Soccer Scene In wake of loss, Celtic slip up again

By Dermot Clarke

Unbelievable as it seems, Celtic once again failed to capitalize on a Rangers defeat on Sunday. An injury time goal had given Dundee an unlikely victory at Ibrox, in injury time. It had also given the Celts a chance to move to within a point of their archrivals at the top. Celtic, however, managed to shoot themselves in the foot and lose also, 3-2 at Motherwell.

When Mark Viduka had converted the penalty awarded him after 25 minutes, it looked like the Celts would go on and secure the full compliment of points from the game. An Eyal Berkovic header had earlier canceled out Motherwell’s ninth-minute opener from Ged Brannan. Celtic, alas, failed even to take the lead to the break with them, a fine run and shot by Derek Townsley made it 2-2 just as the kettle boiled.

A little over three minutes into the second half Don Goodman put his side 3-2 up and huff and puff as Celtic did for the remainder, they couldn’t blow down the Motherwell resistance. So the lead remains at four and Rangers still have that game in hand.

The Ibrox side won’t be slipping up too much this season. Celtic will need to accept any help offered them or else the blue and red ribbons will again adorn the trophy at the season’s end.

Liverpool tumble to 7th

Just when you start using Liverpool and title in the same sentence, they let you down. The Reds were a tad unfortunate to lose to West Ham at Upton Park on Saturday. But lose they did and instead of moving into fourth place on Saturday, they slipped to seventh on Sunday when Tottenham overcame Newcastle by a score of 2-1.

Trevor Sinclair was the first to react to a poor parry by Sander Westerveld. From a Paulo di Canio shot, he slotted home and that was enough to secure the points. Liverpool had a goal disallowed on 52 when David Thompson was adjudged to have been over the line in turning the ball back for Owen to head home, but in the end the Hammers held on 1-0.

Leeds go to top

With the Manchester United show on the road, Leeds were allowed go back to the top, when Michael Bridges gave them victory over Southampton in the dying seconds. The 1-0 victory came amid rumors that a bribe had been offered to the Spartak Moscow coach by the Yorkshire club to play the postponed UEFA third-round, first-leg game in England. Oleg Romantsev, the Spartak coach, claims

to have received "generous Offers" to play the game-rearranged for Sofia, Bulgaria, on Thursday — in England.

Gunners supplant Sunderland

Sunderland are still hanging tough after a 3-2 victory at Vicarage Road on Saturday. They got another two for Kevin Phillips, a Watford old boy, by the way, and the winner from Gavin McCann. Michael Ngonge had opened the scoring for Watford and a Richard Johnson penalty had leveled for them after Phillips’s two had given the visitors the lead.

Sunderland briefly moved into third, only to be knocked down a spot by Arsenal, who had Thierry Henry to thank for the 2-1 victory over Derby County. Henry scored both for the Gunners.

Chelsea unimpressive

Chelsea are finding it difficult to transfer the excellent European form back to the Premiership. Didier Deschamps and Gianluca Vialli have differing opinions as to the root of the problem. However, the Blues eked out another unimpressive 1-0 victory over Bradford on Sunday and they remain in the hunt as a result. Torre Andre Flo gave Chelsea the win on this occasion.

Newcastle cheer

David Ginola, as predicted, took center stage as he returned to Newcastle on Sunday. It wasn’t, however, his silky skills that gained the headlines on Monday’s papers. It was a gesture made to his old fans after his cross had been turned in by another Armstrong on 43 minutes. The FA are awaiting a police report on the matter.

Newcastle took all three thanks to goals from Glass and Dabizas, however, and there will be no love lost when these two meet again in two weeks, in the

third round of the FA Cup.

Heskey leads Leicester

Emile Heskey emerged the hero from an intriguing Midlands clash between Coventry and Leicester. Martin O’Neill won the battle of the animated coaches as Leicester topped the Sky Blues 1-0, to move into fifth place for a few hours. Heskey’s strike after 60 minutes could be described best by Gary Breen who was by far quickest to turn and check out the result.

And finally, not since Roy of the Rovers deputized for Melchester in nets has a goalkeeper scored a hat trick in a game. Roy, remember, came up for a late corner and headed home in a 3-2 aggregate victory. He had earlier scored a penalty and a free kick with the number one on his back. That most controversial of ‘keepers Jose Luis Chilavert, the Paraguayan, did it at the weekend. In a 6-1 victory over Ferro Carril Oeste, Chilavert scored three, all penalties, for his side, Velez Sarsfield.