On this day in 1891, in the first season of the Scottish League, Celtic travelled to Ibrox to face Rangers in the second clash of the campaign, the first one having ended 2-2.
The Celtic team – and of course, at that time it was chosen by a committee – was Bell, Reynolds, T Dunbar, Gallagher, Kelly, W Maley, Madden, M Dunbar, Dowds, Campbell and MacMahon.
The pitch was heavy due to persistent rain during the week.
From the start, it was Rangers who put together the coordinated attacks while Celtic, quite surprisingly, used the long ball game. The Celts soon got a reward when after a shot by Willie Maley hit the cross–bar and Mick Dunbar was on hand to knock the rebound in.
Just before the break, two major incidents took place. Firstly, Mick Dunbar twisted his knee in a tackle and had to leave the field and then Rangers equalised through Bishop.
Celtic had the wind at their backs in the second half and this helped them to deal with Rangers’ frequent attacks, even with 10 men.
The left-wing pairing of Campbell and MacMahon was firing well for Celtic and soon they helped lay on the chance for Johnny Madden to score what would prove to be the winner.
The 2-1 win left the table as –
P W D L Pts
(1) Dumbarton 18 13 3 2 29
(2) Rangers 17 12 3 2 27
(5) Celtic 16 8 4 3 20
Jim Craig
A UNUQUE PHOTO TOUR OF CELTIC PARK
