MOUSSA DEMBELE, Scott Sinclair and Stuart Armstrong had memorable first appearances against Comedy Club Sevco Rangers last month as they contributed the goals in Celtic’s runaway 5-1 success.
The French Under-21 international frontman, of course, scored the perfect hat-trick with a header and right and left foot shots.beyond the floundering Wes Foderingham.
Sinclair, bought for £4.5million from Aston Villa in the summer, and Stuart Armstrong, who sat out last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final against the new Ibrox club, added the others.
Here are three other Celts who enjoyed their baptism against the Hoops’ old Glasgow rivals, before they ceased to exist.
LUBOMIR MORAVCIK
CELTIC fans were still baffled by the mysterious signing of the unknown midfielder by Dr.Jozef Venglos. Despite an impressive collection of caps for Slovakia, the midfielder, bought for £330,000 from SV Duisburg, hadn’t quite caught the imagination in his previous two games.
That changed in the turbo-charged atmosphere of the Glasgow clash in November 1998 when he netted two goals in a sensational 5-1 triumph for the Hoops.
Swedish legend Henrik larsson added another two with Mark Burchill hitting the fifth past Antti Niemi, who never played in a game against Celtic again.
CHRIS SUTTON
ONLY two minutes had gone when the English international netted in his first Glasgow derby in August 2000.
The Ibrox side failed to clear a corner-kick from the left and it dropped to Sutton, bought from Chelsea for £6million, who fired into the net from close range.
The big frontman grabbed the last goal in an amazing 6-2 victory which was also manager Martin O’Neill’s first taste of this highly-charged confrontation.
THOMAS GRAVESEN
GORDON STRACHAN’S £2million summer capture from Real Madrid displayed perfect timing as he scored his first goal for the club at a sell-out Parkhead on September 23, 2006.
No-one could have anticipated what was in store for the erratic Danish midfielder when he netted the opening goal in the 35th minute as he forced the ball beyond Allan McGregor.
Kenny Miller, who could face the Hoops this afternoon, ended a six-week goal drought by slipping the second strike under McGregor in the 74th minute as Strachan’s side coasted to a comfortable 2-0 success.
Gravesen, who also scored a goal at Ibrox later on, fell foul of the manager and left on loan for former club Everton a year later. He was released by the Hoops in January 2009.
