The Afternoon of the Match
Classes all morning; patients all afternoon. Time for a bite to eat at a local café just down the hill from the Dental Hospital. Then into the motor and a leasurely drive out to Celtic Park. This was the life?
Except that it wasn’t. I was thoroughly annoyed at picking up that injury and missing out on a couple of matches, just when I had got myself into the side. There had been the missing out of the Hearts match – which had turned out to be for disciplinary reasons – when Celtic lost 2-3; then there was another miss, due to injury, this time at Stirling, where the club lost again, this time by the single goal. Were those two poor results just bad days, or was the defence more solid when I played? Amazing what you think about when you are on the sidelines!
The Team
I had assumed that there might be changes to the side after the poor result against Stirling but I was not expecting the set-up which appeared. Ian Young had been dropped from the right-back spot and Billy McNeill was brought in there, with John Cushley still at centre-half, making up the same defence which had lost three goals at Tynecastle? Up front the five listed were Johnstone, McBride, Chalmers, Auld and Hughes.
The First-half Play
Frankly, this was a romp, right from the start of the match, Celtic exerting their authority and getting little response from the opposition. In the first-half, the goals came thick and fast, as the Dundee defence, unusually panic-stricken, crumbled under the pressure;-
9 minutes
A shot by Tam Gemmell was deflected on to the cross-bar by Bertie
Auld and then dropped into the path of Stevie Chalmers who had the easy job of pushing the ball home. 1-0 Celtic
25 minutes
a high corner-kick from the right by Jimmy Johnstone was missed by Dundee keeper John Arrol and Billy McNeill headed it back across goal for Joe McBride to stab home. 2-0 Celtic
35 minutes
Gemmell scored with a shot from a Johnstone pass. 3-0 Celtic
43 minutes
McBride again, this time after good work by Johnstone. 4-0 Celtic
The Interval
There must have been a complete difference in the atmosphere in the respective dressing rooms, gloom in the Dundee camp, euphoria in the other. And as I had my half-time cup of tea and a pie, I was wondering just what the Dundee players were thinking as they prepared to go through it all again in the second half.
The Second Half
As so often happens, though, the team which is 4-up subconsciously takes its proverbial foot off the pedal and the second half was more even. Ronnie Simpson was lucky when a powerful shot by inside-left McLean bounced out of his arms but there was no Dundee forward near enough to take advantage. The final Celtic goal came near the end ;-
89 minutes
Bertie Auld appeared to be up-ended in the box and a penalty was awarded, which McBride tucked away neatly. 5-0 Celtic
The result brought Celtic level with Rangers on points, although the Ibrox men had the better goal average ;-
P W D L F A Pts
Rangers 23 18 3 2 70 20 39
Celtic 23 19 1 3 79 23 39
Dunfermline 23 15 5 3 69 30 35
Kilmarnock 25 16 2 7 60 35 34
Hearts 23 11 8 4 42 32 30
Press Comment
As you might imagine with a result like that, press comment was pretty favourable, everyone in the team getting a bit of praise for what was highlighted as a ‘team’ performance.
And the headlines were no less fulsome in their praise –
Celtic Beat Dundee Easily
No Contest
Celtic Back on Form
Five-Goal Drubbing for Dundee at Parkhead
However, as I made my way home afterwards, while pleased that the team had picked up another two points in the race for the title, I was also feeling pretty low and thinking that I could not have picked a worse time to pick up an injury.
A Game from the Past…and a Moment to Remember
Sponsored by the Jim Craig CSC
A Game from the Past……striker Dugald McCarrison came through the Celtic Boys Club and Youth Team ranks – he was in the Celtic side which won the BP Youth Cup in 1987 – and made his first-team debut in the 1-2 defeat by Dundee United at Parkhead on 24th October 1987, only a week after Frank McAvennie and Chris Woods had been sent for an early bath in an Old Firm game.
And a Moment to Remember……Dugald played another three times for the club, his only goal coming in the 3-0 over Dundee on February 25th 1989. Eventually, Tommy Burns paid £100,000 to take him to Kilmarnock on 26th February 1992.
TV Debates
Mr Ted Heath, the leader of the Conservative Party, challenged Prime Minister Harold Wilson to a confrontation on TV on one or more occasions.
Dogs Doing Well
The Soviet Union’s space dogs – Breezy and Coal Lump – launched into space a week ago in the Cosmos 110 satellite, are reported to be in good condition.
Who Will Win the Scottish Cup
The odds given by the Glasgow bookmakers to win the Scottish Cup are ; Rangers 6-4; Celtic 2-1; Dunfermline 6-1; Hearts, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen 8-1; St Johnstone 25-1; Stirling Albion 100-1; Dumbarton 1000-1; Cowdenbeath 2000-1; Ross County 5000-1.