Celtic on this Day – Jock Stein’s Celtic sealed their place in the Scottish League Cup final with a thumping 7-1 victory over Greenock Morton On This Day in 1967…
Despite the fixture being held in the second week of October, this was Celtic’s 15th competitive match in a congested fixture calendar at the beginning of the 1967/1968 campaign.
The current European Cup holders who had won in Lisbon four months previously suffered an almighty shock a week before their semi-final clash the Ton. Part of the then Soviet Union, Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv knocked the Hoops at the earliest stage of the competition in the European Cup with a 3-2 win on aggregate.
Having lost the first Old Firm of the season coupled with being knocked out in the 1st round of the European Cup, it had been quite the hangover for a Celtic team who scooped up every single honour the season previous.
A statement of intent is what Jock Stein needed following a few rocky results and that is exactly what he got. The performance at Hampden Park would prove to be one of the most electrifying displays under the Celtic manager’s 13 year reign in the dugout.
The Celts came out the traps and blitzed Hal Stewart’s side. Subsequently, Stein’s men went in at the interval 5-1 in front. Five different scorers were on target in the first-half with Hughes, Wallace, Jinky and Craig making life easy at the national stadium. A settled second half after wrapping up the match in the first 45 allowed Celtic to put on the breaks. Yogi Hughes and Jim Craig grabbed their brace to conclude a replicable scoreline to the Scottish League Cup final of 1957, 10 years on from that famous encounter with Rangers.
Famously, works were in place in Glasgow’s Southside during the semi-final meeting, with a roof being built on the Rangers end of the stadium.
Traditional colours were also not displayed for the Scottish League Cup semi-final. Celtic played in green shirts, with white jerseys and white socks. Meanwhile, Morton played in unfamiliar white strips with black shorts and white socks.
Furthermore, the 7-1 trouncing meant that Celtic would meet either Dundee or St Johnstone in the League Cup final. The other semi-final was played a week later in front of a mediocre crowd of 18,000 where Bobby Ancell’s Dundee side were 3-1 winners.
Jock Stein’s Celtic starting XI OTD 57 years ago was unchanged to the side that had beaten Hibs 4-0 in the previous league match; Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Lennox, Wallace, Hughes.
Conor Spence
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