Another Night in the Stand
I had only been with the club for 8 months but I was getting used to big matches – or at least watching such games from the comfort of the stand. In the previous season of 1964-65, I had been at the semi-final and final of the Scottish Cup; now, in this season, I had already watched the semi-final of the League Cup and on this particular evening, I was at Ibrox for the replay. Thanks to the generosity of the club, I had a ticket for the South Stand, so if it rained, it would not bother me.
Choice of Travel
My one concern before the game had been how to get there. I had not been invited to travel with the team so I would have to make my own way to the stadium. As I had spent the day at the Dental Hospital, I had two alternatives. The first was to take a bus from the top of Renfield Street which went along Paisley Road West and get off just opposite Ibrox Park. Or the second, which I eventually chose, was to take the subway from Cowcaddens to Copeland Road and walk round the corner to the ground.
The subway train was packed. It is a small enough vehicle at the best of times – and has not got bigger over the 50 years since! -and was full of fans in green-and-white. I could tell from the accents whether they were supporting Celtic or the other lot and there was certainly a fair bit of banter going on. And, of course, since I had had only the one experience of playing for the first team, nobody knew who I was and I could travel without anyone bothering me.
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ex-Celt John McNamee sees red – Daily Record
The Match
It was a good crowd, slightly bigger than the first game at 51,423 but the night would be chiefly remembered for an incident involving Hibs centre-half John McNamee;-
MCNAMEE SENT OFF FOR FOUL ON HUGHES
This incident occurred in the 79th minute, when McNamee, while chasing John Hughes out to the touchline, fouled the Celtic player.
Referee Davidson called the centre-half over and cautioned him. McNamee moved back several paces and the next we saw was the referee beckoning him forward again. He was off!
By that point, Celtic were three-up, the goals having come as follows;-
14 minutes Celtic took the lead with what looked like an offside goal. Jimmy Johnstone beat his opposite number before cutting into the middle and sliding a great pass into the path of Joe McBride, who scored from 8 yards. The Hibs defenders appealed but the referee ignored them. 1-0 Celtic
20 minutes John Hughes side-footed home a pass from McBride from close range. 2-0 Celtic
68 minutes Charlie Gallagher to Hughes and on to Bobby Lennox, who pounced on the ball and rounded the keeper before scoring. Then came the ordering-off of McNamee, which did not help Hibs’ cause and Celtic soon took advantage of his absence;-
83 minutes Some inter-passing between Lennox and Johnstone, the ball broke to Bobby Murdoch and he slammed it home from 18 yards.
In the end, it was a comfortable win for Celtic and the night was summed up well in one of the following day’s reports;-
It [The McNamee ordering off] was the outstanding incident in a game which never lived up to the standard set by the same teams only a fortnight ago.
Celtic won well. While the defence made them work for their win, the Easter Road forward line was virtually never in it. I counted two direct saves for Ronnie Simpson.
It’s an Old Firm League Cup Final for the second year in succession.
Tribute
During the match, the Celtic players had all worn black armbands in tribute to the memory of Joe Dodds, a member of the famous Celtic defence of Shaw, McNair and Dodds in the 1910s and early 1920s
Body Found
A young child’s body found on Saturday on the Pennine moorland was identified last night as that of Lesley Ann Downay, the 10-year-old Manchester girl who had been missing from her home since last 26th December.
She was found in a shallow grave 1400 feet up in a peat bog in the hills a few miles from the village of Greenfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.