November saw a winless sequence of results for Celtic against teams in the lower half of the table, a 3-3 home draw with St Mirren followed by defeats at Firhill and Easter Road, where England striker Joe Baker scored a hat-trick. Further bad news arrived at the end of the month as Willie Fernie put in a transfer request and was soon on his way to Middlesbrough, amidst speculation that that the sale of players was tied to costs associated with the covering of the Celtic End the previous autumn and plans to do likewise at the opposite side of the ground, replace the Jungle with a new stand and install floodlighting. As a very topical aside, The Celtic Wiki noted that the Scottish Schools FA had complained to the SFA that week regarding Celtic’s use of a 15-year-old player in one of their junior teams. The youngster’s name was John Hughes of Coatbridge, who sadly passed away earlier this week. Rest in peace, Yogi.
Celtic’s fortunes didn’t see an immediate improvement in December, their home match with Motherwell abandoned with just eight minutes remaining with the Hoops 2-0 up due to fog. Things did get better beyond that, a 1-1 draw with reigning champions Hearts at Tynecastle sandwiched between a 7-3 mauling of promoted Stirling Albion and a 3-1 defeat of Scottish Cup-holders Clyde, both games played at Celtic Park and featuring Matt McVittie goals as the Hoops finished the calendar year in sixth spot in the table.
The opening day of 1959 saw Rangers and Celtic battle for supremacy in the quagmire of Ibrox. The match outcome hinged on two penalty kicks, Eric Caldow giving the hosts a 2-1 lead on the hour before Bertie Auld’s effort crashed to safety off the crossbar with five minutes remaining, the Celt having struggled to locate the spot given the condition of the pitch. The referee had considered abandoning the game a few minutes earlier but chose to continue, no consolation to Matt who was found to be suffering from exposure at the final whistle.
Matt would not return to the first team until the postponed Scottish Cup second-round tie against holders Clyde at Celtic Park on Wednesday, 18 February 1959. The Bully Wee had knocked Celtic out at the same venue 12 months earlier but McVittie gave the Hoops the lead early in the second half, a lead they held until 15 minutes from time when Celtic-daft Tommy Ring earned a replay with another cup goal against his boyhood favourites. That game would mark the only senior appearance at Celtic for 16-year-old inside-forward Roy Paton.
Matt McVittie would feature prominently in Celtic’s three remaining matches that month, commencing with the trip to Third Lanark on Saturday, 21 February 1959. Future Celt Bobby Craig gave the hosts an early lead at Cathkin but Matt’s equaliser with 10 minutes to play salvaged a point for the Hoops. He was on target again 48 hours later as Celtic knocked holders Clyde out of the Scottish Cup by the odd goal in seven after extra-time in their Shawfield replay, despite three times trailing to the hosts. Ian Lochhead made his Celtic debut that evening. That win set up a third-round tie with Rangers at Celtic Park five days later, a 42,000-limit imposed in an attempt to improve crowd behaviour and control. Matt had an excellent game and scored what proved to be the winner two minutes into the second half, after John Divers had given the Hoops the lead on the stroke of half-time. Max Murray’s injury time consolation was too little too late to prevent defeat for the cup favourites, their first such loss to Celtic at Parkhead since 1901.
McVittie’s bad luck with injuries continued as he missed the home clash with Dundee the next week due to a cyst on his neck, but he was back in place on Tuesday, 10 March 1959 for the trip to Broomfield to face Airdrieonians. That saw the beginning of another wonderful career, as Stevie Chalmers – a recent signing from Ashfield – made his debut in a different colour of Hoops. Jim Sharkey played well for the Diamonds against his old teammates in their 2-1 win.
Next up for Celtic was a Scottish Cup quarter-final tie against Stirling Albion on Saturday, 14 March 1959. There were almost 29,000 spectators packed into Annfield on an horrendous, wet afternoon which might have suited the hosts – whose right-back delighted in the name of John Hailstones – more than their visitors. Albion captain Jack McKechnie would perhaps rue his decision to play against the wind after winning the toss as the Celtic attack built up a three-goal lead by half-time, John Divers, Sammy Wilson and a first goal in the Hoops from Ian Lochhead effectively killing the tie before a late consolation strike from Kilgannon.
Celtic’s reward for the victory in Stirling was a semi-final against St Mirren and co-incidentally the sides met in a rescheduled League match in midweek at Love Street. The omens for the big game were not great after Saints deservedly won 1-0 in a game they dominated. McVittie was forced out of the weekend win over Partick Thistle with a further neck cyst issue but did return for the match with fellow cup semi-finalists Aberdeen at Celtic Park on Wednesday, 25 March 1959.
Future Lisbon Lions Billy McNeill and Bertie Auld also came back into the side, Cesar featuring in a half-back line of legendary club captains with Bobby Evans and Bertie Peacock. Ian Lochhead gave Celts an interval lead with Neil Mochan and John Colrain extending that to 3-0 before Matt scored Celtic’s final goal just after the hour.
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