| Match Pictures | Matches: 1976 – 1977 | 1976-77 Pictures |
Trivia
- Former Celtic scout Jimmy Gribben, who was involved in signing Jock Stein from Llanelly, has died at the age of 81.
- The Celtic players wore black armbands at this match as a mark of respect.
- Bobby Lennox came back in at the expense of Paul Wilson.
- Hearts' Willie Gibson becomes one of the few players to have scored a hat trick against Celtic.
- Highlights were shown on Sportscene that night.
Review
This was the game of the season at Tynecastle.
Hearts came out the traps fast and were 2-0 up before MacDonald headed in from Dalglish's flick. Willie Gibson then raced away to score his hat trick and make it 3-1. Lennox made it 3-2 before half time with a well taken effort to give Celts hope.
Celtic pressed all through the second half and Dalglish equalised on the hour after brilliamnt leading up play by the influential McGrain.
With three minutes left Celtic grabbed a dramatic winner. Wilson made a good save from Dalglish and as the ball fell in the area Glavin made space to send a glorious volley into the net.
The Celtic fans sang loudly as they disappeared into the Edinburgh night and Glavin is fast becoming their new cult hero.
Teams
Hearts:
Wilson, Brown, Gallacher, Clunie, Kay, Jefferies, Shaw, Park, Busby, Gibson, Prentice. Subs not used:- Burrell, Fraser.
Goals:- Gibson 3 (8, 10, 33).
Celtic:
Latchford, McGrain, Lynch, Stanton, MacDonald, Aitken, Doyle, Glavin, Craig, Dalglish, Lennox. Subsnot used: Wilson, P McCluskey.
Goals: MacDonald (21), Lennox (36), Dalglish (60), Glavin (87).
Referee: R Valentine (Dundee
Attendance:- 20,500.
Articles
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
Articles
By Allan Herron, Sunday Mail, the next morning.
Celtic are going to win the League Championship or die in the attempt!
They produced the type of comeback normally associated with the US Cavalry and drove their fans into hysterical joy with the winner three minutes from time.
TWICE Celtic were two goals down. But such was their industry, persistence and sheer will to survive that they made it when it looked as though Hearts would save a point.
Ronnie Glavin, Celtic's midfield repair man. Scored the goal which must have a direct bearing on the championship. Over-worked keeper, Brian Wilson, was just picking himself up after blocking a shot from Kenny Dalglish when Glavin found strength in his legs. he moved smartest to the rebound in the crowded box and fairly blasted the ball high into the net.
That the Tynecastle stand stood up to the explosion of relief and roars of joy from the Celtic fans only proved the quality of pre-war architecture.
Justice had been done in as punishing a match as I've seen anywhere in Europe this season.
IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BE A SPECTATOR.
Hearts, incredibly were two up in 10 minutes, both scored by Willie Gibson who went on to complete fine hat-trick in 33 minutes. In eight minutes a flick from Drew Busby found Gibson on the left of MacDonald and running at goal. Latchford left his line to try to cut the angle but Gibson cleverly lobbed the ball over his head. Ninety seconds later Gibson instinctively stuck out a boot at a 20 yards drive from Donny Park to deflect the ball into the far corner of the net.
Jock Stein has never made a habit of signing players who lie down. And in 21 minutes Roddie MacDonald cut the deficit when he head flicked the ball into the net following a free-kick from the brilliant Danny McGrain.
But back came Hearts in 33 minutes when Gibson completed the best move of the match. It began with Jefferies in midfield, via Brown on the right flank. Prentice on the left and finished with Gibson scoring from the far post.
Three minutes later keeper Wilson let Celtic back into the game. He failed to hold a shot from Bobby Lennox and Dalglish moved in cleverly. He hit the ball against the keeper, now on the ground, and there was Lennox to knock the second rebound into the net.
To no one's surprise Celtic equalised in 60 minutes when Dalglish calmly scored from 10 yards after McGrain had created the opening.
Then in one of the most punishing periods of play I've seen for years, Johnny Doyle – who had a poor game – missed two good chances while Wilson had three good
saves from Glavin.
The encouragement from the Celtic fans must have been music in the ears of the Celtic players who showed their appreciation with that late winner from Glavin.
Hearts can look back on a tragic miss from Graham Shaw and the blunder of Brian Wilson and say they should never have lost.
But this Celtic fighting spirit is a warning to every club in the country.
Mike Aitken witnesses Hearts throw away a 3-1 lead
Hearts 3, Celtic 4 – The Scotsman, 22 November 1976
THERE is an old story about a Scots mother praying for her son during the Napoleonic War. When reminded that many a French mother was praying just as fervently for French glory, the lady asked condescendingly “Do you really think the Almighty would be understanding such rubbish?”
