September had ended with a whimper, with disappointing draws against Airdrie and Aberdeen. It took a late Nicholas penalty, his first for the club, to rescue a point against the newly-promoted Diamonds, in John Weir’s debut. At Pittodrie, another Charlie spot-kick, his ninth consecutive scoring appearance, then an excellent Burns header put Celts in control against the defending champions. However, a late collapse saw the Dons hit two goals in two minutes and a valuable opportunity to strike a title blow had been passed up.
There was progress in the League Cup, with a double-header against Hamilton Accies played within 48 hours due to Celtic’s European commitments. On the Monday night at Douglas Park, Johnny Doyle opened the scoring in a 3-1 win, knocking home the rebound after Ferguson had saved an Aitken shot.
None of us in the ground that evening would be aware we had just witnessed the last top-flight goal for a true Celt, the final chapter in that sad story being for another day. Two nights later, the job was completed at Celtic Park with a routine 4-1 victory, Nicholas and Burns again on target before a late brace from substitute McGarvey rounded things off.
By contrast, October was an excellent month domestically, Celts bouncing back from their European disappointment to record four straight League victories, with Dundee United, St Mirren, Morton and Kilmarnock the victims. Charlie, for once, failed to score at Love Street, although thankfully the Buddies chipped in with two own goals to gift the Hoops the points, in a game where their former star, McGarvey, was sent packing for the second time in ten days. There were also home and away wins over Partick Thistle in the League Cup Quarter-final, although extra-time was again required at Celtic Park before Burns and MacDonald finally settled the tie.
The see-saw season continued in November, with back-to-back defeats at Ibrox and at home to Aberdeen. Our first visit to the Free Broomloan was a miserable experience, the late Colin McAdam bullying his younger brother Tom to score twice in a 3-0 victory.
The following Saturday, Aberdeen compounded our misery with their fourth successive win at Parkhead, two goals from Walker McCall the difference in a game best-remembered for an attack on Dons midfielder and tormentor-in-chief, Gordon Strachan, by a so-called ‘fan from the Jungle’.
In midweek there was a glimmer of hope, a late Nicholas equaliser at Tannadice putting Celtic in pole position in the first leg of the League Cup Semi-final, as young left-back Mark Reid made his debut. However, the holders showed their mettle in the return game, scoring early on through Pettigrew before killing the tie with two second-half goals to set up a Dick Donnelly Dreary Dreich Dens Park Dundee Derby December final, which United would win easily.
There was a touch of ‘deja-vu’ about our next match, at home to St Mirren, as full-back Alex Beckett decided he would out do his Rangers rival Miller, with an even more outrageous last-minute strike to consign Celtic to a fourth defeat in six games. So it was a subdued Cairn CSC group who gathered for our first ever trip out of Scotland at dawn the following Tuesday, en route to London for Sammy Nelson’s Testimonial.
