| Match Pictures | Matches: 1962 – 1963 | 1962-63 Pictures |
Trivia
- On April 5th Mike Jackson was transferred to St Johnstone. Jackson had found himself sidelined this season making only 5 first team appearances, the last back at the beginning of October. Jackson had joined Celtic in 1956 from Benburb. For much of his time at Celtic he had resisted going full time but was finally persuaded in 1960.
- Celtic again delayed in naming their team before kick off. Billy McNeill was away playing for Scotland at Wembley and this gave a chance for Frank McCarron to make his debut. Also out was Bobby Murdoch with an ankle injury suatained in the last game against Partick Thistle, and Frank Brogan was out with a stomach upset. In for these two came Bobby Jeffrey and Bobby Lennox. Willie O'Neill was preferred to Jim Kennedy who was fit again.
- Billy McNeill was helping Scotland beat England 2-1 at Wembley.
- Hibernian at this time were a team that were betwixt and between. They had just lost out in the Fairs Cities Cup quarter final to Valencia, the team that had put Celtic out in the first round and Dunfermiline in the second round. Though they won 2-1 at Easter Road it was their performance in Valencia that let them down where they lost 5-0. They had just lost their veteran trainer who had opted to get out of the pressure and taken over coaching Queen's Park, and they were playing with a young side having seen all their veteran stars move on or depart. They still had the very tricky Gerry Baker at centre forward. However they were flirting with relegation and bumping along in the bottom three of the League.
Review
Once Celtic were ahead they never looked like losing this one and gave a polished performance. However Hibs made a fight of it and defended well with the veteran ex-Celt Willie Toner at centre half (he had just transferred from Kilmarnock) and a to-be-Celt Ronnie Simpson in goal. Frank McCarron was ill at ease deputising for McNeill and rightly so with the tricky Baker to handle, but he was helped. by both Mcnamee and Price, with Willie O'Neill also having a stand-out game. The opener came from Price who took a loose ball and hammered home a shot from 25 yards. MacKay's penalty was at first straight in but he was ordered to retake the kick. His second hit Simpson but Ronnie could do little to get to the rebound.
Teams
Celtic:
Haffey; MacKay, O'Neill; McNamee, McCarron, Price; Chalmers, Craig, Divers, Lennox, Jeffrey.
Scorers: Price (27), MacKay (pen, 57)
Hibernian:
Simpson; Cameron, Davin; Grant, Toner, Leishman; O'Rourke, M Stevenson, Baker, Preston, E Stevenson.
Scorers:
Referee: J P Barclay (Kirkcaldy)
Attendance: 14,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
