| Match Pictures | Matches:1953 – 1954 | 1953-54 pictures |
Trivia
- The first competitive game of a new season and as ever the season began with the preliminary group phase of the Scottish League Cup. Celtic were drawn in a group with Aberdeen, East Fife and Airdrie, all of whom had given Celtic hard games the previous season. East Fife had finished third in the League.
- The team that started was close to the one that finished the previous season as winners of the Coronation Cup. The big loser was Bobby Collins who was out, with Tully coming back as outside right and Fernie at outside left. Celtic had tried Tully at outside right in the pre-season trial of Probables -v- Possibles in the week before. Boden, Baillie and Fallon were all on the injured list at the start of the season.
- Aberdeen had signed goal-scorer Brown from Falkirk and this was his debut game.
- Matthew McVittie was signed by Celtic from Wishaw Juniors. He would not make his competitive debut till August 1955 and would be farmed out to Albion Rovers in September this year.
- Celtic paraded the Coronation Cup before the match.
Review
The game was played on a very hot day. Celtic had lots of chances to finish the game and make this a comfortable win but the finishing was atrocious. Fernie even managed to shoot over from two yards out. Mochan missed chances both high and wide. Martin in the Aberdeen goal also performed wonders to deny the Celts a goal. Aberdeen for the most part played everyone behind the ball and Celtic had the majority of the game on the attack with only hits on the break from Aberdeen. From one of these, Buckley found Brown, who was on his senior debut for the Dons, and Rollo and Stein expecting an offside call were slow to react and Brown shot past Bonnar. During the second half the Celtic forward line chopped and changed around all to no avail.
Teams
Celtic:
Bonnar, Haughney, Rollo; Evans, Stein, McPhail; Tully, Walsh,Mochan, Peacock, Fernie.
Scorers:
Aberdeen:
Martin; Mitchell, Smith; Harris, Young, Allister; Brown, Yorston, Buckley, Hamilton, Hather.
Scorers: Brown (63)
Referee: G Mitchell (Falkirk)
Attendance: 55,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
