Celtic 1 Hibernian 0

14th September 2002
Scottish Premier League
Attendance:

Scorers:
Celtic: Hartson.

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 15th September 2002

Hibs skipper says referee cost team a point

REFEREE Dougie McDonald allowed himself to be talked out of awarding Hibs a penalty at Celtic Park, Easter Road skipper Ian Murray claimed today.

Murray was sent crashing as he raced into the Celtic penalty area and after looking set to point to the spot, McDonald decided to seek a second opinion from his assistant, Gordon Hunter.

And, on his assistant’s word, McDonald turned down Hibs’ claim, leaving them to rack up another defeat with John Hartson having scored the only goal of the game after 31 minutes.

A goal for Hibs at that point, just six minutes into the second half would have been very interesting with Celtic and their 50,000 thousand plus fans distinctly nervous following their first league defeat in nine months a few days earlier, a setback which has put arch-rivals Rangers top of the table for the first time in two years.

But McDonald’s change of heart consigned Hibs to a sixth defeat in seven matches, Bobby Williamson’s players left with a mere three points as a much-improved performance was left unrewarded.

Today, Murray was as convinced Jackie McNamara’s challenge on him should have brought a penalty as he was of McDonald’s change of heart.

He said: "I felt I was caught and obviously it was by one of their players. To be fair, the referee told me he was ready to give it but he then looked for a bit of help from his assistant.

"The referee is the man in charge and he seemed to turn towards the spot before seeking a second opinion. Perhaps he wasn’t convinced and felt assistant had a better view.

"He said there was no contact but I am convinced I was caught, why else would I have gone down? But the decision was made, we had to get on with it and the disappointment for us was that although we played much better than we did against Dunfermline, it is still another three points gone."

Murray gave McDonald credit for consulting his assistant but he also felt the incident showed just how tough it was for clubs visiting Celtic Park to win a spot-kick, Hibs’ last penalty at that particular venue coming in their last victory there ten years ago when Darren Jackson converted in a 3-2 win.

The history books will show that this was yet another defeat for Hibs, who now face a make-or-break period with three successive home matches.

But the bald statistic of a 1-0 win for Celtic hides the fact that Williamson’s side showed much improvement from their efforts 72 hours previously although it would be fair to say Dunfermline didn’t get the full credit they deserved in that encounter with much of the focus being on the Edinburgh outfit’s woes.

Williamson, usually a stickler for a flat-back four, tinkered with his formation, fielding three central defenders and five across the midfield, a tactic which worked to some degree although Celtic, with the pressure they can exert on the opposition at home, did hold the upper-hand for long spells and would perhaps feel they should have scored more than one.

That they didn’t was very much down to the fact that Henrik Larsson is very much out of touch in front of goal at the moment, the prolific Swede passing up a great chance to open the scoring just he had at Fir Park a few days earlier.

Larsson’s frustration was there for all to see and he was a touch lucky not to be booked as he dived in search of a penalty following a last-gasp tackle from Gary Smith.

The Celtic striker’s desperation was there for all to see as he pursued McDonald, but Smith was convinced it was no penalty.

He said: "I felt I got the ball. He went down and I have seen them given, but I got the ball.

"Henrik clearly looked aggrieved - he usually does - but I felt it was the right decision."

Smith, who marshalled Paul Fenwick and Yannick Zambernardi in front of him superbly, admitted he was frustrated at getting no reward for his team’s efforts.

He said: "We got a good response after Wednesday’s match. We felt we had to go out and win some pride back for our supporters, we owed them and the manager a decent performance.

"We were happy enough with our performance but disappointed not to pick up anything for it."

The defining moment in this match came as former Hibs star Ulrik Laursen was allowed to stride forward 50 yards before slipping the ball to his near-namesake, Larsson who wasted not time in turning it into the path of Hartson.

And the big Welsh striker had no trouble in rolling it beyond the much-castigated Tony Caig who, on this occasion, apart from a third-minute fumble, looked secure, pulling off a great save from Bobo Balde and dealing with efforts from Larsson and Shaun Maloney.

While no-one is ever happy to lose, Williamson would have taken some comfort from his players’ attitude and commitment even if they were again left empty-handed.

Perhaps the only quibble you could have with Hibs was that they didn’t manage to test Jonathan Gould once throughout the entire 90 minutes, the goalkeeper having been drafted in for only his second match in two years after Swedish star Magnus Hedman picked up a calf injury in the pre-match warm-up.

That apart, though, Williamson can look ahead with a degree of optimism despite recent results, the Hibs boss adamant that hard work on the training ground will reap its own rewards in the weeks and months to come. He said: "Anything after Wednesday’s performance was going to be better but we are still disappointed to have lost and to still be bottom of the league.

"I’m not disappointed, though, with the performance. All we ask the players is that they give everything, come off at the end of the game, hold their hands up and say they gave their lot.

"So many things went wrong against Dunfermline you cannot put your finger on it."

As he’s previously stated, Williamson is working with an inferior squad to that enjoyed by both Alex McLeish and Franck Sauzee, but he’s determined that hard work will be the cure for Hibs’ current ills.

He said: "I’d like to give the Hibs fans the team they had two years ago but we don’t have the quality of that time. But I will be working very hard to get a team on the park of which they can be proud, I can assure them of that."

However, as he pointed out, Williamson is working, like others, with the financial strictures which have been placed on the Scottish game and a lack of facilities in which to groom the stars of the future.

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