1985-10-12: Celtic 0-1 Heart Of Midlothian, Premier Division

Trivia

  • Hearts beat Celtic at Celtic Park for the first time since 1969.
  • Hearts heavily criticised for their dull style of football, however set the tone of the season as Hearts were to be a key challenger for the title. Hearts begin an unbeaten run that lasts till final game of the season.
  • John Robertson caused a scare after being carried off with suspected concussion after a clash with Roy Aitken.
  • On the same day Celtic defeated Hearts 3-1 in a Reserve League match at Tynecastle. The Celtic team was Wilson, Traynor, McGee, Shepherd, W. McStay, Whyte, Fraser, Walsh, McInally, McKechnie, Archdeacon. Subs Kean, McGuire (Shepherd). The Celtic scorers were Fraser 2 and W. McStay.

Review1985-10-12: Celtic 0-1 Heart of Midlothian, Premier Division - Pic

(From Paul Larkin's book "From Albert with Love")
October, November and December were pretty awful months for Celtic. Just at the point we looked like we were about to run away with the league, we collapsed. I remember it well, we beat St Mirren 2-0 at Celtic Park in a performance that was as good as anything we’d seen outside of European nights and remember the buzz around coming out that game that we now had a team that could win our first league in four years.

The following week Hearts came to Celtic Park and we fully expected the same quality and result, we got the quality, not the result. For the first time in my lifetime, Hearts won at Celtic Park and it was a strange feeling.For a start Hearts had been a nonsense team for the best part of 20 years and the notion of them beating us was absurd. At least to me anyway.

When Hearts came to us that day they looked like a side heading back for the first division. When they left, they were on the second game of unbeaten run that would last all the way to the last day of the season. We played well enough on the day and missed a ton of chances but when Robertson scored for Hearts, it gave them a lift unlike anything they had know in probably 25 years.

They defended stoutly and when the final whistle went, the boos rang out around the stadium and I remember being dumbstruck by the score, not least given the amount of abuse I’d get from pals when I got home that night.

Teams

Celtic:
Bonner; McGrain, Aitken, McGugan, Burns; Grant, P McStay, MacLeod; Provan, Johnston, McClair Sub: McAdam, Chalmers

Hearts:
Smith; Kidd, W Jardine, Levein, Whittaker; I Jardine, Berry, Mackay; Colquhoun (Black), Clark, Robertson (Watson)

Scorer: Robertson (32)

Referee: J Duncan

Attendance: 26,683

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Articles

Hearts 0-1 85Hearts 0-1

Football: Stony Hearts give Celtic a beating

Times, The (London, England)
October 14, 1985
Author: HUGH TAYLOR
1985-10-12 Celtic 0-1 Heart Of Midlothian - Kerrydale Street
At Parkhead, on Saturday, Hearts took a leaf out of the Continental manual of football and beat Celtic for the first time since 1969. Their negative approach, which probably created a new record in the number of passes back to a goalkeeper, irritated the spectators, but it brought a success in the form of a 1-0 victory. Celtic allowed themselves to be frustrated by the 'go-slow' tactics of their opponents, and yet, although they never played to their exciting best, they still made several chances and should have won easily.

Although Hearts' style failed to enchant, they scored a fine goal, cleverly engineered by Colquhoun and Clark and smartly executed by Robertson. The unexpected defeat cost Celtic the chance of consolidating their premier division lead, as they are not joined at the top by Aberdeen and Rangers, each with 14 points.

It required a late goal by a substitute, Gray, to give Aberdeen a share of the points in a 1-1 draw with Hibernian at Easter Road. The game was a fine advertisement for the Skol league cup final between these teams later this month at Hampden and confirmed that the Edinburgh team's revival is no mere flash in the pan. Cowan, the former Aberdeen forward, had opened the scoring for Hibernian in the first-half, which was dominated by the home side. When the visitors moved into championship form after the interval, they found Rough, the Hibernian goalkeeper, who is again challenging for his place in the international side, in defiant mood.

No team, however, was more delighted than Rangers, for whom misfortunes have mounted, with the club sliding out of both Europe and the league cup and landing in trouble with the authorities over the behaviour of players in the unruly match with Aberdeen.

They drew 1-1 with Dundee United away from home and returned to share the league leadership, mainly because of the sharp marksmanship of McCoist who, in the 67th minute, equalized a United goal scored by Bannon from a penalty. United were, perhaps, the superior side, but, once again, they were let down by the poor finishing, which has been their weakness this season.

St Mirren remain in fourth position following their 1-0 victory over Dundee at Paisley.

Teams:
Celtic:
Bonner; McGrain, Aitken, McGugan, Burns; Grant, P McStay, MacLeod; Provan, Johnston, McClair

Hearts:
Smith; Kidd, W Jardine, Levein, Whittaker; I Jardine, Berry, Mackay; Colquhoun (Black), Clark, Robertson (Watson)
Scorer: Robertson (32)