| Match Pictures | Matches: 1997 – 1998 | 1997-1998 Pictures |
Trivia
- The new South West Corner stand was opened bringing the stadium capacity to 50,260.
- In a lengthy judgement (82 pages), Lady Cosgrove gave her verdict in the Macari –v- Celtic court case, finding that Macari had not been unfairly dismissed. She, however, refused to accept all of the arguments Celtic had put forward and described Fergus McCann as ‘arrogant, devious and dictatorial’. Both claims for compensation – Macari’s for £431,000 and Celtic’s counter claim for £250,000 – were dismissed. Both sides were required to pay their own legal fees said to be around £250,000.
Review
Brattbakk delivered a four goal splendour in a one-sided game to put the club level on points and goal difference with Rangers.
Teams
Celtic:
Gould , Boyd , Mahe, McNamara (Donnelly,62 ), Rieper (Annoni ,72 ), Stubbs , Larsson (Jackson ,76 ), Burley , Brattbakk, Lambert, Wieghorst
Scorer: Brattbakk (11, 36, 70, 87)
Kilmarnock:
Marshall, MacPherson, Baker, Lauchlan, McGowne, Reilly, Mitchell (O'Neill ,82 ), Holt, Wright (Vareille ,68 ), McIntyre (Roberts ,81 ), Henry
Bookings: Baker, Mitchell, Reilly (Kilmarnock)
Referee: A Freeland (Aberdeen)
Attendance: 49,231
Articles
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Kilmarnock | |
| Bookings | 0 | 3 |
| Fouls | 10 | 4 |
| Shots on Target | 10 | 1 |
| Corners | 3 | 3 |
| Offside | 11 | 2 |
Hark Harald, the fans sing, glory to a new goal king
Scotland on Sunday 22/02/1998
Celtic 4 Kilmarnock 0
AT times, Harald Brattbakk looks a touch too sickly to be a serious striker. However, those NHS-style steel-rimmed glasses, which the Norwegian prefers off the pitch, are maybe giving a false impression.
Here Brattbakk's mask of mediocrity, which he has worn since his £2million move from Rosenborg 10 weeks ago slipped. Four goals from the Celtic forward answered the fiercest of his critics, and possibly answered a few questions too about the ultimate destination of this intriguing championship.
Brattbakk ended his Premier Division drought with a goal transfusion that has put Celtic's title ambitions in the rudest of health. Now Wim Jansen's team are level with Rangers at the top, both on goal difference and points, and with Brattbakk finally doing what he was bought for, the last piece of the Parkhead jigsaw may have slipped nicely into place.
The Celtic fans may feel they have been kept waiting longer than the patients on Frank Dobson's hospital lists for Brattbakk to perform the clinical goal routine which made his name. However, the mild-mannered Scandinavian proved that patience is a virtue with two goals in each half to rout poor Kilmarnock. His final goal, in the 88th minute, the best of the quartet, was the one which took Celtic level with their biggest rivals, Rangers, on goal difference.
Brattbakk though could have put his side clear at the top had he finished off an injury-time move when he was left with just goalkeeper Gordon Marshall to beat. That he didn't was merely a glimpse of the flaw in his game which still gnaws at the minds of those Celtic fans who cheered Brattbakk off the pitch. He still misses more than he scores.
Brattbakk could have had nine in this match, hitting the woodwork twice after leaving Marshall for dead, but also allowing the former Celtic goalkeeper to make three saves in one-on-one situations on his return to the club who sold him just a month ago.
Wim Jansen however, remains unflustered about his striker, saying: "Four goals will do a lot for Harald's confidence. He was unlucky with some finishes, but every time he was in the right position and that is more important."
Jansen, however, refuses to look further ahead than midweek, when his side play Dunfermline, in trying to figure out just how this complicated three-way division for the title will be solved. Certainly, he refuses to even think about the possibility of goal difference playing a part, as it did between Celtic and Hearts on that epic last day in 1986.
"The most important thing right now is to win games. After that we will see how many goals we score. Apart from Harald, it was a great team performance. Everyone knows what to do and they help each other out if something is going wrong and that is important for a team."
Brattbakk came into this game having scored the winner in the Scottish Cup-tie at Dunfermline last Monday. However, that gave him a sorry total of just two goals since his acquisition and none of them in the competition Celtic most want to win. He changed all that in a breathtaking, and sometimes stumbling, display of goal taking.
The last Celtic player to score four in a league match was Frank McAvennie, in December 1987 against Morton, and Celtic fans need no reminding of what they ended up with that season.
So could Brattbakk's goals be the omen for another Double triumph? He opened the scoring in dubious fashion after just 11 minutes when Henrik Larsson beat Kilmarnock's offside trap and kept his composure, drawing Marshall and rolling the ball across the six yard box for Brattbakk, who looked yards offside, to hook it into an empty net.
Five minutes later, Brattbakk rounded Marshall, but with the empty net in front of him, struck the post. The Norwegian doubled his total in the 36th minute when a wonderful piece of quick thinking by Larsson left Kilmarnock with egg on their faces.
After Martin Baker had committed a foul, Larsson grabbed the ball and took a quick free-kick to Craig Burley who spotted Brattbakk lurking on the far side and swung a pass over for the Norwegian to score from six yards.
Brattbakk could have stretched the advantage even further in the 52nd minute when he profited from Larsson's cleverness and strode on confidently to clip the ball neatly over Marshall, but it hit the inside of the post, rolled along the line, and stayed out.
Brattbakk got his hat-trick in the 70th minute when he again finished from inside the six-yard box after substitute Simon Donnelly had put the chance on a plate. Then, with two minutes left Donnelly and Darren Jackson combined beautifully and Brattbakk finished with some style.
- Manager Interview
Wim Jansen post match
“If you score four goals you’ve had a pretty good game. It was important for him to score and he did pretty well.
“He was always oin the right place and was unlucky not to score more than he did.
“The whole team did welland playing well as a team is the most important thing.
“I think we are doing well and if we keep playing like this then we are hopeful of succeeding.
“Depending on injury we might need to buy more players for the run in.
“Henrik came off with a back injury and Rieper was suffering with stomach trouble before the match. But Jackie McNamara is our real concern for Wednesday’s match with Dunfermiline.”