Trivia
- The Aberdeen win in the League the previous weekend had lifted everyone at the club. From looking tired, the team had pulled themselves together and put two good wins behind them against Ujpest and Aberdeen.
- The win had not come without injuries. Billy McNeill had picked up a knock and was out. Out still was Bobby Murdoch and Jim Brogan (though Jim was close to fitness and listed in the squad of 13.
- George Connelly was the captain in the absence of both McNeill and Murdoch.
- Bobby Davidson's 3rd game involving Celtic since the 1970 SCF. Ignored linesman's flag that ball had gone out before Wallace's goal but also irked Dundee over a Macari goal.
- Stein came on and remonstarted with him at the final whistle [See Match Pictures].
- Davidson jeered off and Stein gets £100 SFA fine on December 1st 1972.This was the third time Jock Stein had appeared before the Referee's Disciplinary panel – and each time he had been referred by Bobby Davidson.
- On the following night Celtic drew 2-2 with Dundee Utd in a Reserve League match at Tannadice. The Celtic team was Connaghan, J. Davidson, Brogan, McNamara, McDonald, Watt, McLaughlin, V. Davidson, Hood, White, Wilson. Sub O'Hara. The Celtic scorers were McLaughlin and V. Davidson.
Report
A great game played by two committed sides fouled up by poor refereeing.
After extra time aggregate 3-3.
Teams
Celtic:
Williams, Hay, McGrain, McCluskey, Connelly, Callaghan, Johnstone, Dalglish (Hood), Deans, Macari, Lennox
Goals:- Lennox (16), Macari 2 (32, 35).
Dundee:
Allan, R Wilson, Houston, Robinson, Stewart, Ford, J Wilson, Duncan, Wallace (Gray), J Scott, I Scott
Goals: Wallace (30), Scott (54).
Referee: R. H. Davidson (Airdrie).
Attendance: 39,000
Articles
Pictures
Articles
Glasgow Herald Thursday 2 November 1972
Celtic and Dundee to replay for semi-final place
By Ian Archer
Celtic 3, Dundee 2 (after extra time) (Aggregate 3-3)
Celtic and Dundee last night spent two long hours together, time enough for their tempers to become shorter and shorter. They remained dead-locked at the end — and angry, too.
Long after the end of this cup quarter-final, police stood on duty outside Parkhead's main doors. Their task most surely must have been to ensure the continuing good health of the Airdrie referee, Bobby Davidson.
Now Celtic face the prospect of fitting another fixture into an already overcrowded season. The replay will be at Hampden on November 20, and 39,000 of their supporters will surely hope that Mr Davidson is elsewhere on that Monday night.
For Mr Davidson, this cup quarter–final was his first appointment with Celtic for over two seasons. There have been problems about this World Cup referee before — and they will surely break out all over again.
At the end of 90 minutes — as both teams lay gasping for breath — Jock Stein strode briskly out on to his Parkhead pitch and, ignoring the players, made straight for the three officials standing aloof in the centre circle. He queried a point about the Dundee goaI, and the Parkhead crowd rose to applaud him, chanting his name firmly through the night air as he walked back to the touchline. It had been the gesture of a baffled manager.
Celtic and Dundee queried a goal apiece, and there can be no suggestion of bias levelled at the official. But, with an ominous certainty, this tie slipped increasingly out of his control.
As his relationship with his linesmen deteriorated, as one eccentric decision followed another, the teams somehow lost confidence — and a replay became more and more certain with every blast on the whistle rather than every kick of the ball.
The teams did not want an argument with each other. Although Mr Davidson booked Celtic’s Davie Hay and Dundee's George Stewart and Doug Houston, the names were all taken for showing dissent. This was never a vicious or even ill-tempered tie, but somehow the referee lost touch.
EMBARASSMENT
When Celtic stop banging their head against the dressing room wall — and the arguments subside –every man at Parkhead will realise that this was a tie lost rather than a replay gained.
The embarrassment of another meeting should not have been necessary.
Dundee played as if they had stumbled across a copy of Ujpest Dozsa’s training manual, left by accident in the Parkhead corridors. The scenario for this league cup tie was identical to the plot for the European match of seven days ago.
Davie White's team retreated into deep defence, conceding ground at every turn, and generally looked as if they wanted to live and fight another day. Celtic charged at them furiously and had so many opportunities to win the match before their tiring limbs defied them to do so.
Within seven minutes Lennox and Deans had missed chances, but these only acted as an overture for the opening goal, shared by these same two players. Deans chipped a pass quickly forward, Lennox outpaced Stewart, and with Allan coming nervously off his line, the striker stabbed the ball under his body and into the net.
Dundee had already shown some slight form in the important business of moving the ball in the general direction of the Celtic goal, but it still came as some surprise when they equalised — and pulled themselves in front on aggregate — after half an hour.
It was the goal that Stein later questioned. Jocky Scott seemed over the byline when he turned a corner back into the path of Wallace, who edged it over the line. The linesman's flag was briefly raised, and the protests were duly mounted. But the goal stood and the erosion of authority started in earnest.
Another team than Celtic might have turned surly or sulky after the goal. Instead they scored two goals in a three minute spell and carry themselves back into an aggregate lead. This time it was Dundee’s turn to complain.
After 33 minutes, Callaghan, who played well in midfield alongside Dalglish, hit a shot that was deflected over the line by Macari, standing in close. Defenders appealed strongly that the Celtic striker had handled the ball, but Mr Davidson pointed to his chest and the goal stood.
Three minutes later Macari scored again with conviction and skill. He picked the ball out of the usual mass of bodies scattered in front of the Dundee goal, beat three defenders in an oblique run across the edge of the penalty area, and then hit a low shot that Allan stood watching as if he was in the next county.
Celtic were in front again but their own defence was showing increasing uncertainty. For the first time this season they were without McNeill, injured at Pittodrie, and Duncan, in particular, ran at them with relish.
After 53 minutes Dundee were level. Houston worked the ball carefully out of defence and passed to Jocky Scott on the edge of the centre circle. He carried the ball on as defenders backed away edgily. From 25 yards he decided to shoot, and the ball flew along the slippery surface low into the corner of the net.
OFFSIDE
It left a long time to decide the match, but no one seemed to have the energy or the wish to take the responsibility. Police carried away spectators when Macari did get the ball into the net shortly afterwards only to be pulled back for offside.
Normal time ended slowly – and an unspoken truce seemed to have been declared for the overtime period. Hood and Gray came on as substitutes with no apparent effect. Hay and Houston were booked. The crowd booed long and loud at the referee.
It all hardly mattered. This had been an unsatisfactory night.
CELTIC – Williams; Hay and McGrain; McCluskey, Connelly and Callaghan; Johnstone and Dalglish; Deans, Macari and Lennox. Substitute—Hood.
DUNDEE – Allan; R. Wilson and Houston; Robinson, Stewart and Ford; J. Wilson and Duncan; Wallace, J. Scott and I. Scott. Substitute—Gray.
Referee – R. H. Davidson (Airdrie).
