26/08/00 Parscelona 2 AC Celtic 2

August 26th 2000

Parscelona 2 AC Celtic 2
St Leonards Park, Dunfermline
Kick off 10:40am

[thanks to Keith "FE" Wright for taking notes throughout the match. Or most of the match anyway.]

Saturday was like refereeing 22 pussycats compared to some of my experiences with a whistle, and I managed to keep up my penalty-a-game average (even if it did involve Parsca's very own Coisty-a-like).

Keith Rapley, Referee

The first game of the new season was an even affair played in good spirits for the most part and only let down by a first half injury and a second half downpour.

In the early stages, the match was even as both sides searched for an opening. It was the home side who opened the scoring in the 9th minute though when Colin McKean received the ball from Chris Ozog before riding a tackle and breaking down the right wing. His cut back was perfectly weighted for the predatory Alan Maxwell to launch a stunning thirty yard strike into the top corner. [DISCLAIMER: Actual goal may vary from the description given here]

Colin almost created another from the right four minutes later when his cross to the back post was narrowly missed by Gary Ure. Unfortunately things went from bad to worse for Parscelona when Celtic launched the goal kick straight back up the park, where it eventually found its way to Paul Kevener. His strike from the edge of the box beat Ronz and drew the sides level.

With fifteen minutes gone Celtic could have taken the lead but for a good save by Ronz, and their bad luck was compounded in the 17th minute when captain Amanda Murray had to be carried off injured after getting her studs caught in the turf challenging opposite number Colin McKean.

When play resumed, Celtic put the Pars under a lot of pressure and in the 22nd minute Ronz was forced into a good save and had to react quickly to save the follow-up shot seconds later.

Celtic capitalised on their pressure in the 24th minute however, as a corner kick proved troublesome for the Pars. Still reorgainising their team following a double substitution, the home side were caught out as the ball bobbled about the box before being driven home from close range by Dave Gardner.

Celtic continued to dominate and after winning a couple more corners in quick succession they were unlucky not to score a third from a slick move down the right.

Parscelona managed to fight back and a good passing move involving Colin McKean, Keith Mackie and Chris Ozog resulted in a corner at the other end this time. Although the threat from Parscelona's corner was quickly nullified, they didn't give up and another good run by Chris Ozog was only let down by a poor cross.

Parscelona came closer still on the half hour mark when awarded a free kick twenty-five yards out. Colin McKean's dummy preceded a curling effort by Grant Macleod that forced the Celtic keeper into a superb save low at his left-hand post. The Pars were unable to threaten with the ensuing corner.

Pars had a good chance to equalise shortly after. Keith Mackie's superb (apparently) backheel found Ali McLeod who was swiftly taken out of play inside the Celtic box. Colin McKean stepped up to take it and while his penalty had the keeper well beaten it failed to find the target, coming thundering back off the crossbar before Stuart Holland put it wide.

With ten minutes left of the first half, the Dunfermline midfield began to dissipate and a through ball from Celtic forced Ronz into a brave save at the feet of a Celtic attacker. Celtic troubled the Pars defence again five minutes later, when a break down the left produced a cross that in turn resulted in a free header being flashed past Ronz's post. Celtic had one final effort in injury time but it was turned round the post by Ronz.

The first half had been even, although Celtic had created most of the better chances. The second half was equally end-to-end, one prime example being the first piece of action ten minutes into the half.

A Pars attack forced the Celtic keeper into a fine save and when he distributed it to one of his fullbacks, Celtic broke down the left and eventually saw the ball come back off Ronz's post.

Within five minutes the Pars were on the attack again. Colin McKean picked up a loose ball in midfield and made a good run before putting in a good cross. The cross was headed out and the resultant corner failed to amount to anything. Another McKean run shortly after ended with Colin rejecting the cut-back option and going for glory but his shot was saved.

Pars won another corner half an hour into the second half and came closer to capitalising this time. Colin McKean challenged the goalkeeper and the ball broke loose in the box. A shot was fired toward goal but was deflected over the bar.

With ten minutes remaining the Pars finally got a merited equaliser. A through ball from midfield found Colin McKean who turned his man with the sort of deft flair that reminds one of David Moss at his best and dashed down the left wing. A strong shot from the Parscelona captain beat the keeper inside his right-hand post.

There were chances at both ends during the dying stages, with Johnnie MacDougall producing a last ditch tackle and Parscelona's Davie Sanders ballooning his effort over the bar (we've been assured it was the pitch that did it), keeping the result at two-two - on balance a fair reflection of the game.

POSITIVES	NEGATIVES
Didn't lose	Keith FG's hair
Played for the whole game	The penalty-missing scandal goes on
Plenty of guts and determination	Huge steaming pile of **** in the left-hand corner (and I don't mean Rosco)
Ronz's performance in goals	Someone was lurking outside the changing rooms after the game AGAIN
Good crowd	Midfield keener going forward than back
Ideally-sized squad	Allllan scored
The grass was cut
Excellent spirit
Allllan scored

Pars squad: R. Arnott, F. Clark, G. Davidson, S. Holland, J. MacDougall, K. Mackie, G. Macleod, A. Maxwell, C. McKean, A. McLeod, Alex Mercer, C. Ozog, K. Rapley(ref), Ronz, D. Sanders, G. Ure, J. Wilson, K. Wright (reporter and official match photographer)