SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP TRIUMPHS – WIN No.5…
The League Cup win of 1967/68 was one of the best – involving an incredibly dramatic qualification from the sectional stage, a brilliant semi-final performance and an absolute goalfest in the final – yet it is sometimes passed over in the chronicles of writers and the memories of supporters.
The reasons for this are obvious. It was by no means the only triumph in the calendar year of 1967, and indeed the final took place on the afternoon of Saturday 28 October 1967 – and that very evening Celtic were airborne en route to South America in their attempt to win the World Club Championship.
The section could hardly have been tougher – Rangers, Aberdeen and Dundee United. The key game was the one against Rangers at Celtic Park on Wednesday 30 August. No game has “everything”, but this one had most! 0-1 down (a goal that looked like offside) and Rangers awarded a penalty. Kai Johansen took it, then touched it again after it came back off the bar, Mr Wharton correctly awarded Celtic an indirect free kick and Celtic duly ran up the field and scored three times in the last 15 minutes. It bordered on the incredible, and then everyone went home to discover who the murderer was in the soap opera called “The Fugitive”!
Ayr United were then disposed of in the quarter final over two legs without a great deal of difficulty, then Morton came to Hampden for the semi-final. It was a week after Celtic had been knocked out of the European Cup, and it was as if Celtic were saying “sorry” to the fans, for the play in the 7-1 victory was little short of devastating with John Hughes once again scoring one of his great individual goals.
And so to that final against Dundee which ended 5-3 for Celtic! Celtic, without the suspended Jimmy Johnstone, scored twice early on and things looked easy, but Dundee kept fighting back with Celtic showing a certain vulnerability at the back (a feature of the great years, it has to be admitted).
However Celtic’s five goals (two from Chalmers and one each from Hughes, Lennox and Wallace) were enough to win the trophy for the third year in a row and the fifth time overall. For Dundee, the goals were scored by the McLeans – two by George (one time of Rangers) and the other by Jim (the future Manager of Dundee United).
Celtic’s team that day was Simpson, Craig and Gemmell; Murdoch, McNeill and Clark; Chalmers, Lennox, Wallace, Auld (O’Neill) and Hughes. Two venerable old gentlemen sat together in the stand watching that game, veterans of the only previous time Celtic and Dundee had met in a Cup final – the Scottish Cup final of 1925.
They were Dave McLean and Jimmy McGrory. McLean, (who had played for Celtic between 1907 and 1909) had scored for Dundee in 1925, and Jimmy McGrory had scored Celtic’s winner. Like everyone else, they enjoyed this game, even though they were a bit bamboozled by the speed of it all. Dundee fully deserved their generous ovation from the Celtic fans at the end.
David Potter
Celtic’s League Cup Advent Calendar – Win No. 6 will be published on The Celtic Star tomorrow morning, 6 December..
