Celtic on this Day – Fives victories, one draw and a penalty save from Artur Boruc to recall today…
18 December 2011
St Johnstone 0-2 Celtic. Quickfire second-half strikes courtesy of the inform Gary Hooper and Ki Sung-Yeung ensured a seventh successive league win for Neil Lennon’s side. After a flat start to their domestic campaign which saw the Hoops at one point trail Rangers by 11 points, the gap had narrowed to four with the second Old Firm of the season only 10 days away.
18 December 1999
Celtic 4-1 Dundee United. Despite being behind at half-time, Celtic had created several glaring chances, including a Mark Viduka penalty miss. In fairness to John Barnes, one thing you cannot label against his Celtic team during his short spell was the amount of goals they scored. The four against Paul Sturrock’s side was remarkably their 52nd of the campaign. A flurry of goals via Regi Blinker, Mark Viduka, Lubo Moravcik and Mark Burchill sealed the points for Celtic ahead of their Old Firm clash at Paradise in their next league outing.
18 December 2005
Inverness 1-1 Celtic. Although Gordon Strachan’s side dropped points in the Highlands, Celtic increased the gap between themselves and Hearts at the top of the table to four points. This was to be Chris Sutton’s last ever appearance in a Celtic jersey. John Hartson’s equaliser came following Chris Dargo’s strike inside 30 seconds which gave the hosts a shock lead.
Artur Boruc was to be Celtic’s saviour saving from Dargo’s spot-kick in the second-half. The Hoops were undoubtedly let off when referee Stuart Dougal did not send off Stephen McManus for a second bookable offence after the big defender clumsily gave away the penalty.
18 December 2004
Celtic 1-0 Dundee United. Chris Sutton’s bullet header early on was to be the solitary goal of the game. After a mixed start to the season, this victory over Dundee United gave Martin O’Neill’s side much-needed momentum heading into the second half of the season. In the lineup for the opposition at Paradise 20 years ago today was to be two future Celts – Mark Wilson and Barry Robson.
18 December 1993
Celtic 1-0 Hibernian. Despite this being only Celtic’s eighth win in the league all season, the clean sheet meant it had now been 666 minutes since the Hoops last lost a goal at Celtic Park. Maestro’s late winner gave an unhappy Celtic support at least something to cheer about. Famously, the Celtic support protested against the board at the start of the match holding up a banner which read, “back the team, sack the board.”
18 December 2019
Hearts 0-2 Celtic. Neil Lennon’s nine-in-a-row chasers moved five points clear at the top of the table with this important, and comfortable win at Tynecastle against a relegation-threatened Jambos under new German boss Daniel Stendel. Ryan Christie and Olivier Ntcham were on target in what was a ninth consecutive Premiership victory for the Celts. It was Christie’s 17th goal of a productive season with the midfield playmaker in the form of his life.
Conor Spence
Celtic in the Thirties
By popular demand, both volumes of Celtic in the Thirties are now available on Amazon Kindle, with the links to order below. Signed copies of both volumes are available on hardback from Celtic Star Books and if you would like author Matt Corr to add a special Christmas dedication to your copies please let us know. Postage deadline for Christmas is next Wednesday. Order hardback copies HERE or for Amazon Kindle click on the links below…