The Thistle Archive

“Sizzling Thistle roast Celts”. “Thistle won the trophy…with a blistering display of power football”. “Thistle were dynamic on the break, calm in defence” (ET). “Barren years end for Thistle with emphatic cup win” (GH). Four goals in the first 37 minutes gave Thistle their first major trophy win for 50 years. The bookies rated Celtic as 5-1 on to win. Rae (10), Lawrie (15), McQuade (29) and Bone (37) got the goals in one of the biggest upsets in Scottish football. Celtic were unchanged from the side that had won 5-0 against Sliema Malta on the Wednesday night. Glavin and Rae passed late fitness tests for Thistle.

The teams sparred with each other at the start, making little in the way of serious attacks then McQuade had a shot from 25 yards that whizzed past the post. The speed of Lawrie was giving the Celtic full-backs all sorts of problems. Rae scored with a shot from the edge of the box from a corner kick - right into the postage stamp corner of the net. Thistle, effectively with 2 men in midfield (Glavin and Rae) controlling things, scored again when McQuade won possession in the middle of the park then passed to Coulston who swung over to Lawrie and he cut inside Hay and cracked a beauty into the far corner. 2-0. Celtic hit back with a corner but Rough clutched it safely. Johnstone “clashed” with Glavin and went off injured and Celtic had to re-organise when Craig came on. Hansen was knocked out when he got in the way of a Murdoch shot but soon recovered. Next, Campbell fell heavily and lay on the pitch for more than a minute before the referee stopped play. Ironically Thistle came close to a third goal while he was down.

On the half hour a Lawrie corner was swung over and the Celtic defence looked all at sea. Coulston should have scored but McQuade did so in his own particular style. With half a goal gaping he managed to hit the ball off a defender into the net. Soon after McQuade beat three men and was brought down heavily. He required treatment before he could continue. Next, McQuade was in the thick of it again and it should have been number four. A cut-back by Bone to Lawrie was crossed over and McQuade missed a sitter in front of goal. Glavin was injured in the Celtic penalty box but the referee ignored him and didn't stop play. He limped off for attention and while Thistle were down to ten men Bone scored goal number four when he more or less walked the ball into the net from a Lawrie chip - the Celtic defence statuesque. Thistle supporters in the North Stand stamped their feet and cries of “Easy! Easy!” went up. Gemmell and Glavin had a joust for the ball and Glavin had to go off for a second time. Hood came close with a header just as Glavin came back onto the field. 4-0 at half-time!

When the half-time scores were being announced on BBC's “Grandstand” programme, the score was correctly given but the presenter was certain it was the wrong way round and that it would be checked. Early in the second half the ball was moved around five players in some uninhibited play and McQuade shot over the bar to deny Thistle a 5-goal lead. Thistle were playing out of their skins and giving Celtic all sorts of problems down the wings and through the middle. Next, Dalglish knocked the ball over with just Rough to beat then Rough had a magnificent save from a Gemmell cross as Celtic turned on the pressure. On the hour Rough made a magnificent point-blank save from Macari but he was eventually beaten when Dalglish scored with 20 minutes left. There was no panic however and Thistle saw out the remaining minutes with Gibson coming on and displaying his skills in holding onto the ball, running down the clock. Thistle, for once, had beaten Celtic at their own game.