Celtic On This Day – 11th March – David Potter’s Celtic Diary

Celtic Historian David Potter each morning on The Celtic Star looks back at key Celtic events and matches on this day starting on 11th March 1893…

Jimmy Blessington scored

SATURDAY 11 MARCH 1893 – Celtic lose in the Scottish Cup final 1-2 to Queen’s Park at Ibrox. Willie Maley is taken off injured after a kick in the face and he loses a tooth in the process, and Jimmy Blessington scores Celtic’s consolation goal. There are no goal nets in 1893 and one of the Queen’s Park goals seems to have been on the wrong side of the post, but the Queen’s Park players say “It’s a goal, Mr.Harrison!” The referee, Mr.Harrison of Kilmarnock, clearly believing that Queen’s Park players, being amateurs, would not tell lies, awards the goal. It will be a long time before Celtic fans forgive Queen’s Park for this.

Joe Cassidy scored

SATURDAY 11 MARCH 1922 – It may be that Maley has made the right decision to drop Tommy McInally who is being blamed for the Scottish Cup exit a fortnight ago. Today at Celtic Park before a diminished Celtic support of about 6,000 the team buckle down against a team of Kilmarnock “spoilers” and consolidate their position at the top of the League with a goal from Joe Cassidy.

Stevie Chalmers scored

SATURDAY 11 MARCH 1961 – It looks as if all is lost. Celtic are heading out of the Scottish Cup to Hibs at Parkhead as Hibs goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson and ex-Rangers defender Sammy Baird are confidently dealing with everything that Celtic can throw at them, when with only minutes remaining, Steve Chalmers pops up to score and to send all Parkhead mad with joy.

Bobby Lennox scored

SATURDAY 11 MARCH 1972 – A 1-1 draw at Pittodrie today is tantamount to a victory for Celtic are 5 points ahead of Aberdeen (Rangers are nowhere) with a game in hand with only 8 games left to play. Bobby Lennox scores for Celtic late in the second half and that looks good enough to win the game, but Joe Harper equalises with time running out. This was the season in which, about a month ago, Aberdeen had sold their star player Martin Buchan to Manchester United in a move that was freely compared to Winston Churchill selling the Spitfires the day before the Battle of Britain!

Henrik Larsson scored

SUNDAY 11 MARCH 2001 – Celtic take another step towards the treble when Henrik Larsson scores the only goal of the game against Hearts at Parkhead in front of 34,529 fans. This is in the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup, and even more good news comes Celtic’s way that Sunday night when Dundee United beat Rangers 1-0 at Tannadice, the goal coming from ex-Celt David Hannah.

David Potter

About Author

David was a distinguished Celtic author and historian and writer for The Celtic Star. He lived in Kirkcaldy and followed Celtic all my life, having seen them first at Dundee in March 1958. He was a retired teacher and his other interests were cricket, drama and the poetry of Robert Burns. David Potter passed away on 29 July 2023 after a short illness. He was posthumously awarded a Special Recognition award by Celtic FC at the club's Player of the Year awards in May 2024. David's widow Rosemary accepted the award to huge applause from the Celtic Supporters in the Hydro.

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