1954-02-06: Heart of Midlothian 3-2 Celtic, League Division A

Match Pictures | Matches:1953 – 1954 | 1953-54 pictures

Trivia

• After the win against Queen of the South this now became the top of the table clash. A keenly fought match was anticipated.
• Bonnar had broken a bone in his hand so Hunter came back in goal; Stein was again fit; a lot of debate had been going on as to how to accommodate everyone when Tully came back fit but as it was with McPhail out injured or basically unfit to play, the progression was easy with Walsh going to centre forward, Mochan going to outside left where he'd had some good games and Tully fitting into his natural position at inside left.

Review

A superb match settled by a disputed goal. In the second minute of extra time Wardhaugh chased a long punt by Laing towards the Celtic goal. Hunter caught the ball and Wardhaugh flew into him with his elbow. As an unbalanced Hunter went over the line he threw the ball out but the linesman flagged to say that the ball had crossed. The referee, who was up with play blew for the goal. The linesman had been in a perfect position to see Wardhaugh lead with his elbow but chose to ignore the infringement. The Celtic players protested vehemently and one spectator ran onto the pitch to be first confronted by Evans and then hooked by the police. The referee than proceeded to play three more minutes of extra time for which there was no justification. Celtic had been robbed of an honourable draw.
Both sides showed tremendous enthusiam and skill throughout the game. Hearts defense stood up well to Celtic's attack and the superior wing half play in both attack and defense of Evans and Peacock. Celtic had the wind advantage in the first half and bombarded the Hearts goal. Walsh had a goal from a header from a Collins corner disallowed for some reason. Hearts also attacked with vigour but had less skillful approach play. Meechan tended to be targetted in the attacks and he was less certain than his full back partner Haughney. Hearts went two goals up in the second half, the first when Meechan was beaten to a ball going out, with Bauld heading home from a cross by Souness and a second when Bauld got to a free kick and again headed home. Celtic fought back and were awarded two penalties, the first when Fernie was chopped down in the area and the second from a handball by Parker. Then came the disputed goal in extra time which the Celtic players were still haranguing the referee about as the players left the field. Hunter went too far and was booked.

It is interesting to note that the Celtic penalty taker had now switched from Bobby Collins to Mike Haughney. Collins had missed a few of late and Haughney took both of these confidently

This win for Hearts put them 7 points out in front

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Hearts	24	14	5	5	69	35	33
Queen of the South	22	12	2	8	57	41	26
Celtic	21	11	3	7	40	25	25

Teams

Hearts:
Watters; Parker, Adie; Laing, Glidden, Cumming; Souness, Conn, Bauld, Wardhaugh, Urquhart.
Scorers: Bauld 2 (46, 59), Wardhaugh (90)

Celtic:
Hunter; Haughney, Meechan; Evans, Stein, Peacock; Collins, Fernie, Walsh, Tully, Mochan.
Scorers: Haughney 2 (69 pen, 82 pen)

Referee: J P Barclay (Kirkaldy)
Attendance: 47,519

Articles

• Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Articles