1983-11-30: Kilmarnock 0-1 Celtic, League Cup

Match Pictures | Matches: 19831984 | 1983-84 Pictures

Trivia

  • League Cup section 4 match, Celtic win the section and go into the Semi-Final to meet Aberdeen.
  • Celtic play in change strip of green jerseys, green shorts and green socks.

Team Played Won Drew Lost For Ag Pts
Celtic 6 3 3 0 13 3 9
Kilmarnock 6 3 1 2 9 6 7
Hibs 6 2 2 2 7 9 6
Airdrie 6 0 2 4 3 14 2

Review

Teams

Kilmarnock:-
McCulloch; Robertson, Cockburn; Simpson, Clarke, R. Clark; McGivern (McKenna), McDicken, Gallagher, MacLeod, Bryson
Subs:- McClurg

Celtic:-
Bonner, McGrain, Reid, Aitken, Sinclair, MacLeod, McClair, P McStay (Halpin 45), McGarvey, Melrose, Burns
Sub:- Brian Whittaker
Goal:- Melrose 20.

Ref:-
Att:- 9,000.

Articles

Evening Times

1983-11-30: Kilmarnock 0-1 Celtic, League Cup - The Celtic Wiki 1983-11-30: Kilmarnock 0-1 Celtic, League Cup - The Celtic Wiki

  • Match Report (See Below)

Pictures

Articles

Match Report
Celtic’s League Cup campaign had turned into a bit of a hard slog, with the midweek section fixtures providing very little entertainment for the small numbers of fans who went along.

This meeting was to be the section decider, Celtic needing a point to go forward into the semi final and Kilmarnock looking for a win to be section four’s winners.

The match turned out to be the kind that would have been expected. Kilmarnock opened, with caution, Celtic went forward and always looked like winners.
Looking back on the match, though, it’s true to say that Celtic’s attack did not get full credit with goals and McCulloch in the Kilmarnock goal had an outstanding game.

The only goal came in the 20th minute. Described by many spectators and newspaper reporters as a ‘fluke’, it looked like a well taken goal from a good move. Melrose was the scorer and he cleverly hooked the ball over his shoulder as he ran forward with a heavy guard from the Kilmarnock defence to meet a well placed McGrain cross from the right. The ball went in off the far post.

For the second half, Celtic replaced McStay with Halpin and after a re-shuffle continued to put McCulloch under pressure. Pressure that the ‘keeper dealt with very well.

Jim Melrose came closest to beating him with a shot after a fast turn on the edge of the box. Minutes earlier MacLeod had seen a fine effort from the right-hand corner of the box blocked.

In the end that first-half goal was the counter but the teams were separated by much more than that, particularly by the individual and combined talent of Celtic’s best two players on the night – Mark Reid and Tommy Burns.
Celtic now face Aberdeen in the semi-finals over two legs to be played on February 1st and 6th. The first leg is in Aberdeen.