1920-10-16: Dundee 1-2 Celtic, League Division 1

Match Pictures | Matches: 19201921 | 1920 pictures

Trivia

  • The Glasgow Herald, not noted for favouring Celtic, go with a headline of “Celtic Now Favourites”. LINK
  • Also in the Herald, a report of Mr Robert Smillie addressing a crowd of 2,000 in the Empire Cinema Larkhall on the subject of the Miners’ Strike.
  • The Herald reports another meeting, this one at Dundee where Winston Churchill addressed a crowd of 3,000 at the King’s Theatre, Dundee where he “prophesied the murder gang in Ireland would be broken up absolutely and utterly as sure as the sun would rise tomorrow morning.”
  • Showing at the La Scalla picture house Sauchiehall St is the D.W. Griffiths silent film “Broken Blossoms” based on Thomas Burke‘s short story “The ***** and the Child”

Review

Celtic come from behind to record a hard-fought victory in front of a large crowd at Dundee.

Teams

DUNDEE:

Gibbon, Raitt, Thomson, Irving, Nicol, Philip, Hogg, Bill McLean, Bell, Honeyman, Troup

Scorer: Bell.

CELTIC:

Shaw, McNair, McStay Gilchrist Cringan, Pratt, McAtee, Gallacher , McInally, Cassidy, McLean.

Scorers: McInally, McAtee.

Referee: A. Edward (Glasgow)
Attendance: 30,000
Goals: Bell (11), McInally (21), McAtee

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

  • Match Pictures

Articles

Match report from The Scotsman, 18th October 1920

[…] Dundee and Celtic fought a hard and exciting game at Dundee, before fully 30,000 spectators. Bell scored for Dundee after eleven minutes of play, and ten minutes later McInally equalised, both points being the outcome of free kicks for fouls. There was no further scoring before the interval. Early in the second half, McAtee scored the winning goal for Celtic after Gibbon had saved a hard shot from the same player. On the run of the game, the Celtic were the better side, and deserved to win. The Parkhead team played with much finer judgement than their opponents. Dundee’s forwards were particulalry disappointing. There was an entire lack of combination amongst them. Troup’s cleverness was restricted to a brief period in the second half, and while McLean was often clever on the ball, his finishing left a lot to be desired. Gibbon and Raitt were outstanding in the Dundee defence. The Celtic were good in every department, with Shaw, McNair, Crigen, Gallacher, and McInally the shining lights.


The Glasgow Herald – Oct 18, 1920
CELTIC NOW FAVOURITES
Change is the pressing need of the moment in the Scottish League competition, and the future of the scheduled list of fixtures on Saturday appeared to be the promise it contained in that direction. The three leading clubs in the competition – Rangers, Celtic, and Airdrieonians – were placed in opposition to them in the League chart, and with ground advantage against the leaders in the games enthusiasts indulged speculations which were reasonable, but which unfortunately for the common good, were not realised. Celtic’s engagement received leading attention, and perhaps raised highest expectations, because the Parkhead club had admittedly the most difficult task set them. Ordinarily the engagement with Dundee at Dens Park is one of the main obstacles in the competition to both Celtic and Rangers, and when there is some special incentive to the home club the visitors from Glasgow find the achievement of success correspondingly greater. Celtic were faced with the circumstances attached to the latter consideration on Saturday. The previous week at Motherwell Dundee scored one of the most convincing successes of the campaign, and the effect of that victory nerved the players for their game with Celtic and imbued them with determination to score a more signal triumph – the infliction of the first defeat of the season upon their renowned opponents. Celtic, however once again upset the laudable but futile ambitions of a worthy rival and while the Parkhead club have frequently in the past achieved more epoch-making victories, their one-goal win at Dens Park on Saturday stands out as the most commanding achievement in the current League competition. Dundee in the early stages of the game seemed destined to accomplish the high project they were bent upon, but even when Bell, their centre, crowned determined play by a well-taken goal, the feat had not the demoralising effect upon Celtic that it would have on most teams. McInally brought Celtic level before the interval, and from that point Dundee till the end were striving to save the game rather than to win it. They failed to do either, as McAtee got the winning goal in a game that did not discredit the losers, but that stamped the winners as a team of super-excellence, and finally established Celtic, in Dundee at any rate as first favourites for the seasons’ League Championship.