| Match Pictures | Matches:1953 – 1954 | 1953-54 pictures |
Trivia
- Bobby Evans was in the Scotland side which drew 3-3 with Wales at Hampden on 4th November.
- An unchanged side!
- Hibernian had only recently re-signed centre forward Lawrie Reilly. Reilly had wanted to go south of the border and refused to re-sign at the beginning of the season. He was transfer listed but no team was prepared to match the price that Hibs wanted – he was top scorer in Scotland by a country mile the previous season. Eventually Reilly re-signed for Hibs about one month prior to this game and he had embarked on yet another goal scoring spree. This season Hibs were somewhat languishing and in the lower half of the table. Their manager Hugh Shaw was ill and Harry Swan, Chairman of Hibs and SFA President, had taken the position of temporary manager.
Review
The game was played in bad weather with hail and rain and a tremendous wind but the weather conditions failed to affect what was an excellent game of football.
Hibs won the toss and kicked off with the wind in their favour. From the kick off the first half was end to end stuff with Collins, Evans and Fernie playing well for Celtic and Reilly and Johnstone for Hibs. Both sides had early chances. Smith was giving Meechan something of a roasting. Hibs were gradually getting the better of the play but then on 20 minutes Celtic scored. A long punt upfield saw McPhail and Younger collide and the ball broke for Collins to stroke home. McPhail was injured in the clash and went to outside left to recover. Following the goal Walsh, Fernie and Tully all had shots and the Hibs defense came under sustained pressure. Stein as ever marshalled the defense but Meechan was still getting beaten by Smith and Johnstone. Ten minutes before the interval Tully was stretchered off after sustaining an injury from a tackle with McFarlane. Despite being down to ten men Celtic piled on the pressure and Bobby Collins was everywhere with McPhail moving back to centre forward.
Tully failed to appear for the second half and Collins went into overdrive playing like two men. With four forwards and two wing halfs Celtic really worried Hibs at the start of the second half to the extent that it looked like it was Hibs that were playing with ten men. Back and forth the game rolled on with Bonnar saving at one end followed by Younger at the other the next move. Eventually Hibs got the break from a punt out of defense. Johnstone slipped the ball to Reilly who hit a tremendous shot from 20 yards to beat Bonnar with curl and pace. Two minutes later he had another true poacher's goal when Turnbull swept the ball over and Reilly stepped in front of Bonnar to head home. Celtic were stunned but refused to give in. Fernie and Walsh both had excellent shots and on 83 minutes Stein headed home an equaliser.
This was a truly stunning game and talked about for a long time. Celtic played for over three quarters of the game with ten men against an excellent Hibs attack and defense. The Bhoys refused to go down and give up.
Tully had an X-Ray on his leg and he spent the next three and a half months in plaster and recuperating from a leg break.
Teams
Celtic:
Bonnar; Haughney, Meechan; Evans, Stein, Peacock; Collins, Fernie, McPhail, Walsh, Tully.
Scorers: Collins (20), Stein (83)
Hibernian:
Younger; McFarlane, Paterson; Buchanan, Howie, Combe; Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, Duchart.
Scorers: Reilly 2 (69, 70)
Referee: H Phillips (Wishaw)
Attendance: 40,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
