| Match Pictures | Matches: 1960 – 1961 | 1960-1961 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic were still concerned with Bertie Peacock's leg / knee injury which he had aggravated playing in a Reserves game on the previous Saturday. John Clark had ably deputised at left half for the injured Bertie for the last four first team games. In the end both sides fielded unchanged sides from the previous week.
- Played at Hampden Park with a 3:00 pm kick off.
- In the other semi-final Dunfermiline and St Mirren played out a 0-0 draw at Tynecastle. Dunfermiline played with 10 men when their centre forward Dickson was stretchered off.
- Ex-Celt Jim Sharkey was in the Airdrie side. He moved on to Raith Rovers in May 1961 after being accused of going easy against Celtic in this Scottish Cup semi-final defeat.
Review
A contest for twenty minutes during which time Haffey made two fine saves from Storrie. Celtic's first attack saw a fine move starting with Crerand to Gallacher to Hughes , whose shot hit centre half Johnstone on the head and laid him out!.The first corner came on 14 minutes and flew well over. There were wild shots from Gallacher and Chalmers but on 19 minutes Fernie passed to Byrne who beat his man and sent over a cross which Hughes headed powerfully past Leslie. The goal served to emphasise Celtic's forward superiority and steadfastness of their defense. Airdrie seemed cowed by the loss of the goal and the second soon followed. Byrne cut the ball back to Fernie and though his shot was saved Hughes was on hand to tap home the rebound.
Sharkey roused himself and hit a good shot which Haffey had to dive across goal to save. The third goal came from a classic move between Gallacher and Chalmers. As Chalmers raced through the centre, Gallacher anticipated his position and sent a wonderful pass through which Stevie raced on to completely deceive Leslie by chipping the ball over him and into the net. Back time and again came Celtic and they might have scored thrice more before Fernie wandered in from the right and completely fooled Leslie with a flick from the outside of his boot.
Four-nil to the good at half time, Airdrie were down and out. Celtic continued to dominate the second half but the urgency had gone. Hughes had the ball in the net again only to be ruled offside. Crerand and Gallacher passed meticulously. A the defense were rarely beaten.
Teams
Celtic:
Haffey; MacKay, Kennedy; Crerand, McNeill, Clark; Gallacher, Fernie, Hughes, Chalmers, Byrne.
Scorers: Hughes 2 (19, 24), Chalmers (37), Fernie (42)
Airdrie:
Leslie; Shanks, Keenan; Stewart, Johnstone, McNeill; Rankin, Storrie, Sharkey, Caven, Duncan.
Scorers:
Referee: T Wharton (Glasgow)
Attendance: 72,612
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Evening Times 1st April 1961
