The feel-good factor continued in midweek at Tynecastle, with a three-goal victory, which kept the Celts in contention and plunged Hearts towards the drop zone, the final goal one of the finest scored for his beloved Celtic by substitute Tommy Burns, a great man very much in our thoughts at this time.
A difficult run of away fixtures continued at Pittodrie
A difficult run of away fixtures continued at Pittodrie, against fourth-placed Aberdeen, with an Andy Lynch penalty cancelling out Strachan’s opener to earn a hard-fought draw, thus allowing Rangers to sneak back into second spot in the table, in the tightest flag race in years. Events took another huge twist on the Wednesday night. With fifteen minutes to play, Celtic trailed to a Frank McGarvey strike at Parkhead.
However, late goals from Shuggy and the Bear secured a vital two points against St Mirren, as Rangers lost at Pittodrie. It was now ‘Game On’ and momentum shifted to Celtic, as United headed to Glasgow for a top two showdown. The recent Tannadice proceedings were reversed, as Celtic overcame another Dodds counter to win 2-1, thanks to a Doyle header and another spot-kick from Lynch, in front of a near-40,000 crowd.
Celtic 2-1 Dundee United. 28 April 1979. Photo The Celtic Wiki
United were still five points ahead, although, crucially, Celts had five games in hand. Rangers were one point behind us, having played the same number of games but with a home derby to come. Aberdeen and Hibernian were tied two points further back, however, both were running out of games and their title challenge would now fizzle out.
Continues on the next page…
I got nervous again just reading it; what a night!