| Match Pictures | Matches: 1972 – 1973 | 1972-73 Pictures |
Trivia
- Deans and Macari were both still unfit – Macari with a stomach complaint and Deans with a pulled leg muscle. Tommy Callaghan was also still out. In came Bobby Murdoch
- Connelly moved into the back 4 at half time with Lennox going up front.
- Lennox creates both goals.
- Teams line up to congratulate ex Celt Gordon Marshall at the end on a great performance.
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Review
Celtic were shocked by a goal on 20 seconds. All out Celtic pressure bore down on the Arbroath goal but Marshall played well and in fact Arbroath had the ball in the net a second time only for the effort to be ruled offside. It took to the second half after Lennox came on for McCluskey, for Celtic to score.
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Teams
Arbroath:
Marshall, Milne, Rylance, Cargill (Fletcher), Waddell, Winchester, Sellars, Cant, Pirie, Stanton, Payne
Goal: Sellars 20 secs.
Celtic:
Williams, McGrain, Brogan, McCluskey (Lennox), McNeill, Hay, Johnstone, Connelly, Dalglish, Murdoch, Hood.
Goals: Hood 2 (71, 86).
Referee: R C Greenlees (Lochgelly)
Attendance: 5,481
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
The Scotsman Monday 18 December 1972
HENDERSON : ONE SLIP GAVE CELTIC POINTS
Celtic go into Saturday’s top of the table clash with Hibs still holding a four-point lead. But they must be counting their lucky stars this morning for their 2-1 win at Arbroath.
Certainly they had enough pressure and chances to win half a dozen games but in the end could easily have left empty handed, or with only one point. As Arbroath manager Albert Henderson said yesterday: “We did enough to earn a draw anyway.”
The Gayfield club, no strangers to surprising the bigger, full-time sides—they beat Dundee and last week took a point at Pittodrie—were most unfortunate against Celtic. One minor slip by an immaculate defence probably cost them a point.
HARD LUCK
“It was hard luck for us all right,” said Henderson. “But hard luck earns no points, and we’re needing them more than anything at the moment. Teams have been relegated on ‘hard luck’ before now…
“Celtic pushed us around a bit in the second half, but I had a feeling they would never score. They did eventually because our defence slipped up.”
It was ironic that goalkeeper Gordon Marshall and half back Ernie Winchester—two of the top men in defence—should be the villains of the piece in the 71st minute. Winchester failed to connect properly with a back header and Marshall dithered in going for the ball—which eventually let Harry Hood in for the first of his two goals.
Until then, Arbroath—who went ahead through Eric Sellars almost straight from the kick-off and had a Billy Pirie "goal" chalked off for a very close offside decision against Sellars— looked capable of creating a major shock. And not only because their defence was so good.
They put in a fair amount of attacking and caused a lot of problems for Celtic's unsure rearguard, but were not quite sharp enough to cash in.
Celtic, admittedly, were without Lou Macari, Dixie Deans and Tom Callaghan. They will be hoping all three are fit for the Hibs game.
