THREE particularly special Celtic matches from 30 September to recall this morning, starting with a rare glory night for Celtic supporters in Europe in the 1990s. Liam Brady was the manager at the time and things, let’s just say were not going very well for the club on or off the park.
Celtic had lost the first leg against German side Cologne by 2-0 and am I right in saying that we’d never defeated a German side previously in European competition? So it wasn’t looking likely was it!
Yet Celtic Park was packed and the support, with Hope in our Hearts weren’t quite ready to accept the inevitable – even back in 1992.
Let’s recap on how September 1992 had gone for Celtic to set the context and perhaps to remind some of the younger supporters that the ‘problems’ that they are constantly moaning about on social media are perhaps chicken-feed compared to the monumental difficulties and set-backs we were forced to endure in those dark days for the club.
The month opened with a 3-1 home league win over St Johnstone with the goals coming from John Collins (2) and Gerry Creaney. Here are the goals from that one, which had a crowd of just over 21k….
Next up Hibs were the visitors to Celtic Park and left with a 3-2 victory despite Celtic twice being in front, Wdowczyk opened the scoring on 11 minutes and after Wright had levelled the score just before the interval, Paul McStay restored Celtic’s advantage on 58 minutes. However Hibs were awarded a penalty on shortly afterwards and Jackson scored before Evans grabbed the winner for the visitors shortly before the end. It was a sickener for the Celtic support – 28,139 were there that day.
Three days later Celtic were in Germany for the UEFA Cup first leg against Cologne and were backed by a large travelling Celtic support. The 2-0 defeat was hardly unexpected.
After two straight defeats Celtic travelled to Brockville to play Falkirk – was this the mankiest ‘stadium’ that we had to visit in those days? Anyway the home side scored FOUR goals against Celtic that day but still lost 5-4!
The Celtic scorers that day were Wdowczyk Creaney (2), Payton and Collins. Watch the highlights from this incredible match below and marvel at the size of the travelling support…
Next up on 23 September Aberdeen were the visitors to Celtic Park for the League Cup tie and the sight of Roy Aitken playing against Celtic in the red of Aberdeen requires a double-take even today. Aberdeen got the only goal of the match to knock Celtic out of the cup.
Four days before Cologne were due at Celtic Park, Celtic welcomed Partick Thistle to the East End of Glasgow. The crowd for this Premier division match was back down to the 21k diehards and by half-time we already had that sinking feeling with Shaw giving the Jags the lead 5 minutes before the break. However the mood improved two minutes into the second half when Andy Payton levelled the scoring but repeating his trick with five minutes to play, Shaw added a second for the visitors to give Partick Thistle a rare victory at Celtic Park. Just as well Twitter wasn’t around on the evening of 26 September 1992.
So that was the context for the second leg against Cologne where Celtic were looking to overturn a 2-0 deficit. Celtic were long shots to say the least of making the next round and it was looking like we’d go out of the League Cup and Europe in September 1992.
The Celtic side was Marshall, McNally, Boyd, Grant, Mowbray, Galloway, Slater (Miller 55), McStay, Payton (Fulton 88), Creaney, Collins.
Here’s what happened as Celtic won 3-0 with goals from McStay (36), Creaney (39), Collins (80) to qualify…
The two other games worth noting from this day…
30th September 2001, Rangers 0:2 Celtic.
Petrov and Thommo. @StanPetrov19 pic.twitter.com/qVGhfNbNHv
— Li’l Ze (@LilZe85) September 29, 2020
30th September 2003, Celtic 2:0 Lyon.
2 excellent goals from Liam Miller and Chris Sutton. @chris_sutton73
One of the best Celtic performances in Europe I’ve seen. pic.twitter.com/HvtcDHIYqC
— Li’l Ze (@LilZe85) September 29, 2020
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