1953-03-28: Celtic 1-3 Hibernian, League Division A

Match Pictures | Matches: 1952 1953 | 1952-53 Pictures

Trivia

  • Fallon back yet again early from the second arm break; Walsh and Fernie swappwed sides again.
  • Evans Collins and fernie from Celtic and Johnstone, Reilly and Turnbull had all played in a Scottish League -v- English League game at Ibrox 3 days before which saw the Scottish League win 1-0.
  • This loss dropped Celtic down another position in the League to seventh in a disastrous month where they failed to win a game and saw them tumblwe from second to seventh position.
  • The dowager Queen Mary had died and was lying in state and the flags were flown at half mast with the players all wearing black armbands.

Review

A very unhappy Celtic support slow handclapped the team's performance and time wasting from Hibs in the second half. For long periods of the second half the Hibernian goal took a pummeling with Celtic having 10 corners to 1 against. Evans, McPhail and Fernie all played well but the incision that would lead to goals from inside the 18 yard line just wasn't there. Johnstone had scored from a header on 22 minutes and Reilly, who was by far the League's top scorer, got a second from a shot after a move between Turnbull and Smith. Fernie had the ball in the net on 74 minutes but the referee had already blown for a penalty for handling. Collins scored the penalty. After a tremendous Collins shot which was just over, Hibs countered and Johnstone scored at the near post with a cheeky backheel.
Walsh had a poor game. Collins stopped running far too often. McGrory spent most of his time tussling with the Hibs goalkeeper Younger and got very little out of him, and Tully was a shadow of his normal play (partly explained by the fact that he was probably carrying an injury from the East Fife game).

Teams

Celtic:
Hunter; Haughney, Fallon; Evans, Stein, McPhail; Collins, Walsh, McGrory, Fernie, Tully.
Scorers: Collins (75 pen)

Hibernian:
Younger; Govan, Clark; Gallacher, Paterson, Ward; Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, Combe.
Scorers: Johnstone 2 (23, 85), Reilly (43)

Referee: J A Mowat (Burnside)
Attendance: 30,000

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Articles

Celtic v Hibs March 1953 Evening Times