| Match Pictures | Matches: 1959 – 1960 | 1959-60 Pictures |
Trivia
- The situation with Bertie Auld appeared to be becoming complicated. Originally sent off during the Holland international in Amsterdam, the match referee had submitted a report to the FIFA and the SFA which described Bertie's offense as '…. pushing an opposition player in the face with his boot'. When he returned from the tour with the rest of the Scotland players, he was told, on reporting to Celtic Park that the SFA were investigating the incident and that they had asked FIFA for further clarification of the referee's report. He was then told not to turn up for both the pre-season open trials and he was not picked in the season opener against Raith Rovers. Prior to this game reports were made that Bertie had written to Celtic Park and asked to be released from his contract. Jimmy McGrory publicly denied that this was the case on 10th August only for more confirmation of Bertie wanting away on the 11th with Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Everton all said to be interested.
- Another absent player was Dick Beattie. Portsmouth had been interested in signing him since the end of the previous season. They had watched Beattie in the second pre-season trial and in the first Reserve game. On 10th August Beattie headed south to sign a contract with Portsmouth.
- No announcement on the team was made till half an hour before kick off. Bertie Peacock was out with a throat infection and Eric Smith moved to left half; in came Bobby Carroll and John Divers – Carroll for his first team debut
Review
A second poor game where Celtic had many chances to score goals, particularly in the opening twenty minutes when they dominated Thistle, but there was no one in the forwards to steady an attack and turn chances into goals. Celtic suffered from a youthful attack. Thistle survived that opening onslaught not so much through competent defending but by luck. The game was goalless at half time. Thistle started the second half far more steadied than Celtic and made the best use of their resources gradually controlling the game. Celtic scored first from the penalty spot after Mackle was bowled over in the area by Hogan. Mochan took the spot kick. Thistle equalised 13 minutes later and went ahead 12 minutes from time.What was apparent was that the Celtic team had a lot of problems and this was the first game (of which there would be many this season) where jeering rang out from the terraces.
| Team | P | W | L | D | F | A | Pts |
| Raith Rovers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Partick Thistle | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Airdrieonians | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Celtic | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
Teams
Celtic:
Haffey; McNeill, Mochan; MacKay, Evans, Smith; Carroll, Colrain, Byrne, Divers, Mackle.
Scorers: Mochan,( pen 52)
Partick Thistle:
Freebairn; Hogan, Baird; Harvey, Davidson, Donlevy; McKenzie, McParland, Smith, Wilson, Fleming.
Scorers: Wilson (65), Fleming (78)
Referee: J Barclay (Kirkcaldy)
Attendance: 25,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
