| Match Pictures | Matches: 1976 – 1977 | 1976-77 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic's first visit to Cliftonhill since 1948..
- Nostalgic return to Albion Rovers for Jock Stein. This was the only time he took a Celtic team back to his old club.
- Despite Stein's assertion that Celtic would not be taking the game lightly, it was a large restructured team that took the field at Cliftonhill. Latchford was rested and with Stanton and Craig ineligible and Dalglish, Burns and Wilson out, in came Pat McCluskey and Roddy MacDonald to the defense and George McCluskey started along with Tommy Callaghan and Bobby Lennox.
- Albion Rovers had ex-Celt Ray Franchetti in midfield. Franchetti had played for the Reserves at Celtic as a forward and had transferred to Falkirk before moving to Cliftonhill.
- Dalglish is left on the bench as he had a sore back. Observers say this is because he has been carrying the team for some time.
- Dalglish and McGrain are selected for the Scotland squad to face Czechoslovakia and Aitken, Burns andf Stanton (as an overage player) are included in the U21 squad.
Review
Danny McGrain is Celtic captain with Dalglish resting on the bench.
A greasy top surface had the Celtic players in particular sliding around and slipping throughout the first half.
Lynch saved Celtic blushed by clearing off the line in the first half and a sharply contested first half saw the sides still level at the break.
No doubt strong words were said in the dressing room because Celtic came out more purposeful in the second half, scoring two minutes after the restart
Aitken and MacDonald had good games for Celtic.
Veteran Tommy Callaghan scored his last ever goal for Celtic. McGrain made a fine run to the bye line and cut the ball back perfectly to Callaghan who scored with a high powerful shot.
Doyle and Ian McGuigan of Rovers were booked
Teams
| Albion Rovers: Thomson, McConville, Main, Franchetti, Shields, Docherty, Sermanni, Muldoon, Brogan, McGuigan, Coughlin. Subs: Doherty, McCue Celtic: Referee – Mr W. Anderson (East Kilbride) |
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
