From the corner Windass fired in another fierce shot which Dykstra was

From the corner Windass fired in another fierce shot which Dykstra was happy to parry.. Referee Jim Herald had no doubts about awarding the spot-kick and Windass cracked in goal 16 of his season.It was fair reward for a fine first-half performance in which only the brilliance of Sieb Dykstra kept the Englishman at bay. Olafsson prodded the ball home to leave the visitors with a sense of justice especially as they hotly contested the penalty awarded to the home side in the first half Scott Booth went down in a challenge with Mark Perry. A moment’s hesitation allowed the Aberdeen defender Russell Anderson to make the goal- saving tackle.There was more than a bit of good fortune about the leveller though as Olafsson seemed to have missed his chance only to see the ball bounce back into his path off the leg of Antoine Kombouare. United, for their part, showed what a class act they are becoming nowadays by mounting a stirring fightback during the last half hour which saw Olafsson a salvage a point.
The Scandinavian striker must have been a relieved man, as he had previously missed the best chance of the afternoon after making a hash of things when he was faced with an open goal early in the second half. Roy Aitken’s side were clearly fired up for the encounter, despite a recent record which contained just one win in their previous 15 games, and they held the initiative for long spells. Kjell Olafsson scored his 13th goal of the season to extend Dundee United’s unbeaten run to 16 games after Aberdeen, who led through Dean Windass’s 34th-minute penalty, squandered chances that could have put the match out of reach.

“It was frustrating to sit on the sidelines and not play alongside someone like Di Canio.”His signing from Milan gave this club some of its old respect back. This is the most enjoyable and exciting time I’ve known here But without success, it’s all meaningless This is a desperately important match for the club Our season and our future depend upon it.”. In recent weeks, I have been watching a player at the peak of his profession,” Burns said.McStay’s return has seen Celtic whittle a 14-point deficit down to five and that could be just two if they win today He and Celtic have a lot of lost time to make up for. Only the Scottish Cup success of 1995 has broken the cycle of despair since the club did the double in 1988.What made McStay’s master class in the last Old Firm match 10 days ago so impressive was that his season didn’t start until 11 weeks ago. “At the time of the European Championship final in 1992, when his contract was up, I thought Paul was one of the best midfielders in Europe.”The irony is that Celtic have been enduring one of the most barren periods in their 109-year history under McStay’s leadership.

Internazionale wanted him in 1984, not long after he earned the first of his 74 Scotland caps at the tender age of 17 and then Udinese offered pounds 2m when his contract ran out in 1992. At first it seemed as if he would finally succumb, announcing he would not be renewing his Celtic deal, then he changed his mind.The Rangers support goaded him for a lack of ambition, but Gough does not follow the party line. The 32-year-old midfielder has kept to his own little corner of the football world since making his debut there 15 years ago, despite being sought in Italy. Yet while the cosmopolitan Gough, born in Stockholm, raised in South Africa and a success with Dundee United, Tottenham and Rangers, is about to depart for a new career in the United States with the Major League Soccer side Kansas City Wizards, his adversary cannot break the ties that keep him bound to the East End of Glasgow.McStay has tunnel vision when it comes to Celtic. While the foreign pair receive the headlines, adoration and pounds 12,000 a week in wages, the one-club man McStay pursues something that comes from the heart: success for his beloved Celtic.
That, in Gough’s book, makes him more dangerous and the Rangers defender is hoping his own injury has healed sufficiently to allow him out on the Parkhead pitch this afternoon to counter that authority, as the Glasgow rivals play out what is in effect a Premier League title showdown.Gough and McStay have been friends since their days together in the Scotland Under-21 side.