Wednesday 20th December, 2017 at 2:12pm
Thistle had lost the first leg of this quarter-final at Firhill by the narrowest of margins, a Charlie Nicholas penalty-kick, to be precise. That was all that separated the sides. However, in the second leg of the tie at Parkhead Thistle produced a really gutsy performance and after 42 minutes Alex O’Hara levelled the scores. There was no further scoring during the 90 minutes, so it was on to extra-time. If you didn’t attend this match, or cannot remember, or maybe weren’t even born at the time, you are beginning to get an idea of the scenario about to unfold. Why does it happen this way? Why, oh why do we get to the brink of glory against the so-called giants of the game and then it all unravels? Celtic didn’t just score once in the extra period, they scored twice. All our good work and valiant effort during the 90 minutes was undone. Still, I would not like to detract in any way from a sterling performance by Thistle, who were up against it from the start and whose task was certainly not made any easier by the booking and subsequent ordering-off of Frank Welsh. Tired legs may well have come into the equation also, because this game took place on a Monday evening, just two days after we had beaten Hearts 1-0 at Tynecastle, and it was played in torrential rain.
The whole team which went down eventually to goals from the late Tommy Burns after 94 minutes and a second from Roddy McDonald seven minutes from the end of extra-time, was as follows: – Alan Rough, John Murray, John Lapsley, Jackie Campbell, Brian Whittaker, Frank Welsh, Donald Park, Alex O’Hara, George Clark, Kenny Watson, Ian Jardine. The substitutes were Ian McDonald (easily recognised for his 329 appearances and 34 goals) and Billy McLeod – now there’s one to test the memory. I had to ponder that one myself.
Robert R
