| Match Pictures | Matches: 1976 – 1977 | 1976-77 Pictures |
Trivia
- Joe Craig appeared in front of the SFA Referees Committee for a sending off when he was still with Partick Thistle. He was given a severe censure and told not to appear in front of the committee again.
- The bookies and everyone had problems calling this one. Rangers were slipping up this season and Celtic were on the rebuild.
- A Glasgow transport strike saw many of the fans from both sides walking to the ground for this Wednesday night game and kept the attendance down.
- An unchanged team for Celtic.
- Jim Steele on loan from Southampton to Rangers – the Loan Ranger – said in an interview with The Herald about this game:“The manager, Jock Wallace, comes in, says, ‘all right, lads’ and walks straight through. I’m thinking, ‘don’t tell me we’re not getting a team talk?’ Then Willie Waddell comes in and goes: ‘Right, you know who you’re playing today. There’s only one thing to say: ‘No surrender!’. We got beat 1-0."
- Bobby Lennox is carried off with a broken leg after a challenge by John Greig in the penalty area. The referee gave a penalty then changed his mind when the linesman flagged for offside.
Review
Celtic just deserved to win due to Joe Craig's brilliant goal in his first Old Firm game.
Aitken and Dalglish worked the ball to Craig 25 yards out and he swivelled and sent a spectacular shot high past Kennedy into the net.
The down side was a bad injury to evergreen Bobby Lennox after a dreadful tackle by John Greig. Lennox's leg was broken after 12 minutes.
Late in the game Rangers pushed forward but Stanton marshalled the Celtic defence superbly.
Rangers had no one with the subtlety and vision of Kenny Dalglish.
Teams
Rangers:-
Kennedy Jardine Greig Steele Jackson Watson McLean Hamilton (Stein) Parlane MacDonald McKean.Sub:- Miller.
Celtic:-
Latchford, McGrain, Lynch, Stanton, MacDonald, Aitken, Doyle, Glavin, Craig, Dalglish, Lennox, (Wilson).Sub:- P McCluskey.
Goal:- Craig (36).
Referee: E Thompson.(Edinburgh)
Attendance:43,500
Articles
Evening Times 25th November 1976
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
GLASGOW HERALD REPORT BY IAN ARCHER
CRAIG'S CLINCHER
Celtic last night ended their bleak spell of more than 1000 days by beating Rangers for the first time since January 5th 1974 – and so their fans without transport, floated all the way home from the impassioned terraces of Ibrox.
They played with just enough inspiration and placed that quality on top of ceaseless effort to take victory over the Champions who tried just as hard but were not quite as clever. The scoreline – close – was clearly correct.
It was Joe Craig's goal nine minutes before half time, that still seperated the two teams at the end of a match watched in great good order by a crowd which again showed that an Old Firm game should not be missed , even if the City's buses are locked in the garage.
'We'll walk a million miles for one of your goals, oh Joe Craig!' the green end shouted and maybe corporately they had done just that.
Curiously no Celtic player fired on all cylinders for the entire 90 minutes, but in long patches many were very able. Peter Latchford's second half saves from a Rangers forward line belatedly recovering their touch, were probably crucial. The defence stood firm and further forward there were four good performances.
Celts' captain Kenny Dalglish guided most of the good work, while Roy Aitken came of age even as early as his eighteenth birthday, adding a forcefulness in midfield. Johnny Doyle ran hard and surprised Rangers occasionally and Craig. his goal apart, ran and made space for others. The gradual improvement of this Celtic tean continues.
Rangers, again, were a puzzle. They could find no insistent rhythm although as always their willingness was not in question. Their defence seemed capable
of solving most problems; their midfield grafted, but in the forward line Derek Parlane had far too much work to do.
Latterly, they brought on Colin Stein for his first match in more than a year, but made no real difference.One will remember most about this match that Jim Steele was booked for the third consecutive game. His tackle on Doyle was late as a large drink just as it had been against Hibernian's Alec Edwards on Saturday.
At the end Celtic hugged each other hard. In their long non winning sequence against the onlyrivals who ultimately matter, their confidence had been stricken. Last night's match may have be a little watershed in the comparitive standing of Glasgow's perennial competitors.
There was one other memorable moment in the game which yielded incidents reluctantly. After 12 minutes referee Eddie Thomson decided to give Celtic a penalty and then changed his mind. In real wars one tends to be presented to the Queen and given a gong for such bravery.
The incident was odd. Ronnie Glavin played a long through ball in to the path of Bobby Lennox. While the linesman raised his flag John Greig cut the winger in two as he tried to retrieve the situation. Mr Thomson gave the penalty and after Rangers protests, spoke to the linesman and turned the decision into a free kick. The Celtic crowd which in other times might have been gruntled, merely passed the remark to the official in unison – 'Spot the looney !'
Lennox went off. sadly, with a broken ankle, and thence to hospital. But that did not deter Celtic, with Paul Wilson coming on, from playing in the next period, their best football of the match. Steele was booked for Rangers after 27 minutes and a small segment later Celtic scored a great goal.
Dalglish started the move with a forward pass, Aitken sustained it with a gentle nudge sideways to Craig. The move looked promising and no more until the centre forward struck a vicious curling shot from 20 yards which flew high into the net well wide of Kennedy.
Rangers' best chance came in 55 minutes when Parlane's cross tempted Latchford off his line only to miss the ball. McLean tapped and shot, only for the goalkeeper to flighy himself sideways to make a thrilling save. That possibly was their best opprtunity missed.
Ten minutes later, when a McLean cross was only half cleared, Latchford again made an instinctive save from MacDonald's volley, pushing the ball wide with a mixture of hand and foot. At that moment the Celtic people began singing their anthems because they realised the challenge had been received and repulsed.
RANGERS – Kennedy Jardine Greig Steele Jackson Watson McLean Hamilton (Stein) Parlane MacDonald McKean Sub Miller
CELTIC – Latchford McGrain Lynch Stanton MacDonald Aitken Doyle Glavin Craig Dalglish Lennox (Wilson) Sub P McCluskey