Dutch delight then Celtic pay penalty.

The new bhoy proves his quality with a brilliant strike but is starved of chances

JAMES TRAYNOR

12 Jan 1995

Celtic 1, Hearts 1

A SPECTACULAR goal from Pierre van Hooydonk on his debut should have set Celtic up for a rare win, but guess what? Tommy Burns' side could only draw.

Burns introduced his new £1.25m striker last night, but some things about this Celtic side will not be easily changed, and Burns again had to squirm as his players lost an advantage and had to settle for a share of the spoils.

This was their thirteenth premier division draw of the season.

Van Hooydonk struck in 12 minutes, when he controlled a Mike Galloway lob out of defence, flicked the ball over Neil Berry, and then held off another challenge.

Having drifted across the edge of the box it seemd the Dutchman had been too elaborate in his execution -- "I thought he had lost his opportunity," Burns confessed afterwards -- but suddenly he tried a shot.

The ball hurtled through the air and was trapped in the top left-hand corner of Craig Nelson's net almost before the Hearts keeper could react.

Nothing to it.

Just like that.

The goal was totally unexpected, but it is precisely that quality, the element of surprise, which has been missing from Celtic's play and, naturally, Burns was delighted to see someone deliver at last.

"You won't get too many big guys who will pull the ball down, beat two men on the edge of the box and score," said Burns.

"He is more than just a front player who will run on to balls thrown into the middle, because he links well and has a good touch."

However, the fact is van Hooydonk was then denied a decent supply of quality passes and crosses, even though Burns rhymed off the names of those Celtic players he felt had performed well.

He named his midfield players, Paul McStay, John Collins, and Phil O'Donnell, but it seemd to me that while they enjoyed a great many touches, particularly in the first half, they rarely played the killing pass.

Despite van Hooydonk's early breakthrough, which gave heart to Celtic's supporters and all those who had been tempted by odds of 25-1 against the Dutchman scoring a hat trick on his first outing for the club, the match degenerated into an evening of sweaty endeavour.

It never did match up to van Hooydonk's early flash of brilliance, and that was a pity, because the newcomer's presence had a significant effect on the gate.

It was bitterly cold and damp last night, but 26,491 turned up, and that was almost 5000 up on Celtic's previous Hampden attendance.

Having offered so much at the beginning Celtic failed to follow through, leaving their supporters still burdened with doubt.

Burns, though, was adamant his side would have won comfortably had it not been for a decision by referee Hugh Dallas to award Gary Mackay, a substitute for the injured Scott Leitch -- as a precation he had a badly bruised leg encased in plaster last night, but there are no broken bones -- a penalty after the midfield player had gone down heavily inside Celtic's box after a challenge by Stuart Gray.

"I am very disappointed about the goal we lost, but I can't say any more about it," said Burns.

Hearts' equaliser arrived in 55 minutes, and regardless of Burns' interpretation, Gray's challenge was rash.

In fact, it was the action of an inexperienced player, because there was no need to tackle Mackay, who was pursuing the ball away from Pat Bonner's goal.

Celtic's players registered protests, but when order had been restored, Jim Bett ambled forward and placed the ball in Celtic's net.

The Tynecastle side moved the ball with slightly better efficiency in the second half and their manager, Tommy McLean, felt his side could have won.

"If anyone was going to win it was us," he said.

"We dominated the second half, when there was more purpose to our passes."

Apart from a Brian Hamilton shot, which hurtled a yard or so wide of Bonner's left-hand post, Celtic's defence had no cause to be concerned early on, while van Hooydonk's goal certainly alarmed Hearts' defence.

The striker demonstrated his aerial threat in 23 minutes when he rose above Dave McPherson to meet Paul Byrne's cross from the left, but unfortunately for van Hooydonk, he could not get enough purchase on his header and Nelson heaved a sigh of relief.

At the opposite end, Kevin Thomas's solid header from a Stephen Frail free kick flew narrowly wide of Bonner's top left-hand corner and served as a warning that Hearts were not about to retreat into a defensive shell.

McLean made his second subsitution only three minutes into the second half when Thomas limped off after having hurt a foot.

The diminutive John Robertson was sent on, and less than a minute later he was cautioned after having fouled the elf-like Brian McLaughlin, who probably felt like telling the striker to pick on someone his own size.

Tommy Boyd fouled David Hagen a few minutes later and left the former Rangers player writhing in agony as the referee allowed play to continue, and Hearts should have taken advantage by equalising.

Frail ran the ball down the right-hand side of the pitch and placed a cross at the feet of Robertson in front of Bonner's goal, but the striker mis-kicked and a wonderful opportunity was lost.

CELTIC -- Bonner, Boyd, Gray, Galloway, Slavin, O'Donnell, Byrne, McStay, van Hooydonk, McLaughlin, Collins.

Substitutes -- Walker, Grant, Kerr.

HEARTS -- Nelson, Frail, Miller, Jamieson, Berry, McPherson, Hamilton, Bett, Thomas, Leitch, Hagen.

Substitutes -- Robertson, Mackay, Smith.

Referee -- H Dallas (Bonkle).

Taken from the Herald