| Match Pictures | Matches: 1951 – 1952 | 1951-52 Pictures |
Trivia
- Debut game for Andrew Bell.
- Mallan and Boden again inter-changed this time with Boden being moved into the forward line.; McPhail was resurrected so Jock Weir dropped out. Walsh was still injured.
Review
This game is characteristic of the demise in the team, training, management and board at that time. The team absolutely needed a centre forward who knew and could play the position and time and again this was not addressed. Therefore the presence of captain John McPhail was paramount. When he was fit, he played. Unfortunately McPhail was fighting a weight and general fitness problem. Because of this he was pushing and barging much more and he was slow to get back, even refusing, to help defend. The management and Board put all their faith in McPhail and failed to see that they had to address this position.
Teams
Dundee:
Brown; Follon, Cowan; Gallacher, Merchant, Cowie; Toner, Pattilo, Flavell, Steel, Christie.
Scorers: Christie (35), Pattilo (48)
Celtic:
Bell; Fallon, Rollo; Evans, Mallan, Baillie; Collins, Boden, McPhail, Peacock, Tully .
Scorers: Merchant og (5)
Referee:
Attendance: 32,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
An Uninspired Celtic Team
Evening Times 22nd October, 1951.
The rain came to Dundee – some hail too. Winter, in fact, had a peep in at the Dens Park door.
But the elements were not responsible for Celtic's uninspired form. Yet actually, there were more than staccato moments through the contest with the League Cup finalists when Celtic were as full of promise as any aspiring Parliamentary candidate.
There were times when Peacock and McPhail seemed to have crushed Dundee's entire defence as easily as one crushes an eggshell, but if McPhail had an appointment with Brown, he never fulfilled it.
Dundee found defensive strength – or at least encouragement – in McPhail's finishing and distributive frailties.
But the most apparent reason why Celtic lost was Boden's failure to team up as Collins partner. As Evans had more than enough on his plate looking after Steel it all meant the complete immobilisation of the so naturally perky Collins.
Here he wore an air of futility so foreign to his nature.
Fate had some benign smiles for Dundee in other ways for both Merchant and Cowie took an inordinate amount of time to settle. Similarly with Steel, for the genius that is Billy's play was flickering and almost quenched prior to his crafty manouevre in taming a ball free kicked by Fallon and placing it for Christie to bore through like a red-hot poker through Celtic's defence.
After that and onto the finish Steel played with a flame on his tail, a flame that touched off thew rocket that is Pattilo – surely the best of the game's old-timers.
Pictures
- Match Pictures
