| Match Pictures | Matches: 1964 – 1965 | 1964-1965 Pictures |
Trivia
- With Celtic being too far adrift in the League race, the Scottish Cup was the only real hope for silverware, so this tie was vitally important.
- Stein dropped Jim Brogan, Jim Kennedy and Steve Chalmers for this and Jimmy Johnstone returned from injury. The surprise choice was Charlie Gallagher at inside right.
- Jock Stein's previous clubs were contesting the other semi-final at Tynecastle at the same time. Hibs and Dunfermline were 2nd and 3rd in the league and challenging strongly for the title, eventually won by Kilmarnock.
- Motherwell's 2-goal hero, Joe McBride, was to sign for Celtic just a few weeks later.
Review
Big Jock's first really important match as Celtic manager, as his earlier league games were played from a mid-table position. Getting to the final was a must.
McBride scored the first goal for Motherwell when McNeill failed to clear a ball. \lennox equalised from a Jimmy Johnstone cross but McBride scored two minutes later to put Motherwell back in front. The second half unfolded fairly evenly with Celtic pushing for an equaliser and in the 60th minute Bertie Auld was brought down in the area,. He took the spot kick and scored.
Teams
Celtic:
Goals: Lennox (28), Auld (pen, 60).
Motherwell:
Wylie, Thomson, R McCallum, Murray, Delaney, W McCallum, Lindsay, McCann, McBride, Weir, Hunter.
Goals: McBride (10, 32)
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: AJF Webster (Falkirk)
Hampden Park
Articles
Evening Times 29th March 1965
Glasgow Herald 29th March 1965
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
- Match Pictures
Articles
AULD PUTS CELTS BACK IN THE GAME
Gair Henderson, Evening Times, 27 March, 1965
Grey skies, a smirr of rain, and a high wind kept the Hampden crowd down to about 45,000 at the start, and from the cheer that greeted Billy McNeill when he led out the Parkhead players 90 percent of them were Celtic fans. Motherwell had Lindsay at outside right when Mr Bobby Ancell took the team off the secret list just before the start.
McNeill had to spin the penny three times before it came down flat on the soft centre spot and when McCann guessed right Celtic were set to face the driving wind and defend the infamous King's Park end goal.
A jewel of a pass from Weir down the left to McBride gave Motherwell a bright start but Gemmell, stepping out smartly, moved in to clear away the first danger threat.
But when Celtic did get moving there was immediade panic in the Motherwell goalmouth. Hughes was brought down far out and Auld's free kick against the wind was flighted so well that it came floating down midway between goalkeeper Wylie and the incoming Gallagher and Hughes.
The goalkeeper won the race by a fingertip but he could only claw thw ball down in the gathering posse of players and it stayed there for a full five seconds before it was kicked clear.
Fiery 'Well
But Motherwell were surprising Celtic, not only with their skill but with their fire in attack.
A real bad break for Motherwell in the seventh minute. From a corner on the right, Weir sent over the ball, McBride touched it on to McCann and the inside right left Fallon helpless with a brilliant header which looked like a certain goal against Celtic but up came Young to breast the ball down just as it was crossing the line.
In Johnstone's first run, he left McCallum trailing in his wake and his low-cut cross was met first time by Gallagher and smashed well wide of goal.
Goal for 'Well
In 10 minutes Motherwell struck, but it was a gift from McNeill. The centre half failed to clear a ball coming straight up the middle of the field and McBride went streaking past him and, as Fallon came out and dived,, he hit the ball under his body and jumped for joy as, half stopped by the goalkeeper, the ball rolled slowly nearer and nearer to the line and then into the back of the net.
Delaney gave his own goalkeeper a moment of worry with a pass taken from 10 yards. Wylie, taken by surprise, had to make a quick dive to his left to save a dangerous situation.
Motherwell were playing all the football on show, and it was stuff that reminded fans of the great days at Fir Park.
McBride Again
In 28 minutes a great roar of relief went up from the Celtic fans. And this was the cause of it all.
Johnstone scampered up the right, crossed, and when Wylie dived outwards he could only push the ball on to Lennox who shot and, although Thomson made a big bid to scoop the ball off the line, he only succeeded in smashing the ball into the net.
The crowd, now close on 60,000, held their breath as a high corner kick came floating down in the wind and forced Fallon to make a tremendous leap and touch the ball over the crossbar.
