Rovers miss out but Stein Cup is success

Jul 23 2008 by Colin Paterson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

ALBION ROVERS ................. 1 CELTIC ................................. 4

CELTIC clinched the Jock Stein Friendship Trophy for the third consecutive summer but there were no losers at Cliftonhill last Thursday night.

Battling Rovers found themselves sharing a pitch with some Hoops stars who earn more in a week than what the Third Division club’s playing budget is for a whole season.

Among the well-known faces in the Bhoys’ ranks were Danish flop Thomas Gravesen and out-of-favour striker Derek Riordan.

Youngsters Scott Cuthbert and Paul Caddis, who also have first-team experience under their belts, featured prominently as well.

Rovers boss Paul Martin hailed the performance of his players and told the Advertiser: “The boys applied themselves very well.

“I thought we were better than decent against Celtic and I really was delighted with them.

“We lost a poor first goal and even though we went 3-0 down, we stuck it out and still tried to keep passing the ball.

“The crowd and entertainment on the night was great and some of our younger players shone through. There were lots of positives for the club to take from the game.”

Celtic opened the scoring through Mark Millar with Danny Lafferty making it 2-0.

Midfielder Gravesen added a third goal for the Old Firm giants with ex-Hibernian star Riordan slotting home No 4.

The Rovers fans were given something to cheer in the closing stages when Pat Walker expertly rolled a consolation effort into the far corner of the net.

Following the full-time whistle, North Lanarkshire Council provost, Tom Curley, presented the trophy to Celts captain Cuthbert.

Cliftonhill director, Pat Rolink, revealed the gates had to be closed moments after kick-off due to the sheer size of the crowd.

He said: “We had to turn people away which we weren’t happy about but we felt we had reached our capacity.

“We were delighted with the number of people who came along. In terms of finance it probably wasn’t worth a great deal as tickets were pegged at £5.

“But for prestige this was massive. Celtic showed us a lot of respect and, hopefully, this is now established as a regular fixture.

“We are also hoping a lot of the people who came along enjoyed the experience and come back for our first home game against Forfar next month and give us another try.”