Scotland on Sunday
February12, 1995, Sunday
Lights out onCelticagain

BYLINE:Kevin Mccarra

CELTIC'Sdrawn match with Hibs led an endangered life. It had to survive a pitch inspection and on two occasions the floodlights fizzled out. The game, too, was a racy affair, but its power supply was constant. Sparks flew from the opening seconds when Willie Falconer might have scored and if invention did fail there was always some galumphing defending to maintain the excitement.Tommy Burns would surely prefer dullness and a great deal more authority from his team on their own ground. They twice led yesterday, but eventually failed to add to their skinny total of six victories in the league. No matter howCelticsquirm to try and justify themselves they continue to be pinned by the statistics.

The manager surely knows that he will face unrest from the crowd. The brief boo at full-time can easily grow in volume and duration. If the selection againstHibernianis anything to go by, Burns's own tolerance is on the wane. For the second time this season Paul McStay was dropped and on this occasion there was no place for him even on the bench. The midfielder did have an ankle injury which prevented him from training at the beginning of the week, but Burns shunned the easy alibi, saying, "I picked a specific team with this game in mind."Since Brian McLaughlin is virtuallyCeltic'sonly means of turning defences, a midfield player had to stand down to make way for him and the manager went on to praise each of the men he did choose to retain in that area.
Perhaps too much will be made of the omission of McStay, who is in his testimonial year and coming to the end of his contract. No doubt the 30-year- old is perfectly capable of forcing his way back into the side.
His absence, though, did identify a readiness on Burns's part to draw a line under the old certainties at the club. ACelticside which one day wins a trophy will surely bear only a faint resemblance to the current selection.
Burns has been amassing the air miles of late as he attempts to find new signings, but some of these targets badly need to touch down in his team. The manager called for patience as he introduces youngsters, butCelticare the sort of club who will never be allowed to remain in embryonic condition for long.
Yesterday's 11 did manufacture enough chances to win the game and were foiled mainly by the lasting spryness of the Premier Division's most elderly goalkeeper. Even so, Hibs, while being much less expansive, always looked capable of reducing theCelticdefence to bedlam when an equaliser was called for. The managers, however, should be left to get on with their recriminations while everyone else relishes the memory of an excellent game.
Hibs have not won a league match outside Edinburgh since March of last year, but Alex Miller did restore Kevin Harper to the starting line-up on the return to a ground where he had shown such brio early in the season. Understandably, though, the teenager has still to acquire the cool head needed to complement the fiery pace he possesses and which can easily outstrip most Scottish defences.
Just as in September's fixture, Harper had some flabbergasting misses. His sheer speed took him into the space behind the defence but the glaring nature of the opportunities seemed to unnerve him. In four minutes he reached Darren Jackson's through ball and, in lifting it over Pat Bonner, took himself away from the target. Straining to finish from an angle he scuffed his shot and gave Brian O'Neil a chance to clear.
In the middle of the second half, as Hibs lagged 2-1 behind, a Mickey Weir head-flick and a touch by Keith Wright again put Harper clear.
This time a dreadful shank of a finish sent the ball spinning yards too wide.
Despite such alarms,Celticoften suggested that they might outscore their own frailties. In the first minute Pierre van Hooijdonk's chested pass sent Falconer into the area, but he could not contrive the elevation to prevent Jim Leighton's sprawl from blocking his effort. None the less,Celticwere ahead five minutes later.
On this occasion van Hooijdonk gathered Peter Grant's pass on the right. Hibs still appeared to outnumber the opposition inside the penalty area but the Dutchman's low cross was perfect, singling out John Collins whose first-time shot, in the oily conditions, slipped from Leighton's hands, after an excellent save, and bumped off the post to roll over the line.
Celtic, however, and for the umpteenth time this season, failed to take control and Brian O'Neil had already headed out from under his own bar before Hibs forced the equaliser in 29 minutes.
Willie Miller pushed the ball into the right of the area where Pat McGinlay, unmolested by defenders, had run. The shot, taken early, swept through the space at Bonner's right hand.
McGinlay, after a season of discontent withCeltic, must have relished a little retribution, but it did not dismay his old colleagues.
Even before the interval Leighton had made remarkable saves from Willie Falconer and Tom Boyd, but could not prevent the ball being forced past him three minutes into the second half. Grant worked play out of a tight corner on the right and Collins crossed for Falconer to bury a tidy header at the near post. Leighton made another fine block, from Phil O'Donnell, in 69 minutes andCelticwere denied the reassurance of the third goal they have been coveting all season.
Instead, substitute Mark McGraw struck another equaliser for Hibs, forcing a shot through a congested area after a corner had come back out to him.
Celtic'sability to avoid victory had proved as refined as ever.