Celtic on this Day – Cole’s goal at Stranraer, McGrory scores five, Scarff three

Celtic on this Day, plenty of goals from Celtic forwards from Jimmy McGrory to Carlton Cole….

Charlie Nicholas
Charlie Nicholas, Celtic v Dundee United at Celtic Park on 10th January 1981. Photo The Celtic Wiki

10 January 1981

Frank McGarvey
Frank McGarvey, Celtic v Dundee United at Celtic Park on 10th January 1981. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Celtic 2-1 Dundee United. This was Celtic’s best performance in a few months and these period of games between January and March would be ultimately the deciding factor in Billy McNeill’s men clinching the league title. It was a frosty day, similarly to Wednesday night’s game against the Tangerines. McGarvey’s header past Hamish McAlpine opened the scoring. McGarvey and Nicholas were linking up superbly and forming an unstoppable partnership. Nicholas made it 2-0 three minutes before half-time, magnificently lobbing the helpless McAlpine. Ralph Milne pulled one back for the visitors late on but Celtic secured an important victory to keep the pressure on league leaders Aberdeen.


10 January 2004

Stephen Pearson's Celtic debut
10/01/04. Scottish Cup, Celtic v Ross County Celtic Park – Stephen Pearson making is Celtic debut after coming on as a substitute on the 80th minute. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Celtic 2-0 Ross County. John Hartson and Paul Lambert made it a comfortable afternoon in an early round Scottish Cup tie against stubborn First Division opponents Ross County. Surprisingly, Martin O’Neill only made three changes to the side that swept aside Rangers in the league at Celtic Park a week prior. Out went Varga, Petrov and Thompson and in came Lambert, Wallace and Maloney. Stephen Pearson came on to make his Celtic debut in the 80th minute. This would be the start of the Hoops’ journey which saw them lift the Scottish Cup trophy in May of 2004 against Dunfermline.


10 January 1998

Henrik Larsson and Tommy Coyne
Henrik Larsson and Tommy Coyne . Motherwell v Celtic, 10th January 1998. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Motherwell 1-1 Celtic. After a vital victory versus Rangers which seemed to change the tide of the title race, Celtic reverted to type dropping yet more points in the league. Darren Jackson missed a penalty after Paul Lambert’s 35 yard screamer of an equaliser. Like so often in the 90s, Old Firm results weren’t deciders when it came to league title wins – it was games against routine domestic opponents the Hoops continually struggled against, season after season. Thankfully, these two points dropped at Fir Park didn’t have any bearing on where the title eventually ended up.


10 January 2016

Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Celtic supporters at the game. Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Celtic supporters at the game. Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Kris Commons celebrates. Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Carlton Cole in discussion with Andrew Dallas. Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Carlton Cole scores. Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Kris Commons scores.Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Leigh Griffiths scores. Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, 10th January 2016
Leigh Griffiths scores and celebrates with Tom Rogic. Stranraer 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 10th January 2016. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Stranraer 0-3 Celtic. Flares lit at Stair Park from the travelling support seemed to be the angle the Scottish media would take in the following days rather than the result itself. Ronny Deila’s men made light work of part-timers Stranraer in the Scottish Cup fourth round at Stair Park courtesy of a Leigh Griffiths double and a Carlton Cole header. Deila would be completely done out of a domestic Treble in season 2015/2016 after some fairly questionable officiating at Hampden in the semi-final against Inverness.


10 January 1931

Celtic 9-1 East Fife. Despite the nine spectacularly being scored, there were only three goalscorers for Willie Maley’s title challengers against the Fifers. Peter Scarff scored a hat-trick but incredibly didn’t receive the star billing as Jimmy McGrory netted on five occasions. You can read more about this encounter in The Celtic Star’s very own Matt Corr’s new book – ‘Celtic in the Thirties.

Peter Scarff
Peter Scarff, Celtic FC.Image by Celtic Curio for Celtic in the Thirties (Vol 1 & 2) by Matt Corr.

Conor Spence

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By popular demand, both volumes of Celtic in the Thirties are now available on Amazon Kindle, with the links to order below. Signed copies of both volumes are available on hardback from Celtic Star Books and if you would like author Matt Corr to add a special dedication to your copies please let us know. Order hardback copies HERE or for Amazon Kindle click on the links below…

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About Author

A current third year student studying History and Journalism, Media and Communications at the University of Strathclyde and now writing regularly about the Hoops for The Celtic Star.

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