Morning of the Match

Celtic Park was a busy place that morning. The first-team with the manager, coach and physio were all getting ready to leave for Edinburgh and they would have a bite for lunch somewhere on the outskirts of the capital, like the Norton Hotel just along from the airport. Their bus would have left around 11am.

Then, two hours later, another group of players arrived. This was the Combined Reserve team which had a fixture against Jordanhill College. This would normally have been played at Barrowfield but surprisingly, the match was to go ahead on the main pitch at Celtic Park. Nice one! It is always a good surface to play on.

Easter Road
In those days, the Easter Road pitch had a decided slope and  – whether it was the first team or the reserves – the club rule was that if the Hibs captain won the toss at the start of a game it would be a case of  ‘kick uphill in the first half and downhill in the second’. And, as ever when it was a match against HIbs, you would get the chance to play football because that’s the way they played the game!

 

 

 

Teams

Hibs:  Allan, Duncan, Davis, Stanton, Cousin, O’Rourke, Cormack, Stein, Scott, McGraw, Stevenson.   Sub – Quinn

Celtic: Simpson, Gemmell, O’Neill, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, McBride, Chalmers, Auld, Hughes.  Sub – Lennox

 

The Play

Celtic got a lot of praise for their performance in this match. In one report, it said : ‘There has hitherto been room for shades of opinion about the merits of football teams but surely there can be none about this Celtic who with such sophistication destroyed the 100% record of Hibs.

It must be remembered that Hibs are as good as any other team in the country yet the pace of Celtic made them seem hog-tied; their modern conception of tactics and of teamwork were like automatic transmission against double declutching.’

 

Hibs in fact got the vital opening goal in 10 minutes through Cormack but that just seemed to spur Celtic on, the guys raised their tempo and the goals poured in;-

15 mins
a Jinky run, pass to Joe….1-1

30 mins
Joe shot hit a post and rebounded to Stevie, who made no mistake….2-1 Celtic

37 mins
Stevenson edged off the ball by Cesar…Davis pulls one back from the penalty….2-2

42 mins
strong shot by Joe….3-2 Celtic

43 mins
Joe repeats his shot….4-2 Celtic

Goodness knows what the Hibs manager would have said at the interval; apparently the Celtic Boss merely said “carry on”. And the players did…

74 mins
Joe gets his fourth of the afternoon. 5-2 Celtic

89 mins
McGraw knocks in a late one for Hibs. 5-3 Celtic

 

It had been an outstanding performance by Celtic – a team performance – as this comment from one of the following day’s papers might suggest ;-

Throughout the second half, Celtic, assured of victory, dictated the pace, moving the ball freely, accurately and deliberately. Most of their manoeuvres were planned by Auld, who was in effervescent form but Celtic’s success was one of teamwork.

 

Other Results

Airdrie	1	–	1	St. Mirren
Ayr United	0	–	1	Hearts
Clyde	3	–	1	Motherwell
Dundee	1	–	1	Kilmarnock
Dunfermline	1	–	1	Aberdeen
Rangers	5	–	0	Falkirk
St. Johnstone	3	–	5	Partick Thistle
Stirling Albion	1	–	4	Dundee United

 

Table

 

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GAv	Pts
1	Celtic	5	5	0	0	18	5	3.60	10
2	Airdrieonians	5	4	1	0	5	1	5.00	9
3	Hibernian	5	4	0	1	17	5	3.40	8
4	Rangers	5	4	0	1	21	12	1.75	8

 

 

Combined Reserve Match

The side that afternoon against Jordanhill was John Fallon, Myself, John Gorman, Jim Brogan, Frank McCarron, Davie Hay, John Taggart, George Connelly, Jim Clarke, Lou Macari and ‘Junior’. We won 6-0, the goals coming from Jim Clarke (2), Lou Macari (2), George Connelly and yours truly, with a header from a corner!

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Oops!

Misfortune struck harshly at the King’s Theatre production of ‘On Approval’. The safety curtain came down at the end of the first act but a chain snapped and the curtain could not be raised again. The evening’s performance was cancelled.

If You Don’t Succeed the First Time!

Mrs Josephine Griffin, a great-grandmother who flew from Chicago to London instead of to Los Angeles in a plane mix-up was back in Chicago yesterday. Today, she will make a new attempt to reach Los Angeles.

Collision!

Malcolm MacDonald, the 55-year-old manager of Kilmarnock FC was allowed home from Kilmarnock Infirmary today, after treatment for injuries and concussion. He was injured about a mile from his home in Raith Road, Fenwick when his car was in collision with 2 heavy lorries.