Celtic 3 Hibernian 0

September 9th 2000
Scottish Premier League
Attendance: 60,091.

Scorers:
Celtic: Larsson (2), Burchill.

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday 10th September 2000

Bandwagon rolls on

Nine straight opening season wins for Martin O’Neill at Celtic, a post-war feat that not even Jock Stein could cobble together, says something about the bandwagon beginning to roll in Glasgow’s east end.

Hibs, the dizzy league leaders who entered this arena yesterday, were made to look as if they were playing with a man short. In psychological terms they were, given the contagious inspiration given to Celtic by Henrik Larsson and Lubomir Moravcik.

Little Moravcik cannot possibly be edging towards 35. He is playing fluently and creatively, bounding like a gazelle and instigating wave upon wave of Celtic attacks.

Positioned behind the strikers, Moravcik is keeping Eyal Berkovic out and when you compare this shift with the slovenly antics of the Israeli, you can see why. The Slovakian left the pitch after 88 minutes to a rapturous ovation.

Hibs’ plight was summed up by eye-watering incident as they struggled to keep Celtic at bay in the dying minutes. Poor Franck Sauzee, stretching and offering all as Chris Sutton aimed at a vacant goal from six yards, took the full blast of the striker’s shot in the crotch and was left writhing in agony. This sensitive area, frankly, was where Hibs had been taking it all day.

Alex McLeish aimed two fingers at convention by playing with three strikers, a tactic that seemed admirable but which signally failed. On days like yesterday, though, no bland system set out on a blackboard can be held accountable.

Hibs might have scored with 10 minutes remaining when Stuart Lovell’s shot was scrambled clear by Celtic - an effort which, had it gone in, might have produced a fraught finish. This match, though, was all about a gulf in technique. "Christ! If my players were that good they’d be playing for Celtic and I’m not discrediting them," said McLeish. With Larsson, Moravcik, Jackie McNamara and Paul Lambert playing like this, it is bricks and cement that the opposition require.

Celtic lost Alan Stubbs after 15 minutes when the defender suffered a dreadful gash across the knee. "We are playing with confidence, but we’re still a million miles away from the finished article," O’Neill said ominously afterwards.

All this simply gave Hibs’ heady league lead all the quality of a flashing meteor. It had been a long time since the long-suffering Hibees from Edinburgh had commanded such a perch, but you would never have known from this game that the visitors had been savouring fine form.

Sometimes it all got too much for McLeish. The size and emotional weight of an Old Firm crowd in Glasgow is well enough recognised, but the Hibs manager was still beside himself at what he saw as unjustified bookings, especially for John O’Neill and Matt Jack. When the latter was having his details jotted in John Rowbotham’s book, McLeish made one of his theatrical flourishes to the crowd, mockingly acting a scribbling motion to exhibit his disgust.

Big Eck, though, would have to admit that some very large writing had been on the wall for Hibs. This was O’Neill’s ninth win in nine matches since coming to Celtic. The last man to accomplish this as an Old Firm boss was stentorian Bill Struth in the 1930s with Rangers - a time when sausages only had 15% percent meat in them. These are desperate times to be in the away dugout at Parkhead. There is nothing lean or meagre about Celtic. League leaders or not, Hibs yesterday faced the mincer.

The Easter Road side played with prettiness in patches, but there was an arduous quality to this match which Hibs couldn’t cope with. Celtic, under O’Neill, seem to have added an intimidating physicality to their play. It was epitomised yesterday by McNamara and Moravcik, whose slaloming runs baffled Hibs but whose strength with the ball was also remarkable. McNamara, a slender looking fellow, seems to have an internal frame of cast-iron.

Even when Celtic seem diminished in some aspects, they still have a fierce array of weapons. Despite glamorous times since his return from injury, there are few discerning supporters who believe that Larsson is fully restored. After 10 months out of the game, it will surely require more months of play to condition his body. Yet Larsson, as against Rangers two weeks ago, even using 80% of his full powers, is still too much.

Poor Nicky Colgan, the Hibs goalkeeper, having bungled to offer Celtic a 16th minute lead, watched helplessly as Larsson stretched that advantage to 2-0 just before the break. Moravcik’s teasing cross flew to the fore of the Hibs goal and Larsson’s dreadlocks took flight as he flashed his near-post header in.

Colgan had almost been ham-fisted in granting Celtic their opening. Alan Thompson was boring a route deep into the heart of the Hibs box when Colgan sprang from his line to duff Thompson about the head with flapping hands. The keeper will doubtless claim he tried to clasp the ball, but the incident resembled a backalley mugging. McLeish chose to disagree. "It looked a dubious decision to me, to say the least," he said. Larsson stroked home the penalty.

In the 90th minute, substitute Mark Burchill added to his astonishing goals-to-games ratio by tapping home Celtic’s third.

The Teams:

Hibernian:
Colgan, G Smith, Fenwick, Sauzee, Lovell, T Smith, Jack, Latapy, O'Neil; Paatelainen, Zitelli.

Celtic:
Gould, Stubbs, McNamara, Boyd, Lambert, Larsson, Sutton, Moravcik, Petrov, Thompson, Valgaeren.

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