2002-10-23: Celtic 4-2 Inverness CT, League Cup

Match Pictures | Matches: 20022003 | 2002-2003 Pictures

Trivia

  • John Hartson sent Martin O'Neill a reminder with two goals as Celtic finally banished the painful memory of Inverness Caledonian Thistle's shock Scottish Cup win in February 2000.

Review

Steve Paterson's Inverness side arrived in Glasgow full of confidence after their 6-0 thrashing of Alloa Athletic on Saturday. But Celtic's fringe players looked eager to impress and made their early pressure tell after only four minutes.
Didier Agathe broke down the right, Fernandez got the faintest of touches to the ball across the goalmouth and Maloney fired home from close range.
First Division Inverness stunned the home crowd in the 10th minute by pulling themselves level. Ritchie's right-foot shot took a wicked deflection off Bobo Balde and beat Robert Douglas to his right.
Thoughts turned to two years ago, but the Caley Thistle dreams were dented when Celtic again went ahead. Fernandez produced a great piece of skill to get away from Ross Tokely after 20 minutes. The Spanish forward played the ball across the goal and Hartson nipped in ahead of Grant Munro to head the ball into the corner of the net.
Thompson finally settled Celtic just a minute before the break when his left-foot free-kick took a deflection off the Inverness wall to creep between goalkeeper Mark Brown and his right-hand post.
Both sides went close to adding to their tally before Hartson, relishing the chance to impress in a rare start for Celtic, made no mistake from little more than four yards after a cross from Maloney.
But the visitors were not dead yet and they pulled a goal back in the 72nd minute when Wyness got on the end of a Robson cross.

Teams

Celtic:-
Douglas, Boyd (Miller 77), Balde (Kennedy 62), Crainey, Agathe (Wallace 68), Healy, Thompson, Maloney, Smith, Fernandez, Hartson.
Subs not used:- Gould, Sylla.
Goals:- Maloney 4, Hartson 20, Thompson 44, Hartson 61.
Booked:- Boyd, Kennedy.

Inverness CT:-
Brown, Tokely (Keogh 73), Mann, Munro, Golabek, Duncan, McBain, Hart, Robson (Christie 72), Wyness, Ritchie (Low 79).
Subs not used:- McCaffray, Ridgers.
Goals:- Ritchie 10, Wyness 72.
Booked:- McBain.

Att:- 34,592
Ref:- M McCurry.

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Articles

Hartson lays Inverness ghost

BBC
Celtic 4-2 Inverness Caledonian Thistle

A John Hartson double made sure that there was no repeat of Inverness Caley Thistle's famous victory over Celtic.

Shaun Maloney gave Martin O'Neill's side an early lead before Paul Ritchie's equaliser gave the large travelling support hope of an upset to match their Scottish Cup win of 8 February 2000.

But Hartson restored the lead and completed Celtic's scoring after Alan Thompson had established a comfortable 3-1 half-time lead.

Dennis Wyness pulled one back for Inverness as they again proved difficult opponents, but it was the Scottish champions who took their place in the CIS Cup quarter-finals.

John Hartson and Shaun Maloney celebrate at Celtic Park
Celtic scorers: Hartson and Maloney
The visitors' 3-1 win at Celtic Park had led to the famous headline "Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious".

It also resulted in John Barnes being sacked as Celtic head coach, to be succeeded by O'Neill.

Defender Tom Boyd and midfielder Colin Healy were the only Celtic players to survive since that night as O'Neill made eight changes from the team that thumped Hearts on Sunday.

Maloney, Thompson, Hartson, Stephen Crainey, Jamie Smith and David Fernandez were drafted in.

Chris Sutton, Henrik Larsson, Steve Guppy, Paul Lambert, Neil Lennon, Stilian Petrov, Joos Valgaeren and Ulrik Laursen were rested.

Steve Paterson's side arrived in Glasgow full of confidence after their 6-0 thrashing of Alloa Athletic on Saturday.

But Celtic's fringe players looked eager to impress and made their early pressure tell after only four minutes.

Didier Agathe broke down the right, Fernandez got the faintest of touches to the ball across the goalmouth and Maloney fired home from close range.

First Division Inverness stunned the home crowd in the 10th minute by pulling themselves level.

Ritchie's right-foot shot took a wicked deflection off Bobo Balde and beat Robert Douglas to his right.

Thoughts turned to two years ago, but the Caley Thistle dreams were dented when the home side again went ahead.

Fernandez produced a great piece of skill to get away from Ross Tokely after 20 minutes.

The Spanish forward played the ball across the goal and Hartson nipped in ahead of Grant Munro to head the ball into the corner of the net.

Thompson finally settled Celtic just a minute before the break when his left-foot free-kick took a deflection off the Inverness wall to creep between goalkeeper Mark Brown and his right-hand post.

Both sides went close to adding to their tally before Hartson, relishing the chance to impress in a rare start for Celtic, made no mistake from little more than four yards after a cross from Maloney.

But the visitors were not dead yet and they pulled a goal back in the 72nd minute when Wyness got on the end of a Robson cross.

The Celtic defence looking rattled and Bobby Mann had a late header cleared off the line by substitute John Kennedy.

Celtic: Douglas, Boyd (Miller 77), Balde (Kennedy 62), Crainey, Agathe (Wallace 68), Healy, Thompson, Maloney, Smith, Fernandez, Hartson. Subs Not Used: Sylla, Gould.

Booked: Boyd, Kennedy.

Goals: Maloney 4, Hartson 20, Thompson 44, Hartson 61.

Inverness CT: Brown, Tokely (Keogh 73), Mann, Munro, Golabek, Duncan, McBain, Hart, Robson (Christie 72), Wyness, Ritchie (Low 79). Subs Not Used: McCaffray, Ridgers.

Booked: McBain.

Goals: Ritchie 10, Wyness 72.

Attendance: 34,592

Referee: M McCurry.