More Punishment Expected?
Only four days after they had lost to Celtic at home, St Mirren made the trip up to Glasgow to meet the green-and-whites again, in another league match at Parkhead. After comfortably winning the Love Street encounter only four days previously, the Boss decided to tinker with the side, bringing in Davie Catttenach for Bobby Murdoch and Charlie Gallagher for Bobby Lennox.
So the side which ran out at Celtic Park that afternoon was Simpson, Young, Gemmell, Cattenach, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, McBride, Chalmers, Gallagher, Auld.
The Play
The press seemed to be in no doubt that Celtic would win the match at Parkhead but there was another point to consider;-
‘Celtic’s prime objective in the game with St Mirren at Parkhead is to take the points and consolidate their position as prospective league champions : secondly, they had the opportunity to become the first club in Britain to score 100 goals in senior league competition this season’.
St Mirren were down in the relegation zone, so this was a vital game for them too and the Love Street club set about the game in the right fashion, defending tenaciously and only attacking occasionally. Celtic, on the other hand, had the majority of the play but just could not find the target in the first half and at half-time, the Celtic fans making up the vast majority of the 25,000 crowd were not happy and let the team know it.
Once the second half began, the guys re-doubled their efforts and the goals arrived ; Charlie Gallagher in 53 minutes….Bertie Auld 10 minutes later….then .Stevie Chalmers making it 3-0 with a spectacular drive from an acute angle.
Then came the moment everyone had been hoping for. In the 83rd minute, as Jimmy Johnstone’s header re-bounded off the cross-bar, Bertie Auld was there to nod the ball back into the net, scoring Celtic’s 100th goal of the season and naturally, being Bertie, the laddie from Maryhill was unable to resist the temptation to take a little bow.
Three minutes from time, Stevie Chalmers was on the spot to get the final goal, making it Celtic 5 St Mirren 0.
And Over at Love Street
With about 100 brave souls watching in the pouring rain in Paisley, the Celtic Reserve side ran out to face St Mirren Reserves. The team was Fallon, McCarron, O’Neill, Henderson, Cushley, Brogan, H Quinn, Connelly, Craig, Sweeney, Taylor. I was in the striker role up against an experienced central defender called Young, whose nickname I cannot recall. Anyway, every time I got the ball in his vicinity, he clattered into me, most of time knocking me down but always taking the time to help me to my feet again with a cheerful “Sorry about that, Jim”.
I gave as good as I got but began to realize just how much better is the position of the defender in clashes like that – facing the play, able to read the situation etc. It was quite an experience and I thought that I got some justice when Mr Young, under pressure from me, put the ball into his own net, which proved to be the only goal of the game. Who says there is no justice for the innocent ones?
The Table
Saturday’s results left the league table looking like this ;-
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Celtic | 30 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 101 | 29 | 50 |
| Rangers | 29 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 76 | 26 | 45 |
| Kilmarnock | 31 | 18 | 4 | 9 | 70 | 46 | 40 |
| Dundee United | 30 | 18 | 3 | 9 | 72 | 46 | 39 |
| Dunfermline | 28 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 77 | 46 | 38 |
It was a good position for Celtic to be in, with only a handful of matches left. However, when any club is going for a treble, as Celtic was, everyone involved with the club is well aware that the pressure is on all the time and slip-ups are not to be considered. Still, you would rather be involved at the top than struggling against relegation at the other end!
A Game from the Past….and a Moment to Remember
Sponsored by the Jim Craig CSC
A Game from the Past……..when Joe Kennaway went down with ‘flu in November 1932, John Wallace – originally a left-back from Stonehouse Violet converted into a goalkeeper – got his chance and made his first-team debut against Third Lanark in a league match at Cathkin Park on 26th November 1932 when Celtic won 4-0.
And a Moment to Remember….’Jock’ Wallace went on to make 18 appearances in League and Scottish Cup matches over the following 18 months. Games to remember were the comeback from being 0-2 down to Hearts at Parkhead in February 1933, Jimmy McGrory getting the winner with 5 minutes to go; the 3rd round Scottish Cup tie versus Partick Thistle at Parkhead in March 1933 before an attendance of 55,595, when Celtic again had to come from behind to win 2-1; and the 4th round tie that same year against Albion Rovers at Cliftonhill on 4th March, when the teams were presented to Sir Harry Lauder before the match.
One That Got Away
Two policemen chased a bright, shiny object they saw streaking through the sky over eastern Ohio at the weekend. But they lost it after an 86-mile cross-country dash.
Hundreds of other people also said they saw the object.
Sightings were also reported by some Air Force Reserve pilots at nearby Youngston, who said their jet trainer planes were not fast enough to keep up with the object.
Across the Atlantic
The Soviet Union opened its first trans-Atlantic passenger service when the new liner – Alexander Pushkin – left Leningrad for a two-week voyage to Montreal. It will call at Helsinki, Copenhagen and London.
Language Difficulties
A thief who drove away a lorry with a £3000 load from Stepney, East London, will have some trouble in disposing of his haul. The load was cartons of Bovril, the meat extract – but the labels and instructions are all in Chinese!