The ‘whae’s like us’ attitude, however, has taken a bit of a hammering in recent times, and nowhere more so than in the football realm. But I have to admit it – the great European game pleases the head more than the heart and beyond these waters there are many sides not only dull in themselves but the cause of dullness in others.
Hearts and Celtic contrived to give just over 20,000 spectators at Tynecastle a magnificent seven, and whatever reservations we might hold about the way some of them were scored, they were goals that gave us an afternoon of high Scottish drama.
It was an emotional, human kind of game; full of skill, unbelievable mistakes, changing fortunes, unexpected events and eventually a winner and a loser.
That Celtic were the winners and Hearts the losers can be put down not just to the fact that Celtic grasped the psychological upper-hand in the will to do well, but in the fact they played faster and better football. Having said that, Hearts – and Willie Gibson in particular – were desperately unfortunate not to take something from a game to which they had contributed so much.
Hearts had taken the lead in eight minutes thanks to a good flick by Drew Busby over the head of Roddy McDonald which was caught by Gibson after a fine piece of running. With admirable calm, he scooped the ball high over Latchford into the net.
Under two minutes later Gibson rather luckily bagged a second when he stuck out a boot and deflected a Donald Park drive out of the line the goalkeeper had been following.
Celtic, who had been quiet up front and not terribly impressive at the back during the first 20 minutes, pulled themselves back into the game with a well-worked free-kick. Danny McGrain crossed to Kenny Dalglish (watch out for more of these two heroes in later episodes) who backheaded the ball into the path of Roddy McDonald. He headed the ball strongly enough but I thought Brian Wilson was a little slow in reacting to the direction of the ball.
The game was wide open again and just when you would have expected Celtic to dominate, Hearts played their best football of the afternoon. And in 33 minutes Hearts scored the best goal of the game. It began with Shaw on the edge of his own 18-yard area and eventually involved five men. He touched it to Jefferies in midfield and a fine pass from that area was sent out to Jim Brown on the right. A cross from the full back was met by a diving header from Prentice at the far post. The ball came to the elusive Gibson and, in one confident movement, he whipped the ball past Latchford to complete his hat-trick.
Hearts, again two goals ahead, should have consolidated that position in the ten minutes or so which remained until half-time. But they have this terrible habit of chucking unexpected presents to the opposition and yet another one came up in 37 minutes. A fairly tame Lennox shot should have been comfortably held by Wilson, but having grasped the ball, the goalkeeper kneed it away. Dalglish (remember him?) moved in incredibly quickly, and the ball broke to Lennox and thereby went into the net. After the interval, it quickly emerged that only one side was likely to win the match – and it was not the team which held the half-time lead. Celtic equalised in 60 minutes with a dazzling piece of football. From a quickly taken free-kick, McGrain made his way into the box. With body movements worthy of Jimmy Johnstone he must have sold Roy Kay three dummies before taking the ball to the by-line. He cut it back to Dick Champion, saviour of the side (K. Dalglish to you) and with all the time in the world the Celtic captain placed his shot past two Hearts defenders.
Three minutes from the end yet another free-kick was not properly cleared and Roy Kay inadvertently put Dalglish (remember him?) in shooting position. Wilson did well to get to a powerful rising shot. The rebound, though, came into the path of Glavin and he put Celtic ahead for the one and only time in the match – the one that mattered. Afterwards Jock Stein was clearly as delighted as John Hagart was dejected. His side had plucked two points where one would have been an achievement. “It was a tremendous match,” he said, “ and to win it in the way we did was particularly satisfying.”
Certainly there can be no doubt about the commitment of the Celtic players to nothing less than victory, as they now prepare themselves for Wednesday night’s match against Rangers at Ibrox.
A clearly disappointed John Hagart said: “We should never have lost that one. But we gave away four bad goals and we’ve been doing that too often recently.”
After giving away 21 goals in 11 Premier Division matches, the manager has to do something about the defence if his side are going to reap any benefit from some fine outfield work.
Hearts: Wilson, Brown, Gallacher, Clunie, Kay, Jefferies, Shaw, Park, Busby, Gibson, Prentice. Scorers: Gibson (8, 10, 33).
Celtic: Latchford, McGrain, Stanton, McDonald, Lynch, Glavin, Dalglish, Aitken, Doyle, Craig, Lennox. Scorers: McDonald (31), Lennox (36), Dalglish (60), Glavin (87)
Referee: B Valentine. Attendance: 20,500.