1961-08-30: St Johnstone 2-0 Celtic, League Cup

Match Pictures | Matches:19611962 | 1961-1962 Pictures

Trivia

  • the draw for the quarter finals of the League Cup was made with the winner of Celtics group meeting the winners of Group 2 away (Group 2 – comprising Dunfermiline, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd and Motherwell was completely open)
  • Pat Crerand made his appearance in front of the beaks of the SFA Referees Committee. He was not suspended for any longer (he had already been suspended for a week by the SFA and a month by Celtic). However they did fine him £75 for his ordering off at the Falkirk Fives. Mike Jackson failed to appear.
  • There was an outside chance that Crerand would be in the team to play at Perth.
  • The Glasgow Charities Cup was presented jointly to Celtic and Clyde in the City Chambers. Also it was announced that the format would change in the face of diminishing returns for charity distribution. This season the games would be played under floodlight and the winner would hold on to the trophy, with a view to a major change in the trophy format next season.
  • A Wednesday night 7:15 pm kick off at the old St Johnstone ground at Muirton Park.
  • An unchanged side for Celtic.
  • The final result left pent up frusatration which Celtic supporters (some) took out by hurling bottles and there was a spate of train wrecking on the return supporters rail journey from Perth where three of eight coaches received damage – seats and tables were hurled through windows and toilet fittings ripped out, luggage racks torn down and slogans carved into the walls.

Review

Beaten home and away by a team newly promoted to the First Division in season 1959-60 – not only beaten but Celtic played poorly.
For once Billy McNeill had an off game and was to blame for the first goal. On 16 minutes a cross field ball evaded McNeill and Gardiner had no difficulty beating Connor. If anything St Johnstone increased the pressure after their first and they soon had a second when Wright fired home a powerful shot from the edge of the box.
Fernie was the best of the forwards and though Hughes persisted and tried hard he got no change from the St Johnstone defenders. Chalmers and Carroll switched sides to no avail. It was only in the last 10 minutes that Celtic got going but Taylor chose that time to pull off a series of good saves from Jackson and Fernie.

Team P W L D F A Pts
Hibernian 5 2 1 2 10 7 6
St Johnstone 5 2 1 2 5 5 6
Celtic 5 2 2 1 8 9 5
Partick Thistle 5 1 3 1 7 9 3

Partick Thistle 2-3 Hibernian

For Celtic to qualify they had to beat Hibernian in the last game and Partick Thistle had to beat St Johnstone.

Teams

St Johnstone:
Taylor; Mcfadyen, Lachlan; Little, Ferguson, McKinven; menzies, Wright, Gardiner, Bell, Henderson.
Scorers: Gardiner (16), Wright (35)

Celtic:

Connor; MacKay, Kennedy; Jackson, McNeill, Clark; Carroll, Fernie, Hughes, Divers, Chalmers.
Scorers:

Referee: A Crossman (Edinburgh)
Attendance: n.a.

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Articles

Match Report, St Johnstone v Celtic, League Cup 1961, Glasgow Herald