But when the next corner kick came over Celtic were a goal down for the second time in the tie.
McBride, with a tremendous left-foot smash, hit the ball against Fallon's chest. The goalkeeper had no ghost of a chance of holding, and when it came bounding back McBride, with a shot of the same thunderbolt power, smashed the ball into the roof of the net. Time 32 minutes.
Celtic were still fighting hard against the wind although they were being outplayed by the lively Motherwell forwards, and when Murray came up to shoot from 16 yards Fallon was delighted to see the ball shoot away past his right-hand post.
Half-time-
MOTHERWELL 2, CELTIC 1
SECOND HALF
As the teams reappeared two young fans were pulled from the Celtic end of the terracing and marched out of the ground by the police.
Now the big question was this – could Celtic, after a bad first half, take full advantage of the wind and cash in with goals?
Motherwell got a fright immediately when Johnstone went sprawling in the penalty box and referee Webster seemed to point in the direction of the spot.
A howl of rage went up from the Celtic fans when they saw that the referee was merely signalling a goal kick to Motherwell.
When johnstone was brought down again Young took the free kick and McNeill, of all people came racing upfield to head a fierce ball for the inside of the far post.
But Wylie managed somehow to throw up both hands and make a brilliant save.
Ball hit 'keeper
McNeill came up to a corner kick from Auld and again he got first to the ball. He brought it down and hit it for the back of the net almost in the same movement and this time the ball hit Wylie on the body and was cleared.
High drama in the sixtieth minute. As Bertie Auls was weaving his way past three Motherwell defenders he was brought down with a crash by Murray and Auld, taking the kick himself, put Celtic on level terms and with half an hour still to play and with the wind in their favour.
Just on time Auld netted for Celtic but was given offside.
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Almost a vintage Motherwell performance in the semi-final
THE STEIN STUMBLERS
Celts must improve for the cup replay
Gair Henderson, Evening Times, Mar 29, 1965
Hampden's notorious swirl has wrecked many a Scottish Cup tie, so I am glad Celtic have not made it an excuse for failing to beat Motherwell in the semi-final on Saturday.
It was an ill wind, on that there is no argument, but the plain fact is that the Celtic players named by Mr Jock Stein in his bold team selection failed to justify the faith of the new manager.
That was one reason for the 2-2 draw. Another and more unexpected factor in the failure was that Motherwell played with a zest and a skill that astonished the 52,000 fans.
Recently Motherwell have had as much difficulty in getting the ball into the net as my Grand National choice had in jumping three fences, so they had positively no right to give the Celtic defenders such a first-half runaround.
But they did just that. Andy Weir and Joe McBride were given some wonderful support by young George Murray when they had the wind as a help, and at times we got the impression we were watching a flashback to the vintage post-war years at Fir Park.
They also got a little bit of help from Billy McNeill. Apart from one mistake, Billy played a whole lot better than in his past few games, but the error was costly enough to let McBride go dashing through the middle and hit his first goal.
Great power
McBride also scored the second goal with a close-range shot of blast-off power and so Celtic twice had to come from behind to save the game.
The Parkhead fans were congregated en mass behind the King's Park goaland so they had a close-up view of the two most controversial incidents in the tie.
Some neutral judges rated Celtic's penalty kick equaliser harsh on Motherwell, and suggestions have been made that Auld took a dive when he saw no future in a move which was taking him into a triangle of Motherwell defenders.
High drama
From the press heights I did not see it that way. Auld still not only had possession of the ball but he had it under control when he was brought down, and the penalty kick was the only possible answer to the incident.
Before bertie had scored with this kick Lennox had collected Celtic's first goal – and so the scene was set for the high-drama finish of Celtic's disallowed score.
Johnstone COULD have been just a shade offside when he crossed the ball for Auld to crack it into the net – and again, I find no fault with referee Webster. He was as close to the incident as any man on the field and so was his linesman. In a hair-line decision like this one their verdict MUST be accepted.
Stein problem
Mr Stein has never been afraid to make drastic changes in any team under his control. So what will he do for the replay on Wednesday night? Will he throw out four or five players who did not measure up to his ideas on how the semi-final should have been won? I don't think so.
He may make a couple of changes and allow for the fact that the team is unlikely to play so badly again.
Motherwell, all credit to them, can hardly expect to be better. If they are, Celtic will be in trouble – unless Hughes and the inside forwards can strike much better form than was shown on Saturday.