AFTER the second Rangers goal went in, courtesy of Willie Johnston, there was pandemonium in the ‘blue’ end of Celtic Park. “To say that their supporters were ecstatic would be putting it mildly,” wrote the Glasgow Herald’s Glyn Edwards. “Several even had to receive medical attention behind the goal after having been caught up in the delirium”.
It was Saturday, September 14, 1968, the second week of the new league season. Celtic had won the previous three league titles, and Rangers had a lot to play for in the new campaign.
Örjan Persson put them ahead in the 17th minute, followed quickly by Johnston. Both strikers, said Edwards, had a field day. (Highlights of the game, shot by a Rangers fan using a Super 8mm camera, are viewable on YouTube).
Willie Wallace reduced the leeway in the 29th minute, then Bobby Lennox had a goal disallowed for offside.
“Incident crowded upon incident thereafter”, our report continued. “[Jimmy] Johnstone struck the bar in the course of producing several mesmeric runs; and [Norrie] Martin and [Ronnie] Simpson pulled out one magnificent save after another”.
At one point, Celtic’s Billy McNeill and Rangers’s Sandy Jardine landed off the pitch (pictured) after leaping for a header together.
Andy Penman increased Rangers's lead in 65 minutes. Wallace got a second goal for Celtic, but with moments remaining Jardine sent in a cross and Willie Johnston headed home, to make the final score Celtic 2, Rangers 4.
It was the first Rangers victory in Old Firm match for exactly 12 months, and their first at Parkhead since New Year’s Day, 1964. Edwards wrote that the result injected new life into the Scottish game, for had Celtic won, the league championship might well have been over before it had had time to get off the ground.
Despite the setback, Celtic went on to win the title.
Read more: Herald Diary
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