| Match Pictures | Matches: 1997 – 1998 | 1997-1998 Pictures |
Trivia
- This was a mid-week evening kick off game.
- Bit of a goalkeeper crisis hence no GK sub. Marshall had been out on loan but was recalled when Stewart Kerr picked up a hamstring injury. Marshall himself then picked up a shoulder injury. Of the junior keepers, McCondichie was out on loan to Hamilton (but about to be recalled), Barry John Corr was recovering from a serious knee ligament injury, Jim Gallagher was recovering from a cartilage op,. So of all the keepers at the club on the No1 Jonathon Gould and 16 year old Alan Morrison were fit to play.
- David Hay’s sacking continued to rumble on in the press with Hay going to the media to put his side of the story and deciding to pursue action through the courts.
- It looked more and more like the attempts to sign Harald Brattbakk of Rosenborg were for real with Rosenborg saying that until their own Champions League adventures that season were over they would not consider it – however if they went out then they would look at all offers. His form was interesting other cubs however with Liverpool said to be sniffing.
- On the day the game was played Tosh McKinlay was told that he was free to go and join another club if he could find himself one. Tosh had not been involved with the first team since early October and had had a ‘contretemps’ with Henrik Larsson on the training pitch, and had been disciplined over it. He had fallen out of Jansen’s plans.
- Rowbotham, Scotland’s own answer to Collina, was the one referee (seemingly) not about to be intimidated by Rangers. He finally sent Gascoigne off for violent conduct in the use of his elbows on Wieghorst, something he’d been allowed to get away with all season in every game. He also cautioned then red carded Durie after the final whistle for dissent in that Durie was moaning about the goal and what he perceived to be Rowbotham’s bias towards Celtic. Archie Knox, Smith’s assistant was also called to the referee’s dressing room after the game and cautioned by Rowbotham. Rowbotham ended up being pilloried for this game and I don’t think he went on to take another Premier Division game this season.
- The following players were missing: Regi Blinker (suspended), Tommy Johnson (thigh strain), Phil O’Donnell (twisted knee), Stuart Gray (loan to Morton), Malky MacKay (hamstring), Stewart Kerr (hamstring), Gordon Marshall (shoulder).
Review
A cold but dry night watching Gascoigne foul away and dominate our midfield till he went too far and Rowbotham rightly sent him off.
Thereafter they sat in and frustrated, getting a goal on the break. It looked like it was going to be another jinxed game against Rangers, then Stubbs popped up right at the death.
The temporary scaffolding stand at the west end was full and jumping especially when Stubbs’ goal went in.
Teams
Celtic:
Gould, Boyd (Thom, 79), Mahe, McNamara, Rieper, Stubbs, Larsson, Burley, Donnelly (Jackson, 66), Lambert, Wieghorst.
Non-Used Subs: Annoni
Scorer: Stubbs (90)
Booked: Mahe, Boyd, Wieghorst (Celtic);
Rangers:
Goram; McCall, Cleland, Gough, Thern, Bjorklund, Durie, Gascoigne, Negri (McCoist, 84), Albertz, Gattuso (Stensaas, 77).
Non-Used Subs: Snelders
Scorer: Negri (72)
Booked: Gough, Thern, Albertz, Gattuso, Clelland
Red Card: Gascoigne, Durie (dissent after final whistle)
Referee: J Rowbotham (Kircaldy)
Attendance: 49,509
Articles
- Match Reports (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Rangers | |
| Fouls | 14 | 18 |
| Shots on Target | 4 | 3 |
| Corners | 12 | 4 |
| Offside | 7 | 3 |
| Yellow Cards | 3 | 5 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 1 |
- 58 SECONDS: Celtic started at a furious pace and stormed at the heart of Rangers’ defence straight from kick-off and before a minute had elapsed, Paul Lambert sent a sizzling right-foot drive inches wide of Andy Goram’s right-hand post.
- 15 MINUTES: Richard Gough became the first of eight first-half bookings when he hauled back Henrik Larsson.
