| Match Pictures | Matches 1979 1980 | 1979-80 Pictures |
Trivia
- Rangers open their new Copland Road stand at 2.45 before kick off. They only got a Safety Certificate days before the match. The game had been in doubt as the Safety Certificate had not been received. Indeed in the week before the game the Celtic Supporters Association had called for a boycott deeming the ground unsafe.
- Celtic fans complain at their small allocation of 6000 tickets and there were stories of Rangers fans in the main stand throwing objects below them into Celtic fans in the enclosure.
- Mike Conroy bravely plays on after breaking his nose.
- Alan Sneddon scored his only Celtic goal.
- Players play with world cup style 'Tango' football.
- The Reserves played at Celtic Park drawing 1-1 with Peter Mackie scoring. The full team was Bonner, Filippi, Lynch, Duffy, Young, Casey, Mackie, Weir, Nicholas, Davidson, Crainie. Subs: Reid and Halpin.
George Brown opens the Copland Road stand for the first time v Celtic in 1979.
Review
Rangers had controversially chose to play this game at Ibrox despite the Celtic end being demolished to build the new Broomloan stand. This led to a reduced capacity of 36,000. The previous season when the Rangers end of the ground was under construction they moved the match to Hampden.
Celtic come from two behind with just ten men to draw with Rangers. Two goals from Celtic with a man short in the last 6mins!!!! Roy Aitken was sent off on before Celtic rallied.
The first half was the usual to-ing and fro-ing with both teams feeling each other out and brutal tackling and niggling. On 35 minutes Roy Aitken was sent off for a heavy duty tackle on Ally Dawson.
The Celts started the more lively in the second half but dropped a goal when A MacDonald squared for J MacDonald to put a flying header home. It got worse when Russel scored after a decent move from Rangers.
Celtic then upped the game with Lennox and Doyle coming on. Sneddon made it 2-1 with a diving header and before the end McAdam scored from a MacLeod free kick.
Rangers players slumped to the turf at full time in frustration as the Celtic players hailed the small but noisy band of fans in Ibrox.
Teams
Range:
McCloy, Miller, Dawson, Jardine, Jackson, Watson, Cooper, Russell (Smith), Johnstone, A MacDonald, J MacDonald. Unused Sub: McLean
Goals: J MacDonald (49), Russell (54)
Celtic:
Latchford, Sneddon, McGrain, Aitken, MacDonald, Edvaldsson (Lennox), Provan, Conroy, McCluskey (Doyle), MacLeod, McAdam.
Goals: Sneddon (84), McAdam (87)
Referee: I Foote (Glasgow)
Attendance: 36,000
Articles
- Match Report
Pictures
Match Reports
Evening Times 20th August 1979
Glasgow Herald 20th August 1979
GLASGOW HERALD REPORT BY JIM REYNOLDS
RANGERS FAILED TO LEARN THEIR LESSON
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There were two turning points at Ibrox on Saturday which led to one of the dramatic finishes in the history of Old Firm matches – a finish which saw Celtic grab two goals in the last six minutes to gain a point which at one stage looked as far away as the Sea of Tranquility.
One was when Rangers decided they had done enough and relaxed their concentration. The other came when Celtic's manager Billy McNeill elected to make a double substitution midway in the second half, with his side already reduced to ten men following the deserved thirty sixth minute sending off of Roy Aitken for a terrible challenge on Ally Dawson..
It was a brave move which inspired bravery amongst the ten surviving Celts and which was rewarded by a breathtaking finale in which the pace and sharpness of both substitutes, Doyle and Lennox, played a part.
Until then Rangers were comfortably in control with the cushion of their two goal lead, given to them by a brilliant header from young John MacDonald in 49 minutes and a blistering drive from Robert Russell five minutes later. Rangers should have added to that tally as they carved holes in the depleted Celtic ranks, but having failed in several attempts, they seemed to have decided that already had a big enough lead.
How wrong they were, for Celtic, inspired by the brilliant Danny McGrain, roared back for Alan Sneddon to score with a diving header in 84 minutes and for Tom McAdam to hammer home an equaliser three minutes later, as Rangers defenders lay on the field beating the turf in anguish. Rangers had clearly failed to learn their lesson from the final match of last season when a 10 man Celtic outfiy came from behind, again with 10 men, to win the Championship.
And that must concern Rangers' manager John Greig this morning when he leads a squad of 17 players down the coast to Troon to prepare for the tomorrow's European Cup Winners Cup tie against Lilliestrom. Greig said, ' We should have been four or five ahead, instead we lost the place and threw the game away. In the end we didn't come out of the match with credit'.
Rangers – McCloy Miller Dawson Jardine Jackson Watson Cooper Russell Johnstone A MacDonald J MacDonald –
subs Smith McLean
Celtic – Latchford Sneddon McGrain Aitken MacDonald Edvaldsson Provan Conroy McCluskey MacLeod McAdam
subs – Lennox Doyle