Waterford helped themselves to a 2-0 lead at Celtic Park fifty years ago this evening. Billy McNeill sliced a clearance past Evan Williams to give the Irish side an unlikely lead after 18 minutes in a match that Celtic had started very poorly.
Things went from bad to worse for the side who had played in the European Cup Final at the San Siro in May that year, losing in extra-time to Feyenoord. Celtic upped their game after that early setback with Willie Wallace unlucky with an effort that hit the bar. Bobby Lennox then went close as another goal – this time for Celtic looked certain.
Unbelievably though it was the visitors who grabbed a second of the night with just 530 minutes played when Matthews for the better of Craig for speed and beat Williams to double the Irish side’s lead – much to the bemusement of the Celtic support in the 19,000 crowd.
This was getting embarrassing and you can imagine Jock Stein being less than happy as he read the riot act to the team which incidentally was Williams, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Hay, Johnstone, Lennox, Wallace, Connelly and Hughes.
It seemed to work. Stein moved John Hughes to centre forward and brought on Harry Hood to replace Lisbon Lion Bobby Lennox and those changes paid off immediately with Big Yogi pulling one back for Celtic in the first minute of the second half after excellent work form Jimmy Johnstone. And it was Jinky who grabbed a double, scoring on 56 minutes to level the score before grabbing the Celtic winner with 13 minutes left to play to secure a win on what was an uncomfortable and almost embarrassing night for Jock Stein and his players.
Can you imagine what Twitter would have been like at half time on this day 1970? HashtagSteinOut and the like no doubt. The Waterford team, for the record was Thomas; Bryan, Brennan; Maguire, Morrisey, McGeough; Casey, Hale, Kirkby, O’Neill, Mattthews and they were given a well-deserved standing ovation from the Celtic support at the final whistle.
There was no chance of an upset though. In case you were wondering this was the second leg of the European Cup tie and a few weeks earlier Celtic had travelled to Dublin (Waterford had moved the game to Landsdowne Road to accommodate a huge crowd) and won 7-0 so the aggregate score was Celtic 10 Waterford 2. That game in Dublin was marred by some pretty disgraceful scenes as the two sets of fans engaged in a running battle. There’s footage at the end of this article.
4th November 1970
European Cup
Celtic 3 Waterford 2Celtic: Williams, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch (Brogan), McNeill, Hay, Johnstone, Lennox, Wallace (Hood), Connelly, Hughes
Scorers : Hughes (45′), Johnstone (56′, 77′) pic.twitter.com/b0kTwoNbOC
— Sureitsza.tmg (@sureitsza) November 4, 2020
TERRACE THUGS CLASH – The headline on RTE
As you might have noticed from the headline above there was actually significant crowd trouble at this European Cup second round first leg between Waterford and Celtic in Dublin, which had a crowd of over 50,000.
“Crowd trouble at Lansdowne Road during a European Cup tie between Waterford and Glasgow Celtic.
“Waterford faced Glasgow Celtic in the first leg of their second round European Cup tie at Lansdowne Road in Dublin. During the first half of the match, after Celtic score their third goal, a brawl breaks out on the terraces at the Lansdowne Road end.
A lot of nasty stuff going on behind the goal Celtic are attacking into at the moment.
“One of the Celtic fans brandishes a flagpole and uses it a weapon. The crowd scatters in panic, with some football fans taking refuge on the pitch.
I think they can forget about football.
“For twenty minutes running battles rage up and down the terraces. At half-time the Danish referee Kaj Rasmussen delays the start of the second half until order is restored and bottles and cans cleared from the pitch.
At the final whistle the score is Waterford 0; Glasgow Celtic 7.”
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 21 October 1970. The commentator is Jimmy Magee.
You can watch the footage of this crowd trouble HERE.
