| Match Pictures | Matches: 1958 – 1959 | 1958-59 Pictures |
Trivia
- More news was available on Sean Fallon's switch to coaching. Jimmy McGrory said that he would from that point concentrate on his coaching skills with Jock Stein of the Reserves and the third eleven which was organised in the Combined Reserve League.
- This was a game carrying a lot of expectations from the public. The League was tight. Hearts had just relinquished top of the table to Rangers having lost 5-0 to them at Ibrox. Hearts had been a smooth goal scoring machine up to that point – both the previous season and this one.
- A last minute change saw John Higgins come in for Matt McVittie on the right wing, and McVittie to switch to the left with Bertie Auld dropping out. It turned out that bold Bertie had missed the Celtic bus and had arrived by car not long after the bus and well within time, but found himself dropped as a disciplinary matter. Its arguable that his presence may, with McVittie on the right, have given the team that extra thrust that was needed. For Hearts Wardhaugh was absent.
- The Reserves beat Hearts 5-0 at Celtic Park with Wilson and Tully getting two each and Lochhead the fifth.
Review
The game gets covered in two different ways by the main sources – The Herald and the Evening Times. The Herald reports it as a game of poor passing. The Evening Times gives Celtic as the dominant party.
Colrain missed a golden chance to put Celtic ahead in the second minute but put the ball over. Celtic were lively and played well as opposed to Hearts who looked lethargic. They raised themselves as the game approached midway thorough the first half and began to pepper Beattie's goal. A mix up in the Celtic defense let Blackwood through and he scored. McVittie and Divers had good chances before the end of the half and Celtic were playing the better football.
Celtic came out for the second looking for the equaliser and Colrain nearly produced it on two occasions. The equaliser came on 59 minutes in a typical fluid passing Celtic move which saw Higgins finish.
Perhaps the biggest success of the game was the return of Bobby Evans to uimperious form, so much so that his wing halfs in Smith and Peacock were able to join in the attacks knowing that Evans was there to marshall the defense should Hearts break. There was talk again of him rejoining the international set up. Also receiving high praise was the performance of John Colrain.
Teams
Hearts:
Brown; Kirk, Thomson; Bowman, Milne, Cumming; Paton, Murray, Bauld, Blackwood, Hamilton.
Scorers: Blackwood (21)
Celtic:
Beattie; MacKay, Mochan; Smith, Evans, Peacock; Higgins, Jackson, Colrain, Divers, McVittie.
Scorers: Higgins (59)
Referee: R Rodger (Stonehouse)
Attendance: 25,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
