| Match Pictures | Matches: 1958 – 1959 | 1958-59 Pictures |
Trivia
- Sammy Wilson was out and in a re-jig Bobby Collins switched to the left side with Eric Smith coming in at outside right. Dick Beattie was considered above Frank Haffey in goal for his experience.
- Matt McVittie who had broken his arm in the short tour of Ireland at the end of the previous season was now back in full training. Bobby Evans who had been admitted to the Victoria Infirmary following his back injury was released on 3rd September after a 10 day stay in hospital with his midriff encased in a plaster jacket. Evans was unlikely to play for two months at least
- Hearts were beaten 5-1 by Standard Liege in their first round European Cup game in Belgium.
- On 3rd September Bobby Collins played for the Scottish League and Bertie Peacock for the Irish League in a match in Belfast the Scots winning 5-0.
Review
Fighting broke out at the Rangers end during the game approximately ten minutes before half time and there were a dozen arrests, and a bottle throwing fest kicked off at the Celtic end. (One Celtic supporter was later given three months jail for hurling a beer bottle.) The call went up yet again for the banning of supporters and an all-out ban on flags and colours that were not associated with the club, with the Glasgow Herald in particular going righteously to town in their acknowledgement that each club stood for something else outside of football to their respective supporters. The cause for all the trouble was the more-than-dubious award of a penalty to Rangers in the 41st minute. McNeill apeared to win a ball cleanly from Wilson during which the Rangers forward threw himself down followed by Brand throwing himself down in front of Beattie as the keeper bent to pick up the ball. 'Penalty!' said Harvie of Dalry and despite protests from the Celtic team and the bottles and fights on the terraces, Rangers duly equalised.
The game started in torrential rain, a thunderstorm that had started before kick off and caused flooding in parts of the ground as well as in the streets around Parkhead.
Peacock won the toss and Celtic kicked off. Rangers were opting for their regular direct punt-the-ball style of football whilst Celtic indulged in greater craft and a passing game. Celtic took the lead after a foul on Collins gave Celtic a free taken by Peacock. He fired the ball in to Eric Smith who nodded across for Collins to shoot home. Rangers equalised through the penalty incident described above.
1-1 at half time and an aggrieved Celtic with everything to play for. Eighteen minutes in Mochan was fouled yet again by Scott. Conway took the free and passed to Smith who hared away beating Telfer's tackle and then the advancing Niven. As the ball crossed the line the referee appeared to blow for some kind of infringement presumably by Smith. Celtic protested and the referee went to speak to the linesman. After discussing the matter, the goal stood. Cue pandemonium on the field from Rangers players.
Three minutes later Rangers were back level when the ball squirmed out of Beattie's grasp and Brand tapped home. Just before the finish Collins was sandwiched and held between two defenders in the Rangers penalty area. A clear penalty, there was no whistle from the referee.
This was a game of appallingly biased and incompetent refereeing throughout. During the game feuds developed between individual opponents. Mochan and Scott had a right ding dong all game. Bertie Auld was extracting revenge on Bobby Shearer for most of the match and generally getting away with it.
Teams
Celtic:
Beattie; MacKay, Mochan; Fernie, McNeill, Peacock; Smith, Tully, Conway, Collins, Auld
Scorers: Collins (28), Smith (63)
Rangers:
Niven; Shearer, Caldow; McColl, Telfer, Davis; Scott, Brand, Murray, Wilson, Hubbard.
Scorers: Hubbard (pen 41), Brand (76)
Referee: W Harvie (Dalry)
Attendance: 50,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Glasgow Herald 8th September 1958
