All Four Nil: A Catalogue Of Honest Mistakes In One Game

Three quarters of the season had passed when Celtic hosted Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League on 2 April 2000. Rangers had dropped points with a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie a day earlier, yet they remained 16 points clear of Celtic, on 66 points. The ‘Gers had also just thumped Celtic 4-0 at Ibrox the week before, thus the lowest crowd of the season, 40,569, turned up for the match at Paradise.

The Bhoys were missing Henrik Larsson, Mark Viduka, Tom Boyd, Jackie McNamara, Alan Stubbs, Stephane Mahe and Morten Wieghorst. Yet in retrospect, Celtic still had a very strong line up with Mjallby, Petrov, Lambert, Moravcik and Berkovic all starting the game. It came as no surprise when Celtic raced into the lead on the stroke of ten minutes, as Tommy Johnson broke free to fire home from just inside the box, following a well-timed pass by Vider Riseth. Ten minutes later, Regi Blinker made it two after Berkovic played a neat one-two with Moravcik, and his shot rebounded to Blinker in acres of space by the penalty spot.

Celtic continued their domination in the second half, when Berkovic again linked with Lubo, who switched the play with a stunning first time pass into the path of Johnson. The confident forward dispatched emphatically, only to see his goal chalked off when Martin Doran raised his offside flag. The replay subsequently showed the Sky Sports viewers that Johnson had been a yard onside. Within a minute, the former Aston Villa attacker had the ball in the net again, but the offside flag was raised once more. This time it was the correct call.

Kilmarnock made the most of their good fortune with Christophe Cocard swinging a speculative cross in from the left wing, the Celtic defence was caught slumbering and Paul Wright nodded home the easiest of headers from six yards. The away side rode their luck again when Olivier Tebily struck the post, and it was he who was at fault in the 57^th minute, when the Ayrshire outfit equalised. On this occasion, Ian Durrant chipped a corner to the edge of the box which was helped into the danger zone by Gary Holt, and fell to Tebily’s man, Jim Lauchlan, at the back post. The Kilmarnock player made no mistake heading into an empty net to stun Paradise into silence.

Celtic looked to recompense for letting their lead slip. Within minutes, Colin Healy found the back of the net but again Doran disallowed the goal for offside. It was another contentious decision. In the 64^th minute, Berkovic broke between the lines of the Kilmarnock midfield and defence. The £5.75m star played the ball out to the left, where Lubomir Moravcik cut inside and smashed a low right footed shot towards goal. The goalkeeper could only spill the ball out in front of him and Berkovic followed in as all good attackers do, feigning to shoot and firing home to put Celtic back in front, or so he thought. Extraordinarily, Martin Doran had the cheek to signal for offside again and the referee complied with his assistant’s decision. It was the fourth goal that Celtic had seen disallowed in 17 minutes!

Sensing an injustice, the Bhoys ploughed forward as they asserted their superiority. Johan Mjallby broke forward into unchartered territory for the then holding midfielder, and just like his defensive counterpart (Tebily), the Swede smashed the frame of the goal with a stunning effort. Make no mistake, Celtic could have been 6-2 ahead at this stage.

The tenacity of the Celtic team finally paid dividends in the 73^rd minute as Mjallby stole possession in the middle of the park, outmuscling his opponent and giving the ball to Berkovic. The Israeli was crowded out by three defenders and returned the ball square to Mjallby, who executed a casual flick over the Killie backline, and Berkovic lofted the ball over the head of stranded keeper, Gordon Marshall, with a cool first-time finish. Parkhead held its breath as they looked for an offside flag, but thankfully the right decision was made, and Celtic were indeed 3-2 ahead. Berkovic ran across the pitch, giving the Jock Stein Stand the ‘bras d’honneur’ or ‘Iberian slap’ gesture, the equivalent of presenting someone with a raised middle finger.

The Israeli never did enjoy the greatest of friendships with the Celtic support! Nevertheless, it was Berkovic that was amongst the thick of the action again, when he sidestepped a challenge to receive the ball 30 yards from goal. The midfielder drove at two defenders, changing the ball from one foot to the other, weaving between the helpless pair before squaring for Mark Burchill to tap home. In keeping with the second half antics, Burchill rather humorously glanced towards the linesman, but the goal stood and Celtic ultimately cruised their way to a 4-2 victory.