Playing….but not in the First Team!
While the guys listed on the first team sheet were having a wee rest in bed or getting ready for their pre-match meal before the St Mirren game, I was getting stripped and ready to play for the Second team in a Combined Reserve League match against Jordanhill College at their ground.
Jordanhill lies in the west of Glasgow and the college situated there produced primary school teachers and also male Physical Education teachers (the ladies trained in Edinburgh). As you can imagine, their fitness of the guys in their side was never in doubt and they certainly gave us a good work-out that afternoon.
Our team was; Kennedy, Craig, Halpin, Henderson, McCarron, Hay, ‘Junior’, McGowan, H Quinn, Sweeney and Hughes; we won 3-0, with the goals coming from ‘Junior’, Henry Quinn and Frank McCarron.
It was ‘Big Yogi’s’ first match back after picking up a knee injury in the Inter-League game against England nearly three weeks previously and he looked in good form. One unsettling feature, though, was that the rain poured down the whole match, leaving the pitch wet and muddy. As the West End of Glasgow was not that far from Paisley, one could safely assume that the Love Street pitch was also receiving a battering that afternoon.
Trouble!
Another afternoon match was the last thing I needed, as I had, once again, to take time off from seeing patients at the Dental Hospital. I was getting something of a reputation for cancelling and even more importantly, was beginning to get on the nerves of the receptionists whose job it was to phone the patients and tell them I would not be there. I used to be welcomed with a smile when I popped into their office but I’m afraid I was now looked upon as ‘trouble!’.
The Game at Love Street
As I was not there, I can only give some details of the play from the newspaper reports on the following day.
’Celtic took a lead of seven points over Rangers in the league championship with a victory over St Mirren last night that was contrived with accomplishment and pace in appalling conditions of sleet, wind and mud.
In the first 10 minutes, Celtic won as many corner kicks and by half-time the count had risen by 21. The goals came less frequently;-
32 minutes…..Jimmy Johnstone raced in towards goal and cut the ball back for Stevie Chalmers to score with a fine shot. St Mirren 0 Celtic 1
48 minutes…..Jimmy started the move again, with the ball moving on to Stevie and Bertie Auld, before Joe McBride got the chance to score with a hard shot. St Mirren 0 Celtic 2
69 minutes…..Ian Young crossed the ball into the middle and Joe was there again, this time to head home. St Mirren 0 Celtic 3.
Comprehensive
It was a comprehensive victory for Celtic and the report pointed out an area of difficulty for the Paisley club ;-
‘St Mirren gave Simpson one real shot to deal with and incredibly did not win a solitary corner. The shadows of relegation seemed to be deepening for them and they must face up to it all again on Saturday at Celtic Park’.
A Game from the Past….and a Moment to Remember
Sponsored by the Jim Craig CSC
A Game from the Past………After spells with Northern (1889-92), Rangers (1892-93) and Hibs (1893-95), centre-forward Allan Martin signed for Celtic on 4th June 1895, making his first-team debut – at that time in the green-and-white stripes – on 10th August 1895 against Dundee at Carolina Park, where he scored one of Celtic’s goals in the 2-1 win.
Allan was a furnace-man in an iron works, who refused to go full-time and worked some tough double shifts so he could get time off for his football.
And a Moment to Remember…..In 18 matches for Celtic, Allan Martin scored 18 goals. The most notable games were the first of the 6-2 victories over Rangers ( 14th December 1895), which clinched the club’s 3rd league title; and the 2-1 win over Queen’s Park at Ibrox in the final of the Charity Cup on 16th May 1896, Celtic’s 5th consecutive victory in that tournament.
The Big Man Wins Again
Mohammed Ali outpointed Canadian George Chuvalo over 15 rounds to retain the World Heavyweight Title.
A First
The Soviet Union’s Luna 10 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit the moon.
Change of Name
The off-shore pirate radio station Radio Scotland, broadcasting from the lightship L.V. Comet, had various locations round the coast of Scotland, usually outside territorial waters.
In the early months of 1966, though, the company running the station was accused of broadcasting within territorial waters – just off the coast at Troon – and was fined £80.
The company then moved the ship to just off the Northern Ireland coast at Ballywater, in County Down and changed the name of the station to Radio Scotland and Ireland.