Another group of supporters not enjoying their football that afternoon was those of Hibernian, following a 2-1 defeat at Dens Park courtesy of a double from 17-year-old Dundee striker Jocky Scott. That allowed Hearts – 4-1 victors over St Johnstone at Tynecastle – to stretch their lead at the top to three points with just three games to play. Kilmarnock now joined Hibernian on the 44-point mark, following their 2-1 win over Clyde at Rugby Park, whilst Dunfermline maintained their challenge by beating St Mirren by the same score at East End Park. The Pars were two points behind that duo with a game in hand, so relatively in the same position as Hibernian and Kilmarnock. It was Hearts’ title to lose now surely, although not according to Dunfermline manager Willie Cunningham.
“All is not lost because we dropped both points on Wednesday. Hearts and Hibs could be caught quite easily in their remaining games, and what impresses me about my boys is the way they are playing – with great spirit and determination.”
The Pars were not in action in midweek but two sides with title aspirations were involved with very different outcomes. Kilmarnock crept up to within a point of Hearts with a 1-0 win over Falkirk at Brockville, but Hibernian’s championship dreams seemed all but over after Celtic came to Easter Road and blew the hosts away with a 4-0 victory, a second defeat in four days for Bob Shankly’s men.
Three goals in seven minutes from Bertie Auld, Stevie Chalmers and Bobby Murdoch midway through the first half finished the contest, Auld adding a fourth after the break as Celts avenged their 4-2 reverse in Glasgow a few weeks earlier. Hibernian misery was complete when John Fallon saved a late Neil Martin penalty. It will forever be a question which will haunt Hibernian fans from that era, just what could have been achieved had Jock Stein remained in charge there until the end of that season. A genuine Sliding Doors moment.
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Great memories Matt. Shows how much the Scottish Football world has changed. On reading that it reminded me how much I took it for granted at that time that Celtic were not a team who would be challenging for the title. I was engrossed in getting that Scottish Cup win. That was enough for me, although I was sure Big Jock would be succesful in improving us.
By the way I recall that in the Daily Record on Cup Final Saturday morning there were 4 pages devoted to the 2 big games that day. One page each for Celtic, Dunfermline, Killie, Hearts telling gving the reason why each of these teams would be a winner. Then in Monday’s edition the Record was able to review both results with a “as we predicted” headline!