Celtic head to Pittodrie tonight to face Aberdeen for the third time this season. It’s probably enough familiarity to become tiresome for players, but spare a thought for the Celtic and Aberdeen players who on this day on this day in 1987 finally settled a Scottish Cup tie that saw the teams face each other three times in the space of just nine days – at that point familiarity must have moved from tiresome to contempt.

The teams had been drawn to face each other on 1st February at Pittodrie in the third round of the Scottish Cup in front of 23,000 fans.

Celtic, who were boosted by a shock defeat of Rangers by Hamilton Accies prior to the match, actually had a number of players wearing trainers in this match as a result of being asked to play on a heavily frosted pitch, probably thought they’d done enough to win the tie having led through goals from Alan McInally after 14 minutes and a Brian McClair penalty eleven minutes from the break, however Aberdeen forced a replay as first Jim Bett scored with a penalty after 68 minutes and John Hewitt, who would go on to play for Celtic, equalised five minutes later.

With the teams unable to be separated it was back to Celtic Park on February 4 for the replay, where a crowd of 55,405 braved the elements but were far from rewarded for their valour as both teams cancelled each other over 120 minutes, in what was the sixth draw between the sides already that season.

There was no penalty shoot-out option to decide the tie and instead a third game was played, with Dens Park, Dundee deemed as a suitable neutral ground, on February 9, two days after Celtic had defeated St Mirren 3-0 at Celtic Park in a league fixture crammed into the schedule. And this time the match watched by an even 50/50 split of Celtic and Aberdeen supporters was won by Celtic with Brian McClair scoring the winning goal after 16 minutes in front of a crowd of 21,255 spectators.

Celtic played four games in nine days in that punishing schedule, yet despite seeing off an excellent Aberdeen team, were then knocked out in the Fourth Round of the Scottish Cup by Hearts at Tynecastle just two weeks later.

And fair play to anyone out there who attended all three games in that marathon Scottish Cup tie. Penalty kicks may not be the most satisfying way to conclude a cup-tie but it has to be better than three games in nine days against the same opponent.

Niall J