Celtic on this Day – Decent away victories for the Hoops at Firhill, Easter Road at Pittodrie for Brendan Rodgers, Tommy Burns and Wim Jansen…
9 December 2016
Partick Thistle 1-4 Celtic. It was Friday night fun for Brendan Rodgers side who comfortably defeated the Jags at Firhill. Recollecting, this encounter seemed to be the start of murmurings the Hoops could accomplish an unbeaten season in the league.
Like always, December was a congested period for Celtic and it was the third of nine games during the Festive period of our historic invincible season. Stuart Armstrong was the man of the moment during this spell of domestic dominance for the five-in-a-row champions, and coupled with the fine form of Leigh Griffiths, Celtic were scoring goals and producing excellent performances.
The Hoops had only three days to recover from their credible display in Manchester against Pep Guardiola’s Man City in the Champions League on the Tuesday evening which saw Rodgers’ men gain a point at the Etihad before heading to the wonderful environs of Maryhill.
9 December 1995
Hibs 0-4 Celtic. Unbeaten in 11 league matches, it had been quite the turnaround for Celtic in the space of a year. There was still work to be done for Tommy Burns’ side to grab the title off their rivals but performances and results were significantly improving.
Skipper Paul McStay was preparing for his testimonial against Manchester United the very next day. On the Hibs game itself, Celtic’s comprehensive victory in the capital was made easier when Darren Dodds was dismissed for Alex Miller’s side early in the first-half.
Simon Donnelly opened the scoring with a delightful lob over Jim Leighton. O’Donnell and Van Hooijdonk made it two and three with headers, which was followed by Donnelly grabbing his double and Celtic’s fourth of the match. Boss Tommy Burns said post-match that, “Paul McStay is playing the best football he has for a long time.”
9 December 1997
27 years ago today, Aberdeen 0-2 Celtic. Although the 1997/1998 season was a memorable one, by this point of the season, Wim Jansen’s underperforming men had travelled to Pittodrie in an underwhelming but all too familiar third position.
However, the Dons had not won a league game in nine outings and had only won four matches from their opening 16 encounters. Therefore, the pressure on Celtic was to win and do so with flair. Larsson relieved the pressure just before half-time when he followed up Stephane Mahe’s low driven shot.
Darren Jackson, who played his first full game since August following his return from brain surgery sealed the three points as he rounded Leighton and cooly slotted home. Post-match Wim Jansen explained, “Darren Jackson put in a good performance, and I like it when everybody plays well because, although it’s harder for me to decide who should play, it makes the actual game easier.” Notably, Jackson was battling it out with Brattback and others to be the main man up top.
