Scotland Matchday 2

Sunday 16th August 1998

Scottish Premiership

Aberdeen (1) 3      Celtic (0) 2
Perry 39            (Donelly miss pen 51)
Blinker 56 (og)     Larsson 69, 90 (pen)
Hignett 59          (Burley miss pen 72)
(Rowsen s/off 83)   (Jackson s/off 80)

It`s after games like this that I regret living with a football hating wife &3
family. In 22 years of watching the game, I can never remember watching
anything quite like this, the scoreline only tells a fraction of the story as
we had a miss of epic proportations, an own goal of Willie Donachie vintage,
THREE penalties for the AWAY side, two of which were missed and TWO red cards.
So where do I start???
Well, the first half was notable only for a couple of remarkable incidents.
The Aberdeen goal was scored by full back Mark Perry on 40 minutes, he
collected a headed clearance from the Celtic defence and smashed a lazy lob
that soared past a stunned Gould into the top corner for a superb goal.
Equally superb was the miss after 10 minutes by Henrik Larsson. Blinker`s
deflected shot was well kept out by Leighton, however the ball fell to
Larsson, unmarked, six yards out, gaping goal, keeper on the ground, and he
somehow screwed his shot wide. One for a future `football cock ups` video no
doubt. The second half however was unlike any I can recall as Celtic did their
upmost to hand Aberdeen all three points. On 51 minutes Anderson handled in
the area and Celtic had a penalty, Simon Donelly stepped up and blasted it
against the post. Five minutes late and a long hopefully punt forward saw Regi
Blinker on his own in defence and under control, his headed back pass looped
over Gould who`d gone to collect the hopeful punt and it nestled sweetly in
the back of the net for 2-0 and a classic own goal. Minutes later it was 3-0
at Craig Hignett beat the offside trap, rounded Gould and scored from a tight
angle. Celtic now piled forward but Jim Leighton seemed intent on stopping
everything, especially a flying save from a thunderous shot by Larsson. It was
the dreadlocked star that eventually scored when he met a Blinker cross with a
fine diving header with 21 minutes left. Three minutes later and another
penalty as Lambert was fouled by Whyte. Donelly had now been substituted so
Craig Burley stepped up only for Leighton to save not only his kick but also
TWO efforts on the rebound by Jackie McNamara. It soon got even worse for
Celtic as Darren Jackson, having already been booked, was sent off for
retaliation and just three minutes later Aberdeen`s Rowson was also dismissed
for a second bookable offence. In stoppage time the ref saw an infringement in
the area which even the replays could`nt pick out, and Celtic had a third
penalty, this one was taken and converted by Larsson to make it 3-2. The final
whistle went shortly afterwards to end an amazing game. More of the same
please!!!
--
Gary Dowden

--
Gary Dowden - Joint Administrator (ISFA) Premiership Mailing List
Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it

http://www.footiemad.demon.co.uk