| Match Pictures | Matches: 1972 – 1973 | 1972-73 Pictures |
Trivia
- The first League game of the season.
- Played at Hampden – due to reconstruction on the Main Stand at Celtic Park – on a Saturday evening failed experiment kick off 7PM.
- Jimmy Quinn was out injured from a knee knock picked up against Arbroath; Davie Hay dropped out also with an injury; in came Jim Brogan and Bobby Murdoch and with Lennox dropping to the bench and Brian McLaughlin dropping out in came Tommy Callaghan and Paul Wilson.
- Macari, who had been given time off after the third game of the League Cup group stages following his hectic short closed season which had seen him play 3 games for Scotland in Brazil, was back and had returned to Celtric Park. He still had to prove his fitness however as far as Jock Stein was concerned.
- On the same day Celtic lost 3-2 to Kilmarnock in a Reserve League match at Rugby Park. The Celtic team was Williams, J. Davidson, Watt, McCluskey, McDonald, Welsh, McNamara, V. Davidson, Franchetti, White, Hancock. Sub O'Hara. The Celtic scorers were V. Davidson and McCluskey.
Review
A thrashing duly administered when it mattered! Not content with an own goal after 3 minutes when a Harry Hood shot careened off of McGrory, Dixie Deans put them further ahead on 5 minutes and Harry Hood himself on 15. Dixie added a fourth goal before the break. Only good goalkeeping by Aly Hunter in the Killie goal kept the score down to four and Killie managed to pull one back to make it 4-1 at the interval. Three goals followed in the second half – harry Hood getting his second and Celtic's fifth and Morrison added a second for Killie and then in the 85th minute Bobby Murdoch scored from the spot after Lee had handled.
Teams
Celtic:
Connaghan, McGrain, Brogan (Lennox), Murdoch, McNeill, Connelly, Hood, Dalglish, Deans, Callaghan, Wilson.
Goals: McGrory (OG 3), Deans (5, 37), Hood (15, 55), Murdoch (85 pen)
Kilmarnock:
Hunter, Whyte, Dickson, Gilmour, McGrory, Lee, Smith, Maxwell, Morrison, McSherry, Cook. Substitute: Fleming
Goals:- Cook (27), Morrison (67)
Referee: A. F. J. Webster (Carronshore).
Attendance: 11,560.
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
Glasgow Herald Monday September 4 1972
Saturday soiree Celtic’s latest gift to city
Celtic 6, Killmarnock 2
On top of many other gifts to their city, Celtic have invented a new way to spend a Glasgow Saturday night.
Necessity mothered the invention because Parkhead needs repairs and Queen’s Park wanted to use their own field a little in the afternoon. Celtic started their run for an eighth successive league championship on Saturday evening. They attracted a crowd of 11,500 for only the decent and dutiful attended.
INEVITABLE
In fiesta mood on a hot, heavy evening those who had crossed the city gave three cheers out of sheer necessity.
Starting late, Celtic knew exactly how much they had to do to move directly to the top of the table. They needed to keep at least three goals ahead. So they did that little thing. It took them quarter of an hour.
When Kilmarnock came back a peg Celtic restored it and added an extra goal for luck, lost it, and put it back again with five minutes in hand.
It seemed as inevitable as a bullfight. Poor Kilmarnock were doomed from the start. Although their struggle was hopeless, they had to try. That is the rule of a corrida. Twice they drew blood because it is another rule that all mistakes must be punished. Celtic slipped a couple of times and paid in full for their mistakes.
McNeill probably should have got first to a McSherry cross which Cook headed for a goal. Connelly certainly blundered when he allowed Morrison to round him about halfway and run on with cool skill to score.
Otherwise, if Celtic found themselves in the strange position of being away at home, Kilmarnock were in the sad one of being nowhere. Only Cook managed to stir any real action. McSherry worked hard but Kilmarnock's solitary hero was Hunter. Against a less completely able goalkeeper Celtic may have scored, oh, a dozen goals.
SUPERLATIVES
Of the six which went in the first was sliced past Hunter by his own No. 5, McGrory, and the last was a Murdoch penalty. With two of the other goals Hunter succeeded in handling ferocious shots. He could not quite hold them however and missed when they were kicked back. Hood and Deans had a brace apiece.
For Hunter at least there is the consolation that he strengthened his claim to be goalkeeper for Scotland. There cannot be much comfort for Kilmarnock in knowing that with them he looks like getting plenty of practice.
Superlative must be used sparingly about Celtic's performance for the practical reasons that they seem likely to exhaust all the available words of praise before the season has begun in real earnest.
INTUITIVE
Murdoch and Dalglish have reached a mutual understanding which is so intuitive it has become almost eerie. What stood out most on Saturday, perhaps, was how much at home at Hampden were Celtic’s young players as well as the experienced ones. Hood, Callaghan, and Brogan just seem to go on getting better and better. Young Paul Wilson was all calm swiftness; McGrain read the game with the shrewd change of pace and assured poise of a veteran.
Only a first-minute ankle injury that forced Brogan to retire halfway through the second half (Lennox substituted but never really showed) spoiled Celtic’s home/away soiree.
Celtic—Connaghan; McGrain and Brogan; Murdoch McNeill and Connelly; Hood and Dalglish; Deans Callaghan and Wilson. Substitute—Lennox.
Kilmarnock—Hunter; Whyte and Dickson; Gilmour McGrory and Lee; Smith and Maxwell; Morrison McSherry and Cook; Substitute—Fleming.
Referee—A. F. J. Webster (Carronshore).
