Training
Things were back to normal at the beginning of the week and training on the Tuesday night
was almost a pleasure, everything soaking of course but no rain or snow to bother about.
I got the nod to report for the Scottish Cup tie the following night but had already made the preparations to leave the Dental Hospital early.
I was curious to know just where we would stop for the pre-match meal. Being only the most recent of converts to a motor car (yes, I did get my a mention of my car in the article again!) I did not know where one could stop on the way up to Dundee. I had assumed that we might go all the way and have the meal in Dundee itself but as soon as we reached the outskirts of Perth, we pulled off the main road into the town and eventually arrived at the Queen’s Hotel, just by Perth Station.
We had a nice meal there then headed up towards Dundee and the venue of that night’s Scottish Cup tie, Dens Park
Dens Park
I always though that Dens Park had a lovely pitch, with the surroundings pretty nice too. There was a main stand with the rest of ground – built on the principles of that well-known builder of stadia from football’s earlier days, Archibald Leitch – was in the shape of a bowl. During the first few years of the 1960s, some of the terraces had been covered but you still got the impression that there was something old fashioned about the place.
The Team
After the fine display in the 6-0 dismantling of Falkirk the previous week, it came as no surprise when the Boss announced that the same eleven would start in this match, so the side read Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, McBride, Chalmers, Auld, Hughes.
The Opposition
Dundee had thrashed East Fife 9-1 in the previous round, while in the league campaign they were lying in mid-table. They had some good players; Alec Hamilton and Charlie Cooke were both Scottish internationalists; Stevie Murray was a future Celt; and their forward line of Penman, Bertelsen, McLean and Cameron had both flair and power.
The Match
‘Celtic proved themselves to be a very formidable side when they demolished Dundee at Dens Park last night more completely than the score would suggest. It was a roistering and exciting game and on the crest of its wave Celtic, the holders, passed on to a visit to Hearts in the third round of the Scottish Cup.
After having scored in four minutes, Celtic had to withstand a 20-minute siege which did not show up their defence in the best light. McNeill was not commanding and Simpson uncharacteristically was twice dangerously caught in two minds’
From those words, you might have worked out that we did not play up to our usual standard. Having said that, though, I did note in my preview that the Dark Blues had some good players and on that night, especially in the first half, they all rose to the challenge and made life difficult for us.
The goals were good ;
4 Minutes
Ronnie Simpson rolled the ball to Billy McNeill, he passed into the path of Tam Gemmell, who beat a defender and crossed for Joe McBride to head home. 1-0 Celtic
44 minutes
Stevie Chalmers took a pass from Jimmy Johnstone, shot at goal, the ball hit keeper John Arrol on the chest and re-bounded to the Celtic striker, who knocked it home. 2-0
We also missed a penalty, awarded after Stevie Chalmers was sandwiched in the box. John Hughes took it but did not hit it hard enough and Arrol managed to stop it.
That second goal just on half-time seemed to have hit the Dundee players hard as they were a much less determined team in the second half and we coped well with their occasional attacks. Possibly, we should have scored more goals considering how we dominated the play but at the end, we were through to the 3rd round and the Boss seemed happy enough.
Injured
On a personal basis, it had been a bad night, as I had picked up an injury on my right ankle halfway through the second half. I had gone into a crunching tackle and at the moment of contact, I felt my ankle turn sideways and almost ‘give’ causing me grief for the rest of the match.
The watching staff noticed that I was in trouble but I signalled that I was OK to play on and did so, even if it was painful. When I took off my boots at the end, my ankle started to swell up and became even more painful. After a bath and a shower, I got strapped up tightly and was told to report the next day although, after some discussion, I managed to change the time of reporting from morning to lunchtime, as I was still trying to please two masters and had classes at the Dental Hospital in the morning.
We might not have starred but we did get through to the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup to meet Hearts, so the guys were quite pleased after the match and the staff seemed to be as well.
Aftermath
Other replays had taken place that night ;-
Aberdeen 5-0 Dundee United
Dumbarton 1-0 Queen of the South
Stirling Albion 0-0 Dunfermline
And the papers seemed to think that Celtic had done OK ;-
Dundee Could not Match Celtic’s Speed and Power
Celtic’s Victory At Dens Park
A Game for the Past….and a Moment to Remember
Sponsored by the Jim Craig CSC
A Game from the Past……..outside-right Jimmy Walls was brought in from Hamilton Accies in the autumn months of 1902, when Willie Maley was trying to re-shape his team and many a player was tried in many a position. He made his first-team debut against Thornliebank in the Scottish Cup on 11th November 1902, when Celtic won 3-0.
And a Moment to Remember….Jimmy made only another 4 appearances for Celtic, his best run coming in March 1903, when he played 3 Scottish League matches and 4 Inter-City games, scoring in the match against Queen’s Park.
The Weapon
A Dallas, Texas, judge has awarded the rifle used to kill President Kennedy to the US Government. The judge rejected the claim of a Denver gun collector that he paid Lee Harvey Oswald’s widow $10,000 for it.
Hanging
A woman and her lover, both convicted of murder, were hanged in Addis Ababa yesterday. A large crowd, including the woman’s husband, witnessed the hanging. It was stated that the lover stabbed the man, not fatally and that the woman then battered his head with a stone.
Crashes
Four cars were involved in two accidents within minutes of each other at the Tullideph Road – City Road in Dundee. The first crash involved a Ford Corsair belonging to Bertie Auld, the Celtic player. The car had been driven through to Dundee by a friend of Bertie’s with two others who were going to see the Dundee/ Celtic Cup tie. No one was hurt in the crashes.