| Match Pictures | Matches: 1968 – 1969 | 1968-69 Pictures |
Trivia
- It had been hoped that Bertie Auld would make his reappearance in the team after just the one appearance this season in the Friendly opener against Leeds Utd. He had returned at the start of the season after rehabilitation post knee surgery but apart from the Friendly, he had not started a match and had only been seen as a sub in the League Cup game against Partick Thistle on the 17th August. In the meantime he had been playing with the Reserves and the knee had been troubling him.
- Celtic did not post a team till the arrival at Douglas Park but it was well known that a lot of the youngsters would play. In the end a pretty much scratch side of second team selections were fielded for a number of reasons. As Celtic held a 10-0 advantage from the first leg they were unlikely to be knocked out even if they lost this leg. Murdoch, Johnstone, McNeill and O'Neill were definitely out with a variety of injuries and niggles. The average age of the team fielded was 22 with Joe McBride the veteran at 30.
- Bobby Wraith and John Gorman both made first team debuts. For both it was their only games for Celtic's first team.
- A 17 year old Kenny Dalglish made his debut as sub for Charlie Gallagher.
- Celtic won 14-2 on aggregate.
- Elsewhere the World Club Championship fell into further disrepute with Manchester Utd. losing the first leg to Estudiantes in Buenos Aires 1-0 with Nobby Stiles. In another South American game the English side found themselves, kicked, punched, butted, fouled, spat on and ruled against by the referee, with Nobby Stiles sent off and a good goal disallowed.
Review
Bertie Auld failed to make his appearance and the young side gradually got the better of Hamilton on a night of incessant rain.
Joe McBride opened the scoring and scored the fourth goal, both being set up by Pat McMahon. It was him who got the second goal just before half time.
John Clark advancing over the half way line for once also scored with a 30 yarder of some power.
Connelly and McBride had two other goals chalked off for infringements which were difficult to spot.
Teams
Hamilton:
Lamont Halpin Hunter Fraser Small Lawlor Gaughan Thomson (Gilchrist) Wardrope Clifford
Scorers: Lawlor (23), Halpin (70)
Celtic:
Wraith, Craig, Gorman, Connelly, Hay, Clark, McMahon, McBride, Quinn, Gallacher (Dalglish, 46), Macari
Scorers: McBride 2 (5, 56), McMahon (43), Clark (50)
Referee: W J Mullan (Dalkeith)
Attendance: 4,000
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Before the game Jock Stein had this to say in the Celtic View.
"I know officialdom will criticise me for playing so many of my youngsters in this game – pointing out that it is my duty to field a full strength side. It is also my duty to see that Celtic maintain their high standard and position in Scottish football. Officialdom cannot have the best of both worlds."
"Such is the demand on our players for international matches that we can only find out who are the best possible stand-ins for injured stars by seeing the boys in action. That's the reason I am selecting this side for tonight's cup-tie."
