John Barnes' first season as Celtic head coach was in ruins after
Inverness Caledonian Thistle inflicted one of the most stunning Scottish Cup
shocks in the competition's history.
Going into the match trailing Rangers by 10 points in the Scottish Premier
League, Celtic needed to launch a morale-boosting cup run but instead fell
dreadfully at this first hurdle.
For the already under-fire Barnes it was the worst case scenario made real as
First Division Inverness took the game to the Glasgow giants and humbled them
with relative ease.
Barry Wilson's 16th-minute header was cancelled out just two minutes later by
Mark Burchill, but that was to prove Celtic's last reprieve as the visitors
regrouped and came again.
On 24 minutes Lubomir Moravcik put through his own net for a lead Inverness
held to the interval, and then 12 minutes after the break Paul Sheerin converted
a match-sealing penalty.
The astonishing reverse now seems certain to place massive question marks over
Barnes' position and that of the man who appointed him, director of football
operations Kenny Dalglish.
Neither man could have envisaged as bleak a night as this when they assumed
charge in the summer promising a brighter future.
The wheels have quickly come off this revolution.
Celtic were without Paul Lambert and Alan Stubbs through injury, but did
reintroduce Olivier Tebily after his traumatic international duty with the Ivory
Coast.
Burchill earned a rare start in attack, and Celtic started brightly when Jim
Calder was forced to grasp a fierce Moravcik effort at the second attempt.
In swirling sleet, Eyal Berkovic slid the ball to Moravcik after 13 minutes -
but his cross was just behind Burchill who diverted the ball over the bar.
Inverness moved ahead with their first attack of note, Sheerin's cross from
the left headed into the roof of the net by Wilson to delight the 4,000-strong
travelling support.
Their initial joy was to be short-lived because just two minutes after falling
behind Celtic were level in the when Berkovic slid Burchill through.
The Scotland international at first tried to find Mark Viduka. But a break of
the ball gave him a second chance, and he found the time and space to drill low
past Calder.
That looked to signal the end of Inverness's hopes of a shock, but the speed
of Celtic's response was to prove misleading as they continued to lack composure
at the back.
Viduka almost put the home team 2-1 ahead after 19 minutes, Richard Hastings
clearing off the line after the Australian forward had rounded Calder.
But Inverness were lively on the break, and Jonathan Gould needed to be alert
to stop Michael Teasdale scoring via a close-range header on 22 minutes.
The warning went unheeded, and just two minutes later Celtic were behind a
second time as Bobby Mann's header was deflected beyond Gould by his own player
Moravcik.
The jeers echoed around the stadium as Celtic's frayed nerves made clear an
upset was a genuine possibility, Calder pushing aside a Viduka shot on the
half-hour to preserve the visitors' lead.
Berkovic set up Stephane Mahe for a 38th-minute strike which flew off a post
as Celtic poured forward, but there was to be no instant response on this
occasion.
Inverness were stretched before the break, Calder spilling a Moravcik effort
only for Viduka's shot from the rebound to fly off a defender.
But at the interval Celtic still trailed.
Barnes made a bold switch at half-time as he pulled off leading scorer Viduka
and brought on former England international Ian Wright to partner Burchill.
Regi Blinker did well to reach the byeline after 50 minutes. But when he
pulled the ball back for Burchill the youngster was slow to react, and his
eventual shot was blocked.
Celtic's plight worsened on 56 minutes when a needless push on Wilson by
Blinker produced a penalty that Sheerin converted by sending Gould the wrong way
for 3-1 to the visitors.
Now Celtic knew they were in huge trouble. Veteran Inverness goalkeeper Calder
was proving defiant, denying a Wright snap shot and then pushing away a
long-distance effort from Colin Healy.
Celtic had to give everything. But to their fans' fury they seemed to have
very little to offer, Tebily's over-ambitious shot from 30 yards summing up
their lack of invention.
After 78 minutes a Moravcik free-kick picked out Berkovic in space, yet
despite being unmarked the Israeli looped a weak header tamely over the bar.
There was a lifeless feel to their play, but Celtic persisted in going
forward, Wright playing in Burchill only for the experienced Calder to block at
point blank range.
In the closing stages the Inverness fans added insult to injury by chanting
`We want four' - which was about the number of Celtic fans left in the stadium
at the finish.
Teams:
Celtic: Gould, Boyd, Tebily, Mahe, Riseth, Healy, Blinker,
Moravcik, Berkovic, Viduka (Wright 46), Burchill.
Subs Not Used: Kerr, Petta.
Booked: Tebily, Wright, Healy.
Goals: Burchill 17.
Inverness CT: Calder, Teasdale, Golabek, Mann, McCulloch,
Hastings, Sheerin, Tokely (Byers 90), Wilson (Glancy 87),
Christie, Wyness (Bavidge 79).
Booked: Tokely.
Goals: Wilson 16, Moravcik 24 og, Sheerin 57 pen.
Att: 34,389
Ref: D McDonald (Scotland).
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