| Match Pictures | Matches:1917 – 1918 | Pictures:1917 Pics – 1918 Pics |
Trivia
- The Glasgow Herald of Monday 3 December gives the past weeks war casualty figures as 189 Officers and 4,504 Men. LINK
- According to the match report in Monday’s Glasgow Herald (below) Celtic only had 7 players at the scheduled start and kicked off minus one player.
- Debut and sole game played by Arthur McInally, the elder brother of Celtic great Tommy McInally.
- The Herald also reports on plans to build a Forth & Clyde Canal.
- George Formby is appearing at the Coliseum theatre in the pantomime “The Forty Thieves”.
Review
(from Celticfc.net site https://www.celticfc.com/news/2021/december/15/on-this-day-in-celtic-s-history—december-15/)
Celtic travelled to Fir Park on this day in 1917 and the 7,000 crowd were served up a cracker of a game to help keep out the December cold. It was a seven-goal thriller with Celtic beating Motherwell 4-3 and all of the Hoops’ goals being scored by different players. Patsy Gallacher {below}, John Jackson, Andy McAtee and Johnny Browning were the Celts who netted the goals, but Motherwell gained some revenge in the final game of the season when a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park stopped the Hoops from claiming five championships in a row.
Teams
MOTHERWELL:
Rundell, Murray, McSkimming, McIntosh, Finlayson, Stewart, Lennie, Rankin, Ferguson, Gardiner, Morgan
Scorers: Ferguson; (2), Morgan
CELTIC:
Shaw, Wilson, Dodds, McInally, Cringan, Brown, McAtee, Gallacher, McLean, Jackson, Browning
Scorers: Jackson, Browning, Gallacher, McAtee
Referee:
Attendance: 7,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
- Match Pictures
Articles
The Glasgow Herald, Monday 17 December, 1917
CELTS’ UPHILL FIGHT.
Celtic came near to having the same experience at Motherwell that befell Rangers at Falkirk two seasons ago. Only seven players were at hand when the teams were timed to make a beginning at Firpark, and when a start was made the city team were still minus a substitute for Wilson, who, with Dodds took up the duties of McNair and McGregor. The home forwards, quick to seize their opportunity, scored two goals in ten minutes, and Ferguson ought to have had another close to the interval. He struck the crossbar instead, and, as the visitors immediately ran down and scored, Ferguson’s mistake was the hinge on which the game turned. Instead of crossing over with a 3-0 defecit, Celtic were only one behind at the interval, and the second half had just opened when Browning brought them level. Then the champions took the lead for the first time through Gallagher, Ferguson equalised and a game always intensely exciting became positively thrilling as each side went out for the winning goal, which eventually came to the visitors. Not for the first time Celtic won in the face of great odds, and in that sense the honours of a keenly contested game were theirs; still, Motherwell were decidedly unfortunate to lose after having at least an equal share of the play and the better chances to add to their total. Gallagher was irrepressible as usual, but none bettered Rankine as an inside support, nor could the winners claim a more enterprising forward than Ferguson.