jan's the man with late leveller

GREGOR KYLE in Portugal
JAN Vennegoor of Hesselink returned from the European Championships and climbed off the bench to score a late leveller as the opening game of the Algarve Challenge Cup finished all-square against Middlesbrough.

Celtic had looked the better of the two sides until Jeremie Aliadiere capitalised on a defensive lapse to steal a 72nd minute opener in this pre-season friendly.

But the big Dutchman was Celtic’s goal hero, popping up after coming on as a late substitute to seal a deserved draw.

Having played their opening two friendlies against Southampton and Fulham inside 17 hours, the players were at least allowed a two-day break before this match kicked-off in the Estadio Algarve.

Built for the 2004 European Championships the partially covered stadium made for a fairly spectacular setting for this four-team friendly cup contest, which also features Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes and FA Cup finalists, Cardiff City.

The competition started earlier in the evening, with the Welsh side winning 2-1 thanks to a double from former Motherwell man, Ross McCormack, meaning that Celtic were at least spared the worst of the unforgiving Algarve heat by the 9.30pm kick-off.

That said, the first half unfolded at a snail’s pace with very little action of note, although Celtic were by far the more positive and comfortable of the two teams.

It actually took until the eleventh minute before the first real chance and it came from a move that initially threatened to breathe some life into the match.

The push forward started with a Stephen McManus surge out of defence, which took him past three Middlesbrough players, before the ball was worked up the line to Aiden McGeady.

There the Irishman jinked and jouked his way past two defenders, going down under a challenge from Luke Young, before springing up and delivering a high cross which Georgios Samaras headed tamely at goalkeeper, Ross Turnbull.

This sudden burst proved to be something of a false dawn though and with Middlesbrough sitting back and attempting to utilise the pace of Marvin Emnes and Graeme Owens on the flanks with the occasional long ball forward, it made for a fairly stale and insipid friendly.

There was little for the crowd to cheer as half-time approached, aside from the occasional tormenting of Young by McGeady on the left flank, although a different story threatened to unfold after ‘Boro boss, Gareth Southgate making nine changes at half-time and his side starting more positively.

After hitting the Celtic wall with a free kick in a promising position, Gordon Strachan’s men countered though and it took a good defensive header from Robert Huth to stop Samaras getting on the end of a Barry Robson cross.

Middlesbrough then responded with former loan-Celt, Jeremie Aliadiere testing Mark Brown with a low drive from the edge of the box, however Barry Robson then followed this up with one of his trademark free-kicks from around 25 yards which forced a good save from Turnbull.

The turning point in this match came when Celtic began to make wholesale changes in order to give players more match practise and gradually their opponents began to get a grip of the game.

When the opening goal arrived it did so through a spot of good fortune and an error in the Celtic ranks and when a ball was played through the middle, Bobo Balde and Darren O’Dea both hesitated before the Irishman stabbed it back to Mark Brown.

The keeper perhaps failed to anticipate the sudden pass-back and was slow off the mark, allowing Aliadiere the opportunity to break in and slot it into the corner of the net.

With the players still adjusting to the changes and more than a few tired legs among those who had played the full 90 minutes, it looked like the Premiership outfit were going to see out the match fairly comfortably. That was until the latest of late surges by Celtic.

Perhaps spurred on by a bizarre referee decision which halted Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink as he broke through on goal, the players rallied and from their first corner of the game piled on the pressure.

With the defence failing to clear their lines, Paul Caddis chipped the ball back into the box where Bobo Balde headed it towards goal. There Vennegoor of Hesselink nicked in through a pack of players and headed it past a sleeping defender on the goal-line.

It was an unexpected, late twist in the tale, but Celtic deserved to take something from this match – with the draw keeping their hopes alive of claiming the first (friendly) silverware of the season.

Algarve Challenge Cup
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Estadio Algarve, Portugal

CELTIC… 1
(Vennegoor of Hesselink 90)
MIDDLESBROUGH… 1
(Aliadiere 72)

WEBSITE MAN OF THE MATCH: Aiden McGeady

CELTIC (4-4-2) M Brown; Hinkel (Naylor 60), Caldwell (Balde 60), McManus (O’Dea 60), Wilson; Robson (Caddis 67), Hartley, S Brown (Donati 67), McGeady; McDonald (Vennegoor of Hesselink 67), Samaras (McGowan 73).
Subs: Boruc.
MIDDLESBROUGH (4-5-1) Turnbull; Young (McMahon 46), Pogatetz (Williams 46), Wheater (Huth 46), Grounds (Taylor 46); Emnes (O’Neil 46), Shawky (Digard 46), Arca (J Johnson 46), Walker (Tuncay 77), Owens (A Johnson 46); Alves (Aliadiere 46).