| Match Pictures | Matches: 1963 – 1964 | Pictures: 1963-64 Pictures |
Trivia
- The team returned from Bratislava on Wednesday evening and were driven to Celtic Park where the floodlights were turned on and the team met the supporters. No one had realistically supposed that Celtic would beat Slovan and that they were through to the semi final of a European competition came as something of a surprise to many. The reality was that in their second season in European football Celtic had managed to get through to a semi final of a European competition.
- The Slovan game had produced a few injuries. John Clark picked up a leg injury. John Divers picked up an 8 inch gash down one leg. Ian Young damaged his shoulder. Divers and Young recovered but Clark was out and a reshuffle saw Murdoch move to right half with Frank Brogan coming in at outside right and Jimmy Johnstone moving in one.
- Rangers players lined up before the match and clapped the Celtic players on to the pitch in view of Celts reaching the ECWC semi finals against MTK Budapest. This was regarded as a fine gesture of sportsmanship.
Review
Celtic put Rangers under early pressure after the embarassment of being heralded onto the field. Rangers soaked up the pressure and attacked on the break. Henderson for Rangers and Johnstone for Celtic both had the right ideas and troubled their opposite numbers. The goal came when a corner from the left was flighted over and Fallon palmed it out for Forrest to head home. On the restart Henderson added a second, an excellent goal where he picked the ball up 40 yds from goal and advanced with the Celtic defense retreating and unleashed an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box. Celtic rejigged with Johnstone going back to outside right, Hughes going to centre forward and Brogsan over to the left wing, but they were no more successful with this line-up than the original. Murdoch then picked up a booking. Chalmers was aslo booked towards the end.
In the light of this defeat – the sixth straight defeat in a row by Rangers – there were calls for Celtic to invest in a forward. The defense it was felt was sound and a unit but an fully experienced and finished forward was needed.
Teams
Rangers:
Ritchie; Shearer, Provan; Greig, McKinnon, Baxter; Henderson, McMillan, Forrest, Brand, Wilson.
Scorers: Forrest (44), Henderson (46)
Celtic:
Fallon; Young, Gemmell; Murdoch, McNeill, Kennedy; F Brogan, Johnstone, Chalmers, Divers, Hughes.
Scorers:
Referee: H Phillips (Wishaw)
Attendance: 84,724
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
