1955-02-26: Celtic 5-2 St Mirren , League Division A

Match Pictures | Matches: 19541955 | 1954-55 pictures

Trivia

  • The only change to the Celtic team was that Smith and Walsh swapped positions , Smith going to inside forward and Walsh moving outside in the starting line-up.
  • For yet another weekend the weather played its part in the games and the enjoyment of them. Snow fell again during the week and virtually all clubs started to clear the grounds on the Friday in the hope that no further snow would fall or the temperature drop again to freeze the ground. Yet again the ground was sanded but still greasy and hard underfoot in the shadow of the stand.
  • Charlie Tully's groin strain had healed and he was again in full training, Tully-style.
  • Elsewhere, Hearts sent a strongly worded protest into the SFA. Four of their players – Cumming, Bauld, Wardhaugh and Urquhart – had been chosen for the Scotland B team to play only 2 1/2 days before the next round of the Scottish Cup where Hearts were drawn against league leaders Aberdeen.

Review

Fallon was in 'buffeting' mood and caused a lot of discontent in the St Mirren ranks with his boisterous tactics. St Mirren conceded vital free kicks twice in the game when they were down by the single goal to let themselves drift behind by two goals and then finally they conceded a penalty. After Walsh's opening goal, Neilson impeded Smith on the edge of the box and Walsh touched the free kick to Fernie who fired home into the postage stamp area of the goal. For the fourth goal whilst the St Mirren defense were concentrating on Fallon, from the free kick Smith snuck in and headed home Peacock's chip. The penalty was awarded when Fallon was brought down after he had unexpectedly beaten Lapsley. Fallon did cause St Mirren problems all game with his rumbustious style but a lot of the problems they induced themselves.
St Mirren were clearly the more attractive side for over an hour with better passing but they just had no penetration of the Celtic defense and tended to dither with the ball rather than trouble Bonnar on a regular basis. Evans omision from the international setup appeared all the more stark for the fact that yet again he masterminded the defense and controlled the St Mirren attacks at will. Fernie picked up a shot from Haughney straight in the face and was somewhat less efective thereafter, retiring to the wing. Collins and Smith both played well

With Celtic and Aberdeen winning and Rangers and Hearts dropping points it looked to be developing into a race between Celtic and Aberdeen for the title. If anything, Celtic had the slightly easier run in and had a game in hand but Aberdeen had shown a solid defense all season and looked good.

Team P W L D F A Pts
Aberdeen 23 19 3 1 58 18 39
Celtic 22 13 2 7 61 29 33
St Mirren 22 11 5 6 47 37 28
Clyde 23 10 5 8 53 39 28
Hearts 19 12 4 3 57 30 27
Rangers 21 12 6 3 52 25 27

Teams

Celtic:
Bonnar; Haughney, Meechan; Evans, Stein, Peacock; Walsh, Smith, Fallon, Fernie, Collins.
Scorers: Walsh (9), Fernie (20), Collins (27), Smith (65), Haughney (pen 73)

St Mirren:
Lorney; Lapsley, Johnston; Neilson, Telfer, Holmes; McGuigan, Wilson, Anderson, Gemmell, Callan.
Scorers: Wilson (14), McGuigan (30)

Referee: H J Gallacher (Glasgow)
Attendance: 36,000

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Articles

Evening Times, 26/2/55
Celtic V St Mirren, League, 1955, Evening Times 26/2/55