1957

Scottish League Cup Final, Hampden Park, 19-10-1957

The surprising thing about this match was not so much the 7-1 scoreline but the fact that it took 23 minutes for Celtic to open the scoring.  Right from the kick off the Celts mounted attack after attack and hit the woodwork twice in the opening minutes.  When the goal did come it was from the boot of Sammy Wilson, a free transfer from St Mirren who fired a first time effort into the back of the net from a Charlie Tully cross.

Rangers defended desperately but the longer the game went on the more confident they became until just a minute from the break when Celtic winger Neil Mochan sped off down the left, sweeping past Rangers’ right back Shearer and almost to the bye-line before unleashing a terrific left foot shot which bulged the Rangers net and sent the Celtic fans into raptures.

Celtic started the second half exactly the way they had the first and on 53 minutes it was 3-0.  Bobby Collins sent in a beautiful cross which was met by the head of Billy McPhail and glanced into the net.  Rangers were now in total disarray and were switching players to different positions to try to stem the tide but with Celtic maybe thinking the game was already won, Rangers pulled a goal back with a Simpson header on 58 minutes.

Instead of the goal giving Rangers hope it seemed to inspire Celtic to go on and score even more and with Fernie and Mochan tearing the Gers defence to to shreds it was only a matter of time before the fourth goal arrived.  With 68 minutes on the clock McPhail volleyed a Mochan corner but his net-bound shot was parried by keeper Niven but the ball came back to the Celtic ace and he calmly chose his spot in the net to put the Celts 4-1 up.

After 75 minutes, a cross from Wilson found the unmarked Mochan who bagged his second goal of the game to give Celtic a 5-1 lead but worse was to follow for the Gers whose supporters were heading for the exits when a long ball from Beattie in the Celtic goal found McPhail who flicked the ball over Rangers’ centre half Valentine, ran round him and collecting the ball from his own flick, headed for goal all on his own and as Niven came out to meet him he coolly slotted the ball beyond him and into the net to make it 6-1 with still 10 minutes to go.

The Rangers support could take no more and violence flared with supporters fighting among themselves and bottles being hurled into the air.  The trouble spilled over on to the pitch and the police had to move swiftly to prevent it getting out of hand.  The play went on despite the fracas at the Rangers end and Celtic were awarded a penalty in the 90th minute when McPhail was brought down in the box.  Willie Fernie took the kick and scored easily to give Celtic their greatest ever victory over Rangers.

Former skipper Jock Stein who was at home in Hamilton recovering from another ankle operation had listened to the game on the radio and was pleasantly surprised when a car arrived to take him away to the victory dinner in Glasgow.

Teams: Celtic: Beattie, Donnelly, Fallon, Fernie, Evans, Peacock, Tully, Collins, McPhail, Wilson, Mochan.

Rangers: Niven, Shearer, Caldow, McColl, Valentine, Davis, Scott, Simpson, Murray, Baird, Hubbard.

Referee: Mr. J.A.Mowatt, Burnside.