1965-12-25: Celtic 8-1 Morton, League Division 1

Match Pictures | Matches: 19651966 | 1965-66 Pictures

Trivia

  • Christmas Day fixture
  • Sean Fallon flew to Denmark in an attempt to buy Bent Martin, the Danish goalkeeper who had done so well against Celtic in their European Cup Winners Cup ties. Martin agreed to come to Scotland for a trial after Christmas.
  • An unchanged side from the one that had beaten Dunfermiline away. Both Billy McNeill and Ian Young were fit again but neither were tested in this game. Instead both got a run out in a Friendly against Ayr Utd at Somerset Park.
  • It’s a merry Christmas day as Dunfermline beat Rangers 3-2 at Ibrox and Celtic crack in 8 against Morton.
  • In an interesting aside, people that invaded the pitch during the game after a goal in this match were apprehended and thrown out of ther ground. This is the first time this happened and their had been a tradition of small boys running on to congratulate the team when a goal was scored. This was to be discouraged specifically on the demand of Jock Stein.
  • On the same day Celtic Reserves lost 2-0 to Ayr United in a friendly game. The Celtic team was Fallon, Young, McCarron, Cattenach, McNeill, O’Neill, Connelly, H. Quinn, Divers, Lennox, Auld,

Review

A feast of goals in the Festive Season!. Celtic were 7-0 at half time with Joe McBride getting a hatrick, Chalmers a brace and Hughes and Murdoch chipping in.

In the second half the pressure somewhat eased and Watson stole one back for Morton. John Hughes got his second goal and Celtic’s eigth 10 minutes before the final whistle.

At the end of 1965 Celtic were second in the table level on points with Rangers and with a game in hand.

Team P W D L F A Pts
Rangers 16 12 3 1 50 14 27
Celtic 15 13 1 1 53 15 27
Dunfermiline 16 10 4 2 48 25 24
Hibernian 16 10 3 3 45 21 23
Dundee 16 9 3 4 49 23 21

Teams

Celtic
Simpson; Craig, Gemmell; Murdoch, Cushley, Clark; Johnstone, Gallacher, McBride, Chalmers, Hughes
Scorers: McBride 3 (7, 25, 33), Chalmers 2 (11, 43), Hughes 2 (28, 80), Murdoch (35)

Morton:
Sorensen, Boyd, Loughlan, Gray, Strachan, Kennedy, McIntyre, McGraw, Harper, Stevenson, Watson
Goals: Watson (49)

Referee: D. Small (Selkirk)
Attendance: 21,000

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Articles

Celtic v Morton, League, 25/12/65