Celtic - 7 Aberdeen - 0 John Hartson compounded a miserable week for Aberdeen's players by helping himself to four goals as Celtic secured a spectacular victory yesterday.
Hartson has scored 10 goals in four starts and Celtic's manager Martin O'Neill knows he has a job on his hands retaining the Welshman's services since he cannot guarantee a first-team place ahead of regular strike partners Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson. Several clubs are interested in the 27-year-old and are poised to move when the transfer window reopens in January.
O'Neill said: "John is a quality goalscorer who could do it in any league and he certainly makes his mark for us. He came on and created our goal in the game against Blackburn on Thursday and could have scored even more than four here."
Celtic may have found Blackburn hard work in the UEFA Cup but they had no such problems yesterday. Aberdeen's squad had been laid low with a virus in the build-up and the players must have wished they had opted to stay in bed. It was a miserable day in particular for the goalkeeper David Preece, standing in for injured Peter Kjaer.
The former Darlington player conceded seven goals on a previous visit to Parkhead three years ago and found himself on the receiving end of an identical scoreline as four-goal Hartson, Larsson naturally, Bobo Balde unexpectedly and the substitute Shaun Maloney produced another rout.
Early on that had seemed unlikely as O'Neill conceded, saying: "Credit Aberdeen for having a go before we got into our stride and that made Hartson's opening goal so important."
The Aberdeen manager Ebbe Skovdahl took a similar view, saying: "It was a difficult afternoon even though our first 25 minutes was the best I have seen from us at Parkhead.
"We were naive, particularly after we lost the second goal. Perhaps the players hadn't recovered fully from that virus but I am not using it as an excuse."
It all started so well for Aberdeen with Robert Douglas forced into a fine early save to deny Derek Young but, after Hartson's 25th-minute opener, the roof fell in on the visitors, who ended up with bookings for Jamie McAllister, Phil McGuire and Roberto Bisconti. Hartson added a second goal after 34 minutes and Larsson got in on the act with a superb free-kick three minutes from half-time to finish the game as a contest.
Hartson completed his hat-trick with a delicate chip after 51 minutes and the defender Balde surprised everyone with a fine left-foot shot to make it 5-0 after 70 minutes.
Hartson scored his fourth and Celtic's sixth after 81 minutes and Maloney's free-kick four minutes from time outshone everything that had gone before - which was no mean feat.
CELTIC: Douglas, Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen (Fernandez 72), Sylla, Petrov (Crainey 72), Sutton, Thompson (Maloney 72), Guppy, Larsson, Hartson. Subs Not Used: Gould, Smith. Goals: Hartson 26, 35, Larsson 43, Hartson 51, Balde 71, Hartson 81, Maloney 86.
ABERDEEN: Preece, McGuire, Deloumeaux, Anderson, McAllister, Rutkiewicz (Billio 74), Darren Young, Derek Young (Tiernan 66), Bisconti (Mike 66), Fabiano, Michie. Subs Not Used: Peat, O'Donoghue. Booked: McGuire, Bisconti, McAllister.
Referee: H Dallas (Scotland)
