| Match Pictures | Matches: 1999 – 2000 | 1999-2000 Pictures |
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Trivia
- Work started on the new coach park. This would mean the withdrawal of the very popular travel warrant instituted by Fergus McCann. The bus park was necessary due to a change in local traffic regulations. To offset the loss of the travel warrant all Celtic Supporters Clubs would be given a grant by the club and encouraged to run their own buses to games and use the coach park. The congestion and delay post match, however, meant that many buses continued to use Nuneaton Street.
- Work started also on two new full sized training pitches at Barrowfield, on the adjacent land which had once been an old velodrome cycling track. One pitch would be grass and the second an all-weather surface. Meanwhile youth team training was transferred to Morrison YM at Cambuslang.
- Following the launch of the new strip and flocks buying it from the superstore, strong words were had with Umbro when many of the newly purchased replicas started to either fade or fall to bits on the first wash. The inferior replicas were replaced without a problem on return to the superstore.
- The preliminary financials were in and showed a increase of profits to around £6million and turnover up 21%
- Stiliyan Petrov made his debut coming on for Morten Wieghorst in the second half. Mahe was included having served his 2 game suspension, Boyd dropped to the bench and Mjallby was restored after his European suspension. Burley was out with a toe injury. Blinker was preferred to Petta. Stewart Kerr missed out as backup goalkeeper due to a shoulder injury picked up in training.
Review
Despite an excellent start to the season this was proof that things could still go wrong.
Teams
Dundee Utd: Combe, Pascual, Hannah, De Vos, Jonsson, Easton, Skoldmark, Ferraz, Dodds, Paterson (Davidson 90), Partridge.
Subs Not Used: Gallacher, Malpas, Mathie, Thompson.
Goals: Easton 12, Dodds 42.
Celtic: Gould, Riseth, Mjallby, Tebily, Mahe, Lambert, Wieghorst (Petrov 67), Moravcik, Berkovic, Larsson, Viduka.
Subs Not Used: Kharine, Burchill, Boyd, Blinker.
Goals: Berkovic 82.
Booked: Easton, Paterson, Ferraz, Dodds, Hannah (Dundee Utd) Mahe, Wieghorst (Celtic)
Ref: Kenny Clark (Scotland).
Att: 12,375
Articles
- Match Report
GOING WITH THE FLAW
Daily Record 16/08/1999
KEITH JACKSON
DUNDEE UNITED 2 CELTIC 1
SO Celtic are not invincible after all. In fact, there is reason to suspect they may still be seriously flawed.
The early-season charge which had crushed Aberdeen, St Johnstone and little Cwmbran came shuddering to a halt yesterday at Tannadice.
And although a stunning late strike from Eyal Berkovic set up a tense finale which almost enabled the Parkhead side to snatch a point, Dundee United proved to be well worth their win.
The Taysiders set about John Barnes's side from the first minute and asked the kind of questions which had previously gone unsaid.
First half goals from Craig Easton and Billy Dodds only partly told the story.
Suffice to say Barnes may have headed back down the A90 last night wondering if he really does have the players he needs to make his system work.
Certainly, he may wish to examine the heart of his defence which yesterday consisted of Johan Mjallby and Olivier Tebily and which United managed to breach with alarming ease.
On Friday, Barnes hinted at hard decisions ahead as he pondered exactly how to juggle with his ever- increasing squad without creating unrest among those who are left on the sidelines.
He chose to leave skipper Tom Boyd on the bench and brave Alan Stubbs in the stand when both were needed on the pitch.
Craig Burley who, along with Stubbs, made his first competitive start of the season in Cardiff, was also left out altogether with Morton Wieghorst partnering Lambert on anchorman patrol and Stilian Petrov listed as a reserve.
For United, Portuguese supersub Joaquim Ferraz and Easton made their first starts.
Easton was handed a particularly unenviable role, being asked to shadow little Israeli bag of tricks Berkovic.
But he went about his business with an equal measure of purpose and belief in those early moments, settling quickly into a match which he will look back on with some relish.
Easton, along with Dodds, David Hannah and Jason de Vos, was in superb form for a United side which seems to have rediscovered its appetite for battle.
United made a bright start in the glorious Tayside sunshine, but they were still fortunate to survive after just seven minutes when Celtic's first wave of attack came crashing into Alan Combe's penalty box.
Vider Riseth won a corner on the right which Lubo Moravcik sent fizzing into the danger area. Combe was deceived by the pace of the delivery, missing it completely and allowing the ball to flash across his six-yard box.
Mjallby slid in at the back post but his effort was blocked by a combination of Bernard Pascual and an upright.
Soon after, Easton gave away a soft foul on Berkovic on the right-hand side of the United area. Again, Moravcik took the dead ball and this time the Slovak's cross was bulleted wide of the target by Henrik Larsson.
But just as it seemed that United were on the back foot and beginning to wobble they hit back with such force that it was Celtic who required to haul themselves back up off the canvas.
Right-back David Partridge started the move with a free-kick rolled to the feet of Billy Dodds.
The Scotland striker nudged the cutest of lay-offs into the path of Easton who had been allowed to roam freely forward by Berkovic.
Berkovic, in fact, was so far from his man that Easton had time to look up and pick his spot before caressing the ball with the instep of his right boot to send it curling around Gould and high into Celtic's net.