- 26 MINUTES: The best chance of the half, started deep in Rangers territory by Thern, who released Gascoigne for a typical surge at the Celtic defence. He slipped the ball to Negri who, with all the time in the world, blasted his 16-yard shot wildly over the bar.
- 31 MINUTES: The only save of the first half was produced by Gould, who tipped over a Negri header from an Albertz free-kick.
- 44 MINUTES: Celtic pressure would have been rewarded but for a brilliant last-gasp tackle by McCall on Donnelly. Gattuso and Wieghorst were booked for a flare-up after the Italian’s reckless lunge at Burley in the build- up.
- 58 MINUTES: A Celtic Park sensation with Gascoigne red-carded in controversial circumstances by referee John Rowbotham. The Englishman and Wieghorst battled for a ball in midfield and both raised their arms. Rangers got the foul but, incredibly, Gazza was sent off for retaliation.
- 61 MINUTES: Andy Goram’s first save of the night, the Rangers keeper dived to his left and comfortably smothered a long-range shot from Simon Donnelly.
- 68 MINUTES: Negri missed another glorious chance after shrugging off a challenge by Rieper. With only Gould to beat, the Italian elected to use the outside of his right boot and the shot sliced wide.
- 71 MINUTES: Negri sent the 3000 Rangers fans wild by scoring with his third real chance of the game. The goal was created by Durie, who flicked the ball on to his strike partner. Negri then touched it back to Durie and surged into space on the left to collect the return pass. This time he used his left foot and the ball bulleted low past Gould’s right hand.
- 90 MINUTES: Celtic forced a corner, Goram missed it, but the ball was scrambled out to the right-hand side of the box. McNamara fired in a cross and Alan Stubbs climbed magnificently at the back post to head home and gave Celtic a draw.
Gascoigne loses cool as Celtic steal draw
The Scotsman 20/11/1997
Celtic 1 Stubbs (90)
Rangers 1 Negri (72)
PAUL Gascoigne’s fragile temper was exposed once again last night in a dramatic Old Firm showdown which saw Alan Stubbs snatch an equaliser for Celtic in the dying seconds.
Gascoigne could have cost Rangers dear with his rash swipe at Morten Wieghorst if Celtic had gone on to take advantage of their superior numbers. Instead, Marco Negri, who had missed a treble of golden opportunities before, swept his side into the lead in the 72nd minute.
When Stubbs rose to meet Jackie McNamara’s high, looping cross in stoppage time, the header to the left of Andy Goram was the product of energetic endeavour rather than composed inventiveness.
With Sergio Porrini failing a fitness test, Walter Smith was left with only two central defenders, Richard Gough and Joachim Bjorklund, and the Ibrox manager reverted to a 4-4-2 formation instead of his normal 3-5-2.
The significance of this matching up to Celtic’s deployment was to be seen in midfield, where Craig Burley and Paul Lambert were not, as in the last game, outnumbered by a Rangers trio.
This allowed the Celtic men more opportunity for involvement and they showed from the early stages that they were willing to take it. Indeed, Wieghorst’s willingness to maraud almost brought the home side a goal in the first minute.
The big Dane motored into the Rangers area from the left and, his shot blocked, the ball screwed back to Lambert. The midfielder’s drive was low and probably true, but a deflection took it marginally wide of Goram’s right-hand post.
The wisdom of giving such a huge match to referee John Rowbotham began to be questioned when he missed a series of incidents that could have proved significant, but especially when he awarded Rangers a free-kick on the edge of the Celtic box.
Negri seemed to trip over the unaware Stubbs – in fact, the defender appeared to have his back to his opponent – and it was a seriously threatening position in which to be awarded a kick for nothing. Jorge Albertz, however, drove his shot into the defensive wall.
Rowbotham clearly slipped up again shortly after when Negri dived after a non-challenge from Stubbs and the referee waved play on. If it was not a foul to Rangers, it should have been one to Celtic, with the Italian yellow-carded.
During that first half, Rowbotham missed too many such incidents, including Lambert’s trip on Gascoigne as the midfielder headed goalwards and Negri’s hand-ball inside the Celtic area.
