1955-04-02: Celtic 1-2 Hibernian, League Division A

Match Pictures | Matches: 19541955 | 1954-55 pictures

Trivia

  • Debut game for John Reid; Jimmy Walsh was out allowing John Reid to make his first team debut. Fernie was still out.
  • Reilly of Hibs was out away playing for Scotland in an international at Wembley against England, a 7-2 win for England. There were no Celtic players in the Scotland team.
  • The game was played mostly in the rain and the pitch cut up quite badly.
  • This was the first loss in the League at Celtic Park since 15th April 1953 when Celtic were beaten 1-3 by Aberdeen

Review

A misfiring forward line was again at the heart of this loss. They had enough opportunities to be well in front by the time Hibs scored a second goal. As the pitch cut up their passing became more inaccurate and slipshod whilst their shooting was woeful. Hibs played in a carefree manner and with a good deal of luck. The only serious error in the Celtic defense, a misunderstanding between Stein or Haughney (depending on which source you read) and Bonnar, allowed Fraser in to prod home the winning goal. After getting their heads in front the Hibs players fought to retain that lead and indeed the forwards attacked further.
Tully was the most active of the Celtic forwards early on but a renewed John McPhail was also prominent. The opening goal came when Smith beat Bonnar from 30 yards after a pass from Ormond. Celtic equalised with a rare Charlie Tully header from a Stein free kick. At the start of the second half Celtic had a monopoly of the play and they attacked the Hibs goal relentlessly. Hibs in the meantime were suffering from the same shooting boots as Celtic had on so it was fortuitous for them when the mix up between Stein/Haughney and Bonnar happened. John Reid did well on his debut.

The loss virtually put pay to Celtic's hopes of winning the championship. Celtic would have to win all three remaining games and Aberdeen to lose all their three.

Team P W L D F A Pts
Aberdeen 27 22 4 1 68 22 45
Celtic 27 16 3 8 70 36 40
Rangers 27 16 8 3 60 31 35
Hearts 27 15 4 4 65 31 34
Hibernian 27 14 10 3 59 50 31
St Mirren 27 12 8 7 53 45 31

Teams

Celtic:
Bonnar; Haughney, Meechan; Evans, Stein, Peacock; Collins, Reid, McPhail, Mochan, Tully.
Scorers: Tully (40)

Hibernian:

Younger; Paterson, McFarlane; Thomson, Plenderleith, Preston; Smith, Combe, Fraser, Turnbull, Ormond.
Scorers: Smith (23), Fraser (69)

Referee: G Bowman (Clydebank)
Attendance: 31,000

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Articles

Evening Times, 2/4/55

Celtic v Hibernian, League, 1955; Evening Times 2/4/55