Cadete pulls rank
Celtic 5 Cadete 32, Di Canio 35, 41 Van Hooijdonk 72, 89 Dunfermline 1 Britton 65 Attendance: 50,03
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Your support makes all the difference.CELTIC'S expensive coterie of stars answered accusations of harmful self-interest by providing further evidence of gluttony; this time for goals. The foreign mercenaries at the core of a row over money, Jorge Cadete, Paolo Di Canio and Pierre van Hooijdonk, hogged all the spoils in a 5-1 dismantling of Dunfermline.
Celtic manager Tommy Burns will hope that this display will now exorcise a bad week which has dragged the club's name into the mud following their Coca Cola Cup defeat by Hearts in midweek, an act which was preceded by a grubby squabble between his top players and the management over bonus payments.
Celtic had to work hard after that Cup shock to win over some 50,000 fans, Britain's biggest crowd of the day, who gave their fallen heroes a chilly reception. Burns said later: "The supporters let the players know their feelings and my team knew it was going to be hard to win the crowd back again."
Only after Cadete opened the floodgates, in the 32nd minute, did the huge crowd respond. It would have taken a hard heart not to be won over by such a thing of beauty. The Portuguese striker latched on to a 50-yard pass from Jackie McNamara and left keeper Ian Westwater stranded before scoring.
Di Canio then scored two goals in six minutes before half-time, beating Dunfermline's flawed offside trap for his first in 35 minutes and then profiting from a misdirected Cadete bicycle kick to net the third.
Van Hooijdonk showed great largesse, but little accuracy when he missed the penalty in the 50th minute, after Dunfermline defender John Clark had brought down Cadete.
Gerry Britton reduced the deficit in the 65th minute with a back post header, converting a cross from Ivo Den Bieman., Robertson and Smith had further chances, but Van Hooijdonkmade it 4-1 in the 72nd minute after good work by Di Canio and then in the final minute he unlocked a stunning 25-yard free kick which curled over the wall high into Westwater's net.
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