Rowbotham, however, did manage to book eight players before the break, although some were dubious. Jonas Thern, Albertz, Rino Gattuso and Wieghorst, for example, seemed not to merit their punishment, although Gough, Stephane Mahe, Tom Boyd and Alex Cleland could have no complaints.
But, for all the untidiness of the match, there were pockets of inspired play, mainly from Rangers in the later stages of the first half. Negri, however, looked to be in the middle of an inexplicably poor spell.
Released by Gascoigne on the right side of the penalty area, the striker was totally without a challenge as he measured his shot. The ball soared yards over the bar from a scoring attempt so amateurish that it was difficult to believe that this was the record-chasing Italian who had scored 23 times in his first ten league games.
When the time came for Rangers to lose their most precious piece of cargo, the referee, it should be said, took the kind of responsibility that many of his brethren had ducked during Gascoigne’s first season with Rangers.
Harassed by Wieghorst as he carried the ball through midfield, Gascoigne had begun with the usual flapping elbows as a fortification against attack, but finally resorted to swinging a hand in frustration.
Rowbotham dismissed him immediately, despite it being the Rangers midfielder’s first caution, and Gascoigne walked straight off.
Yet, if it appeared to be a potentially devastating moment for Rangers, it proved merely to be another excuse for them to demonstrate their extraordinary resilience.
Not only did Negri score the goal that gave Rangers the lead 13 minutes after Gascoigne’s departure, but a minute earlier he had missed the seemingly unmissable. These were chances Celtic were unable to create even against ten men. Durie gave Negri both his chances, the first with a ball down the line which allowed the Italian to turn inside and head unchallenged towards Gould. Astonishingly, he stabbed the shot wide.
The chance from which he scored, typically, seemed more difficult. This time, Durie released him down the left and, from a tight angle, the chief poacher swept a low shot past Gould with his left foot. Negri was replaced by Ally McCoist seven minutes from the end.
- Manager Interview
Wim Jansen:
“It was very important for us to save the goal, especially in the last minute,” Wim Jansen said. “We started to play better when we had the numerical advantage, but they got a goal on the counter-attack and then sat in.
“Sometimes our final ball wasn’t the best which was disappointing. The way they defended made it very difficult for us to score a goal and [Richard] Gough especially was outstanding. But I thought the character of the side was excellent, especially in the final 20 min-utes. They tried everything and finally got the equaliser. I can’t complain about that.”
Walter Smith:
“I was disappointed that Paul Gascoigne was ordered off,” he said. “It feels like we lost the match. We are disappointed to drop a couple of points, especially as it came so late.
“Celtic came at us early on. But once we had weathered the storm, we created the best chances in the first half. We played better in the second half, but the sending-off was definitely the turning point.
“Celtic scored in the manner in which they had threatened to all night – using the superiority they had in the air. It was especially disappointing because it happened in the final few seconds.
“But we have a long run against Celtic now – that is ten league games unbeaten, which would have been five seasons with proper football, and I was pleased that the run continued tonight.”
Morten Wieghorst:
“I think it was just frustration and he didn’t deserve to be sent off,” said Wieghorst with refreshing honesty. “I was holding on to his shirt. It was a very harsh decision.”
Alan Stubbs:
“They were down to ten men and immediately they scored and just sat in.”
Rather than talk about the Gascoigne sending off, he wanted to speak about a penalty award he felt his team should have been given.
“We were all talking about the penalty when Morten was brought down,” he said. “He took a good touch in the box and the other player took his knee and he went down.”
As well as Gascoigne’s red card, there were eight yellow cards dished out by referee John Rowbotham, but Stubbs did not think the game had threatened to get out of hand.
“There were a few yellow cards flying about but you are always going to get that in the heat of the battle,” he said.
Marc Reiper:
“If you throw a fist or elbow you have got to go, although maybe it was a bit harsh. People complain about his elbows but that is just the way he plays. He uses his body to get past people and that is one of his strengths. Normally he is good at disguising it – but tonight he was maybe unlucky as he didn’t get the benefit of the doubt.”
