Bhoys stars return for Burns match

31 May 2009 16:33
Burns, who died aged 51 on May 15 last year, spent 14 years at Celtic as a player before returning to manage the club in 1994 and during that time Di Canio, van Hooijdonk and Cadete were all under his charge. They earned their nickname 'the Three Amigos' from former Celtic owner Fergus McCann due to their carping about their contracts and conditions. But there was no animosity inside Celtic Park on a poignant day as the trio turned up along with thousands of Hoops fans to pay tribute to Burns. An enjoyable afternoon in the bright sunshine saw Celtic run out easy winners with a Lee Naylor hat-trick, doubles from Gary Caldwell and Scott McDonald, with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Aiden McGeady, Massimo Donati and Simon Ferry also on the scoresheet. Cadete, Roy Keane, John Hartson and Andy Walker scored for the select side but the real winners were Celtic Charity Fund and Tommy Burns Skin Cancer trust, which will benefit from the gate receipts. Before the game Gordon Strachan, who stepped down as Celtic manager last week, made a surprise appearance to take a bow and was given a warm round of applause by the home fans, who had not always been so gracious during his four years as boss. The select side included Paddy Bonner, Tom Boyd and Burns' son, Jonathan Burns and from the kick-off, the obvious difference in fitness between the two teams came quickly to the fore. Caldwell gave Celtic the lead in the fifth minute when he curled Shaun Maloney's pass past Bonner from 14 yards. McDonald made it 2-0 three minutes later when he sprinted away from the select defence to slip the ball under the former Republic of Ireland keeper. The Celtic support were more enthused in the 14th minute when they watched the years roll back as Cadete took a Van Hooijdonk pass and slid his angled shot past Mark Brown and in off the post. There were more cheers three minutes later when Keane latched on to a Tosh McKinlay cross to head past Brown from eight yards out. In the 21st minute, McDonald restored Celtic's lead with a left-footed volley after he had been set up by Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. McDonald returned the compliment just after the half-hour mark and Vennegoor of Hesselink knocked the ball in from close range. The select side had made half a dozen substitutions by half-time and had lost a fifth goal to Caldwell two minutes from the break. Predictably the second half, deluged by substitutes, was played at walking pace. Three minutes after the restart McGeady made it 6-2 and Donati, making a rare appearance, scored the seventh soon afterwards before Ferry made it eight. Celtic's 14-year-old wonder kid Islam Feruz, a Somalian from the club's youth academy, replaced former Celtic skipper Paul Lambert to give the Hoops fans a look at the future. Naylor grabbed the ninth in the 72nd minute before former Parkhead striker Hartson gave the supporters what they wanted when he chipped in off the bar to make it 9-3. As the game petered out further Naylor grabbed his second and third either side of Walker's strike from close range.

Source: Team_Talk