1923-02-24: Celtic 1-0 Raith Rovers, Scottish Cup

Raith Rovers –Brown, Bill Inglis, Moyes, Raeburn, Morris, Collier, Peter Bell, Alex James, Bobby Bauld, Alexander Gilmour, Archibald

Referee: P. Craigmyle (Aberdeen)
Attendance: 30,000

Takings: £945
Goals: McLean (1-0) (75)

Articles

• Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Articles

Match report from The Scotsman, 26th February 1923

CELTIC’S ONE GOAL WIN
Raith Rovers put up a grim fight at Parkhead, Glasgow, where they were beaten by Celtic by one goal to nothing. On the whole run of the game the home team were well worthy of their win. Their superiority was most evident in attack, but the visitors’ sound defence gave few scoring chances, and the goal which decided the match was rather unsatisfactory. In the early stages, a nice cross from Archibald was not taken advantage of, and then the Fife defence were kept at full stretch with a persistent Celtic attack. Resolute tackling prevented the home men from getting in a shot, and Morris was particularly prominent in spoiling. On one occasion McLean burst clean through, but the Fife centre-half raced up, and robbed him of the ball when he was only a few yards from the goal. On the other hand, Raith were seldom in the vicinity of Shaw, and the nearest they got to scoring was when Bell struck the outside of the net. The second half was on similar lines, Celtic doing most of the attacking, but getting few shots in on Brown. About fifteen minutes from the close McLean scored, and after that the Fifers never looked like getting on level terms. There were 30,000 spectators present. Excluding tax, £945 was taken at the gate.

The Glasgow Herald – Feb 26, 1923

Celtic Recover Form

Celtic and Motherwell qualified for the semi-final round by defeating Raith Rovers and Bo’ness respectively. Celtic had previously twice beaten the Kirkcaldy club in League games, but recent failures of the Parkhead club, and the fact that Raith Rovers had dismissed the Cupholders in an earlier round, gave the tie an aspect of uncertainty that added to the attractiveness, and 30,000 spectators attended Celtic Park. They were rewarded with an interesting and exciting display from which Celtic emerged victors by the narrow score of one goal to none. Celtic reintroduced McNair at back, and had Gallagher with McAtee on the right wing, and the side played with skill and enthusiasm that they had not equalled in any of their games this season. Raith Rovers offered stubborn and successful resistance to their opponents’ deadly attack until 15 minutes from the close, when following a characteristic run by Gallagher, McLean during a scrimmage succeeded in scoring the winning point. It was a luckily obtained goal, but Celtic throughout had a slight margin of superiority, were generally the attacking side, and all things considered were entitled to the victory. Raith Rovers’ half-back line was the mainstay of the team, and none excelled their centre half Morris, who has been chosen to play in the Scottish team against Ireland on Saturday.