DVTK included Besiktas, Rapid Vienna and our own Dundee United within their recent conquests, so the margin of victory was something of a surprise. Two weeks later, 18-year-old Nicholas put Celts seven clear in the tie, with his first European strike. However, despite being outplayed for most of the match, a Gorgei double either side of half-time, his first appearing to go in via the side-netting, gave the Hungarians an unlikely 2-1 victory on the night.
In between those games, there was a League Cup scare from First Division Stirling Albion, managed by a young Alex Smith. Celts lost the first leg at the old Annfield to a solitary Lloyd Irvine goal and twelve minutes into the second-leg, three days later, we all feared the worst as McPhee doubled the lead. Despite a fantastic strike from Dom Sullivan, Celtic were heading out of the Cup as the clock ticked by.
Then with just three minutes remaining, Tommy Burns came to the rescue with a fine second, and so to extra-time we went. There would be no second-chance for Albion, as McNeill introduced Nicholas and Charlie did not disappoint with a double, his first senior goals, two of four in the additional period as Celtic ran out eventual 6-1 winners on the day.
Back on League business, there were comfortable wins against Partick Thistle and Hearts before the next European tie, as Nicholas continued his fine scoring run.
The Romanian side Politehnica Timisoara were our next Cup-Winners’ Cup visitors, Charlie again on the mark with a first-half brace as Celts totally dominated proceedings. However, Celtic’s failure to convert any one of a dozen further chances proved costly, as a late Romanian counter set things up for a difficult second leg.
And so it proved a fortnight later in Timisoara, with a ridiculous performance from the Greek official taking centre stage. The writing was on the wall from the outset, as having won the toss, Danny McGrain looked on helplessly as the Romanians elected to play with the strong wind and kicked off.
Things went from bad to worse, MacDonald sent off within twenty minutes having been pushed to the ground, a goal awarded to the hosts in the closing stages despite a blatant foul on Latchford, then McGarvey sent packing for reacting to the umpteenth assault on him, as Celtic finished with nine men and out of Europe.
Even Assistant Manager John Clark got involved, the most mild-mannered of men provoked by the official into an argument and subsequent UEFA ban, as the tie ended in farce. Some of our Cairn members were among the small number of Celts in the 50,000 crowd.
However, when the red mist cleared, the fact remained that the return leg should have been a formality, given Celtic’s dominance at Parkhead. A sore lesson indeed.
