| Match Pictures | Matches: 1964 – 1965 | 1964-1965 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic had won seven games in a row up to this fixture.
- A 1-0 win at Parkhead earns St Johnstone the league double against Celtic, having won 3-0 at Muirton Park in November. Neil Duffy scores the winning goal.
- In the match programme, Jock Stein stated "I have been handed the reins of management and I alone have to do the driving. For the playing side, team picking, tactics, coaching and scouting, I have full responsibility".
- "I see now why I am here” growled Jock Stein to a BBC reporter.
- The team selection was the same as the one that beat Airdrie 6-0 only three days earlier and the same team had played together for eight games on the trot.
- John Kennedy was signed as a Reserve goalkeeper from Belfast Distillery.
- The proposed Friendly between Chelsea and Celtic planned for the 9th April was cancelled.
- Disappointing crowd of only 18,000 blamed on the rain.
- Auld, the five-goal hero of three days earlier, failed to convert a penalty in this match.
Review
Jock's arrival a few days earlier and a seven-game winning streak including a 6-0 demolition of Airdrie three days before gave the fans hope.
The result came as a bit of a shock given the free-scoring nature of this team that had played together for some time and knew each others foibles. From the start it was clear that St Johnstone had come to defend with as many men behind the ball as possible.
Teams
Celtic:
Fallon,;Young, Gemmell; Clark, McNeill, Brogan; Chalmers, Murdoch, Hughes, Lennox, Auld.
Scorers:
St Johnstone:
McVittie; McFadyen, Coburn; Richmond, McKinven, Renton; Kerray, Whitelaw, McCarry, Duffy, McGrogan.
Scorers: Duffy (49)
Referee: R H Davidson (Airdrie)
Attendance: 18,000
Articles
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
Articles
CELTIC CHEER SILENCED…
Jimmy Dunbar, Evening Times, 13 March 1965.
For the visit of St Johnstone Celtic were ready with the men who have got back on the goal standard in recent weeks. Saints, who had McCarry – normally a half back – at centre forward, beat Celts 3-0 in the league match at Perth earlier in the season.
Because of the rain the attendance was disappointing when Hughes kicked off for Celtic.
Early in the game it was obvious that the St Johnstone plan to stop the Celtic goal aces was a seven-man defence.
So far, Celts had failed to produce the expected fireworks, and after Auld had smartly sent Lennox away, the inside manstupidly fouled McFadyen.
Then another touch of Auld when he stabbed a beautiful through ball to Murdoch, but just as Bobby was in the act of shooting, McKinven tackled perfectly.
With 15 minutes gone this was the nearest Celtic had been to troubling McVittie. Indeed, with Kerray the most dangerous forward on view the home fans were becoming a bit restive as the Perth team gave as good as they got.
First real shot
So ineffectual were the Celtic attacks that McCarry had apparently decided he could leave things to St Johnstone's normal defensive set-up and he was now more of a centre forward than a freelance.
In half an hour Chalmers produced the first real shot of the match – a great 18-yarder that looked like going in just under the bar when McVittie finger-tipped it to safety.
Celts forced two quick corners after this but hard though they tried could not find their way clear of a fast-tackling Perth defence whose covering was first class.
On pressure, Celtic should have been well in front, a fact that must have made it harder for their faithful to take as they went in with a blank score at the interval.
SECOND HALF
The biggest cheer of the day at Celtic Park was when the Aberdeen score was announced.
But there was a shocked silence within four minutes of the resumption when Celtic went one behind.
Big McCarry, out on the left, sent the ball low across, Whitelaw back-heeled it cutely in the path of Duffy who, from just inside the box, beat Fallon with a glorious left foot drive.
Four minutes later Hughes had the ball in the net for Celtic but as he had pushed McFadyen, referee Davidson had no option but to award a free kick.
Hughes had been given very little chance from McKinven, who continued to dominate the centre of the field as Celts went all out to amend things.
In one raid even Billy McNeill was up but McFadyen was on the spot to clear the centre half's shot on the goal-line.
Cruel luck
If St Johnstone seldom looked like adding to their lead, they didn't look like losing a goal either. In spite of all the wiles of Auld, Celtic could make little or nothing of the well-drilled Perth defence.
St Johnstone indeed did come near to a second goal when when Kerray flashed in a fine ball from a difficult angle. Fallon palmed the ball for a corner.
Twenty minutes from the end Hughes had cruel luck for Celtic when his shot beat the entire Perth defence but rebounded from inside a post.
Next, Murdoch went close with a first time drive.
Again, in an effort to show his forwards the way McNeill was on the spot to head a Chalmers cross. Again McVittie saved well.
One minute from the end Celtic were awarded a penalty when McKinven pulled down Murdoch. McVittie saved Auld's spot kick.
LONE STAR MCNEILL
Jimmy Dunbar, Evening Times, 15 March 1965.
Of Celtic's four caps against the English League at hampden on Wednesday, centre half Billy McNeill alone was a success in the shock home defeat from St Johnstone, who completed the league double over the Cup favourites.
McNeill, majestic as always, gave his usual polished display in defence – and had two first-class goal tries.
Steve Chalmers, John Hughes and Bertie Auld could make little or nothing of a St Johnstone defence that carried a 'spare' in so-called centre forward McCarry.
Auld even failed with a penalty kick in the last minute. Bertie, however, has had so many brilliant games since his return from Birmingham that he can be excused this one indifferent performance. In any case, he, Chalmers and Hughes are not likely to get it any tougher from the English than they did from the dour and determined men of Perth.