For a split second Tannadice fell into a sudden silence as if even the home support did not dare to believe their own eyes.
Easton also flipped out for just long enough to rip off his shirt in wild celebration and was, predictably, booked by the over-officious Kenny Clark.
Clark correctly waved away Celtic penalty claims after Viduka had tumbled under a de Vos challenge and then Gould came to Celtic's rescue twice in quick succession.
The Scotland keeper looked in serious trouble as Ferraz raced in on top of him chasing a rather hopeful ball over the top from former Celt Hannah.
The giant striker, however, seemed to get his legs in a tangle and could only weakly poke the ball towards goal. Gould saved with his feet but then had to dive to the right to turn Jim Paterson's follow-up round the post.
Celtic's defence was receiving its first solid test of the season – and was failing miserably.
Stephane Mahe was lucky to avoid a booking in 26 minutes when he wildly lunged into Magnus Skoldmark on the edge of his own box and from the resulting free-kick Dodds rifled in a shot which narrowly missed the target.
Slowly, Celtic came back into the match but although they dominated possession for long spells of the first half they could do precious little against a United defence which was hard- working and well-drilled.
All over the pitch, in fact, Paul Sturrock's players buzzed with an enthusiasm which seemed foreign to them last season.
Jim Paterson was booked for a bad foul on Riseth in 35 minutes and two minutes later Combe produced a fine save to block at the feet of Viduka after Berkovic had escaped from Easton to whip a delightful angled ball over the top.
This only served to further boost United's resolve and in 41 minutes they found themselves two goals in front as Celtic's back line went AWOL.
It was all so simple. Former West Ham youth Partridge floated a ball over the top of Tebily, whose positional sense seemed to have deserted him altogether.
Dodds tends to feast on such misjudgments and the little striker scampered in behind the Swede and into the penalty area.
With Gould coming out to meet him more in hope than expectation, Dodds looped a perfect lob high into the sunshine and was turning to celebrate as it bounced high into the empty net.
As Dodds wheeled away in delight some moron in the Celtic end hurled what appeared to be a full can of juice at the Scotland striker which was picked up by ref Clark and handed to a steward.
Thankfully, the aim of the buffoon who threw it was as sharp as his mind and Scottish football, not to mention Celtic, was spared the kind of images which cast such a black shadow over last season's league decider at Parkhead.
Celtic were having a bad enough day on the pitch without also having to deal with misbehaviour off it.
Barnes made no changes at half-time but his players seemed to re-emerge with added urgency.
De Vos had to hook the ball out from under his own bar after Viduka and Berkovic had combined, then Combe had to block a Moravcik effort.
Wieghorst was booked for a crude tackle on Siggi Jonsson as Celtic's play adopted a desperate edge.
In 59 minutes they escaped a killer third goal but again they would have had no- one but themselves to blame had Skoldmark's header dropped inside of Gould's right- hand post.
The Swede had all the time in the world to pick his spot as he waited for Dodds's cross to arrive and was understandably annoyed with himself as his effort dipped wide of the target.
At the other end United were now defending as if their lives depended on the outcome of this match, restricting Celtic to long- range shots.
Wieghorst got one away with genuine power in 61 minutes but again Combe dealt with it well.
Ferraz picked up a typically bizarre Clark booking after Tebily had misjudged the flight of a United clearance and crash landed on the lush Tannadice turf.
Seconds later the big striker forced Gould into an uncomfortable save with the kind of looping header which is fast becoming his trademark.
Barnes replaced Wieghorst with new boy Petrov in 68 minutes but the Bulgarian could do little to change the pattern of this match from his deep midfield role beside Lambert.
However, Celtic continued to pile forward and it would be an anxious ending for the United players and their support.
Berkovic finally cut through the heart of the United defence in 80 minutes with a pass which seemed certain to end in a Viduka goal but the big Aussie's left- foot shot skidded wide of Combe's left-hand post.
Seconds later, Tebily came striding forward from the back to crack a 30-yarder which Combe brilliantly touched over the top.
But when Moravcik's corner was headed clear and the ball dropped to Berkovic, United's lead was halved.
The pounds 6million man took one touch to get it under control and another to smash an unstoppable drive into the roof of Combe's net.
Suddenly United were struck by the jitters and Combe fumbled a Moravcik shot into the path of Riseth. But, with the keeper grounded, the Celtic defender somehow managed to head the rebound over the bar from close range
- Manager Interview
John Barnes post match:
"The result was disappointing. But United did well and made it difficult for us and we gave away two bad goals.
"At the first, someone should have shut their player down before he shot and the second should never have happened.
"Olivier Tebily got caught out of position on the wrong side of their striker, when it was just a basic ball over the top, but that was his only mistake of the match.
"We responded well from that, though, and probably created more chances today than we did when we scored five goals against Aberdeen.
"I'm not too despondent. We could have passed the ball better at times but over all, it was not too bad.
"I know the expectation is there, it always will be at a club this size.
"But we lost in the right way today, we tried to do the right things and we created chances.
"If we had lost 2-1, having not played well, and didn't create chances, and they had peppered our goal, then I might have questioned our system. But that did not happen."
Pictures
Stats
| Dundee Utd | Celtic | |
| Bookings | 5 | 2 |
| Fouls | 21 | 11 |
| Shots on Target | 6 | 8 |
| Corners | 5 | 8 |
| Offside | 1 | 3 |