Willie started the 1968/69 campaign where he had left off, scoring for fun. I remember to this day sitting on an Ayrshire beach listening to the opening League Cup game from Ibrox coming through on the radio, and the thrill and the noise when Willie Wallace scored twice to win the match. Willie would then score all four goals as Partick Thistle were beaten 4-0 the following Saturday, then the winner in the return match with Rangers at Celtic Park, steadying himself after John Hughes had struck the crossbar, before coolly placing the ball past Norrie Martin.
🎂🥳 Happy 8️⃣0️⃣th Birthday to @CelticFC Legend, Willie Wallace. 🦁⭐pic.twitter.com/iyqc2D4MQA
— CeltiGraph (From 🏠) (@CeltiGraph) June 23, 2020
Bobby Lennox would go one better in the final section match at Firhill, on Saturday, 31 August 1968, hitting five as Celts beat Partick Thistle by 6-1, to finish with a 100% record in the group. He would repeat that feat just 11 days later, as Hamilton Academical were demolished 10-0 in the first leg of the quarter-final, whilst, incredibly, his strike partner Stevie Chalmers scored the other five! I cannot think of another example where two players have scored five goals in the same game.
In the return leg at Douglas Park, two weeks later, and with Celtic 2-1 ahead at half-time, Jock Stein introduced 17-year-old Kenny Dalglish for his senior debut, in place of Charlie Gallagher. Kenny would later joke that Stein was clearly not a man for taking chances, waiting until the Hoops were 11 goals ahead before giving him his opportunity! As one Celtic career began, sadly another ended. Charlie Gallagher would not play for the Bhoys again.
That season would come down to a critical period in March and April 1969, Willie notching a hat-trick in the 7-1 mauling of Arbroath at Celtic Park on the first Wednesday in March, before a costly slip by Billy McNeill at the same venue, seven days later, allowed Pierino Prati to score the solitary goal of the European Cup quarter-final for AC Milan, ending hopes of a second success in that competition, Celts having earlier destroyed St Etienne and Red Star Belgrade.
The three domestic trophies were tied up within 21 days in April, commencing with a 6-2 mauling of Hibernian in the delayed League Cup final on Saturday 5th, a fire in the South Stand preventing the game taking place in its usual October slot. Bobby Lennox, having the season of his life, scored a hat-trick in that one, as Celts led 6-0 before easing off towards the end.
A last-minute equaliser from Tommy Gemmell then capped a superb fightback from two goals down at Rugby Park, on Monday, 21 April 1969, earning the Hoops the point required for a fourth successive League title. Five days later, a second treble in three years was secured with a wonderful 4-0 victory over Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final, in front of 133,000 spectators, the impressive Wallace collection thus boosted by another trio of domestic winner’s medals.
On the international front, there had been three further appearances for Willie in ‘68/69. On Wednesday, 4 September 1968, he had lined up for the Scottish League for the third time, for a match at Dalymount Park against a League of Ireland select.
Unlike the friendly match there with Celtic six months earlier, he would fail to get on the scoresheet that evening as the match ended goalless. On Wednesday, 26 March 1969, Willie did open the scoring at Hampden against the English League, his fifth-minute opener setting the hosts up for a good result. Sadly, the game would get away from the Scots, Frank Casper equalising just before the break before Alan Ball and Bobby Tambling, another who would reappear in Willie’s story, sealed a 3-1 win for the visitors.
England would also be the opponents for Wallace’s final appearance in the navy of Scotland. On the evening of Saturday, 10 May 1969, Willie would replace Alan Gilzean of Tottenham Hotspur just before the hour mark at Wembley, with the Scots trailing 2-1. The hosts would add two further goals as their 1966 heroes Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters both completed their personal doubles at the expense of Scotland and their now-beleaguered manager Bobby Brown. It was a far cry from the same fixture two years earlier, Brown’s first game in the national post, where Willie had been instrumental in a famous Scottish victory.
