Towards the end of season 1979-80, Celtic fans were on cloud nine, as their team was still in with a chance of picking up a trophy. They were top of the league, 8 points clear of second-placed Morton and St Mirren, with Aberdeen and Rangers a further two points adrift.
In the Scottish Cup, they had just beaten Morton 2-0 on 8 March at the quarter-final stage; while in the European Cup, also at the quarter-final stages, Celtic had beaten Real Madrid 2-0 at Celtic Park on 5 March.
On Friday 11 March 1980, there was further good news for the support with the news that the club had signed striker Frank McGarvey from Liverpool for a reputed fee of £250,000.
And on this day in 1980, Frank was in the number 9 shirt as Celtic ran out at Parkhead to face St Mirren in a league match.
The full team was Peter Latchford, Alan Sneddon, Danny McGrain, Roy Aitken, Roddy MacDonald, Tom McAdam, Davie Provan, George McCluskey, Frank McGarvey, Murdo MacLeod and Johnny Doyle.
A crowd of 30,000 was there to see the action and they would have been very pleased to see George McCluskey give Celtic a lead in 20 minutes and Johnny Dole making it 2-0 in the 52nd minute.
At that stage, things looked great for the Hoops but the Buddies suddenly raised their game, took advantage of some Celtic defensive frailties and got two themselves, both through striker Doug Sumner, the first from the penalty spot in 69 minutes and the second six minutes later.
A 2-2 draw was not what the fans were expecting and the team left the field to a less-than-enthusiastic reception.
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