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Trivia
- This was the first of a six-match League Cup section in which Celtic were drawn against Raith Rovers, Airdrie and Rangers.
- Jimmy Johnstone was still out in the cold! The only change from the team that played the Friendly against Leeds Utd was Willie Wallace in at centre forward rather than Stevie Chalmers.
- Ex-Celtic Bobby Collins returned to Scotland signing for Morton. The 38 year old had spent his time after leaving Celtic at Everton, Leeds Utd and Bury.
Review
Celtic made a good start to retaining the League Cup for what would be a record fifth season with a 6-1 win at Celtic Park. After Hughes scored Airdrie had little to offer with Celtic building up a 4-0 lead at half time.
Marshall pulled a goal back for Airdrie in the second half, but with Bertie Auld on for Bobby Lennox in the 70th minute the blitz continued with a further two goals.
Whiteford of Airdrie was booked.
Raith Rovers 2-3 Rangers
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| Celtic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| Rangers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Raith Rovers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Airdrie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
Teams
Celtic:-
Fallon, Hay, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Connelly, Hood, Wallace, Lennox (Auld), Hughes.
Scorers: Hughes 2 (19, 36), Wallace (28), Connelly (35), Hood (77), Gemmell (82)
Airdrie:
McKenzie, Jonquin, Caldwell, Menzies, Keenan, Whiteford, Jarvie, Fyfe (Wilson), Marshall, McPheat, Cowan.
Scorers: Marshall (64)
Referee: S Anderson (Glasgow).
Attendance: 40,000.
Articles
- Match Report (See Below)
Pictures
Articles
Match Report
From a newspaper Report
One dazed and bewildered Airdrie fan summed this slaughter up beautifully by remarking “Glasgow Celtic? That lot should change their name to Murder Inc!”. For this was professional “assassination” at its best. And what better way to rub out the opposition than to set your own H-bomb under them.
By the time Mr Anderson brought the proceedings to a merciful halt, Airdrie must have been sick of the sights of Messrs John Hughes and Harry Hood.
Big Yogi, in particular, had a riot of an afternoon scoring two beauties, having another brace knocked off for offside, yet still finding the time to set up another couple of certs for his mates.
Strangely, although playing as a striker, Hood was the guy who constantly kept the Parkhead frontline humming on the sweetest note.
Maybe Celtic were out to impress their fans more than usual, because it was the first domestic show of the season, or still smarting over the fact the Broomfielders twice held them to a draw last term.
Whatever the reason, they ruthlessly tramped all over the visitors, and wrapped the game up, but good, in 17 minutes of blistering, breathtaking stuff.
With only five minutes gone, Hughes crashed home a great 15-yarder, but had the score cancelled for offside against Lennox. I doubt if there was more than six inches in it.
However it was obvious even at this stage that Airdrie were going to cop it good and proper. Minutes after a succession of corners and free kicks at McKenzie’s end Celtic got the one they were looking for – thanks to that man Hughes.
Out on the left, Lennox cutely side-stepped Jonquin, swept over a hip-high cross, and Hughes moved in smartly to beat a defender before smacking the ball low into the far corner.
Four minutes later Yogi beat McKenzie again – and once more the ref awarded a free-kick to Airdrie thanks to a Celtic forward being offside.
It was about the only break Airdrie were to get for the rest of the afternoon. Before they’d even got their second wind Celtic were on them again, and Wallace got his name on the score sheet with a really phenomenal effort.
Lying inside the Airdrie box all on his ownsome, he did a mid-air splits which even Nureyev could not have bettered to pull down a lob from Connelly, and cool as a cucumber, switched feet before outing the ball well away from McKenzie.
Connelly almost burst the net, first-timing a Lennox cross from the left, before the big crowd was treated to the goal of the day. Collecting the ball out of defence just inside the Airdrie half, Hughes set off on a run down the left-wing, beating one, two, three, four men before rounding poor McKenzie and sliding the ball home. I kid you not, this one brought the house down.
Half-Time Celtic 4-0 Airdrie
After the turn the pace dropped a couple of points. Not so much because Celtic were now in a merciful mood. But mainly due to the fact that the shuttle service to Hood and Hughes surprisingly petered out.
To their credit, Celtic took the warning when Marshall doggedly evaded tackles from Hay and McNeill to net with a lob which caught Fallon napping.
They brought on Auld for Lennox – seconds later Airdrie replaced Fyfe by Wilson – and Bertie barely had time to get a kick at the ball before Celtic were again on their merry-scoring way.
In a dazzling move which started from John Fallon , Wallace gained possession in midfield and quickly sent Hughes galloping down the right. Once again “Yogi” showed everyone a clean pair of heels before chipping over a delightful cross, which Harry Hood had all the time in the world to control before beating McKenzie from close in.
Minutes from the end Tommy Gemmell raced in to head home Celtic’s sixth, thanks to a great cross – from Hughes -, of course.
I’m not going to say Celtic will sweep the boards this year, but on this kind of form, nothing short of a full-scale kidnapping job at Parkhead is going to stop them.
Pick of the razzle-dazzle bunch were undoubtedly Hughes and Hood, closely followed by Fallon, Clark and Wallace. In an Airdrie side that had absolutely nothing to offer except determination, only McKenzie, Marshall and McPheat looked the part.
And to complete their misery, big Derek Whiteford was booked in the second half for a foul on Wallace.
Full-Time Celtic 6-1 Airdrieonians
