, we lost three bad goals.
"We were all over the place in the first 10 minutes and our goalkeeper made a very bad mistake – he knows it. That is the last thing you need atCelticPark.
"Henrik showed great skill at their second goal, but our defenders treated him like a china doll. Nobody tackled him and that killed the game. You can't giveCeltic, let alone anybody, goals like that."
Calderwood did say that there were plus points for his side and the biggest was, perhaps, the form of wayward Moroccan Youseff Rossi. Making his first appearance of the season after going walkabout, the central defender was quite outstanding. It is doubtful if Rossi's future lies in Fife, but when he does move onDunfermlinewill rake in a tidy profit.

The Scotsman
September10, 2001, Monday
CELTIC,A TEAM FOR EVERY OCCASION

BYLINE:Glenn Gibbons At Parkhead

Celtic3 Moravcik (9, 70), Sutton (45)Dunfermline1 Crawford (85)

IN FOOTBALL, omissions can be as significant as inclusions. Anyone assessingCeltic'sreadiness for a Champions League campaign, for instance, would note that, as well as the XI who started this latest canter to victory, Martin O'Neill was able to hold in reserve another nine first-team squad members.
Robert Douglas, Paul Lambert, Bobby Petta, Johan Mjallby, Jackie McNamara, Tom Boyd, John Hartson, Steve Guppy and Momo Sylla were all absentees when referee John Underhill signalled the start of the game, with only Hartson a used substitute by the finish.

While only four of them – Douglas, Lambert, Petta and Mjallby – could reasonably be regarded as automatic first picks when fit, it is a measure of the progress that the Irishman has made in deepening his pool that he could tolerate the loss of six or seven and still field a side capable of distinguishing themselves.Watching from the stands, Rosenborg's assistant manager, Ola By Rise, would surely have been impressed byCeltic'soverall domination ofDunfermline; apprised of their reserves, he may have had cause to gulp.
O'Neill himself acknowledged this expansion when he said, "Progress has been made. This time last year, the squad was so limited, we wouldn't have been able to sustain a European challenge. Now we have more flexibility.
I thought if we could get away with it, I could take a chance on leaving out Lambert and Mjallby to give them a chance to recover from their international exertions.
"Johan had a little groin problem that kept him out of Sweden's second match in midweek, and Lambert had a hard week. Robert Douglas was also a little doubt, so there was no point in taking a risk, but this also helps other players to get properly conditioned for what lies ahead.
"With big days coming up, playing Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday in the next few weeks, we have to try to ensure that players have match practice to prepare them for when they may have to come in. It's a sort of balancing act here ."
On the evidence of this latest performance, it will take more thanDunfermlinehad to offer to causeCelticto capsize. Having breezed virtually unchallenged into a 2-0 lead by half-time, it was only after they had begun to coast towards the finish that O'Neill's team allowed their visitors to make some headway.
Ifs, buts and maybes are part of football's language, but it is noticeable that they never enter the vocabulary of winners. Hence, Jimmy Calderwood's liberal use of the conjunctions and adverbs when searching for reasons not to be too despondent. The littleDunfermlinemanager, likeable and impressive in the way he has handled a difficult job since his arrival two years ago, on this occasion had to be pretty inventive to come up with positive elements.
"We were all over the place in the first ten minutes," said Calderwood. "Our organisation, everything, was poor, but we seemed to survive it when our goalkeeper took matters into his own hands and gave them their first goal. It was a great finish from Lubo (Moravcik), but we can't afford to give him chances like that.
"It was good work by Henrik (Larsson) at the second goal just before half -time, but our defenders treated him like a china doll, wouldn't tackle him. Gary Mason was ball-watching at the third, but Marco (Ruitenbeek) should have been sweeping from the position he was in. Another great finish by Lubo, but we can't give chances like that to poor teams, never mind very good ones likeCeltic.
"Lubo might have been sent off. It wasn't much, but he did shove Michel Doesburg. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had one of our players done the same thing. I can't be happy with defeat, but there were positives in other areas of the performance. If we can stop giving away foolish goals, things will be much better."
Moravcik's push on the Dutch defender after the latter had wrestled him to the ground near the touchline was rash, but harmless, and the yellow card was sufficient punishment. What he inflicted onDunfermlinewas much more severe. He opened the scoring with a wonderful drive with the outside of his right foot from 25 yards after Ruitenbeek had miscued a clearance straight to him.
He also volleyed the third high to the left of the goalkeeper when Bobo Balde's long ball from defence dropped out of the sky and beyond the unbalanced Mason. In between, Chris Sutton slipped in the second from Larsson's astute reverse pass inside the penalty area.
Calderwood was clearly unable to draw as many encouraging aspects from the game as O'Neill, who saw Stilian Petrov return to midfield, recovered from a broken leg three months earlier than originally predicted. The Bulgarian would have scored, too, had his timing not been off when glancing a header from Larsson's precise centre wide of Ruitenbeek's left-hand post.
The appearance of Balde, who looks strong and quick if in need of match practice, was another source of satisfaction. Neither Balde nor any of his colleagues was able to stop Stevie Crawford, however, from scoring late in the game with a marvellous left-foot drive.
O'Neill's only regret was that he was forced by circumstances to send out the first team inCeltic'shistory not to contain a Scot. "That was a record I didn't want to break," he said, "but if I get a ten-year amnesty, I promise they'll all be Scots by then. And Lubo will be retired."