Celtic 4 - 2 Aberdeen

Altered Tactics - Celtic Took Command

FOR half the game against Celtic at Parkhead the Dons were a good team; for seventy-seven minutes they looked as if they would force a draw; during the last twelve minutes they suffered a total eclipse.

No team should lose three goals in twelve minutes, particularly when they have the advantage of a wind and rainstorm.
Aberdeen built the scaffolding for their own execution. Against the elements in the first half they played adventurous and imaginative football. As a team they were better than Celtic.
The Parkhead club retired at half time on level terms, thanks only to a goal that had a big element of luck attached to it.
For some inexplicable reason the Dons completely altered their tactics after the interval. When they could have taken a gamble they decided to play safe - they fell back in defence.

Invitation

This was an invitation to Celtic to take the initiative and they gladly accepted. They showed their appreciation by scoring three goals.
The wing half backs, Anderson and Harris, were the first to relinquish enterprise for safety, and it spread to the forwards.
It was only when the men in front decided to take a hand that cracks appeared in the Aberdeen defence. The defensive machinery became clogged.
Up to that point the Pittodrie defenders had produced the answer to the best the Celtic forwards could bring against them.
Emery, Waddell and McKenna played soundly. The right back refused to become hypnotised by the ball-juggling Tully and forced the winger to adopt a roving policy.
McKenna, who had not been playing well in recent weeks, made a welcome return to something like his best form.
Yorston was the sprightliest Pittodrie forward and so long as he retains this standard of play he will continue to command a place in the League side. He was confident in possession and intelligent in his distribution in the first half.

Enterprising

Rice was enterprising on the right and comes next in the order of merit. Kellv in the middle covered a lot of ground without being specially dangerous.
Hather flashed into the limelight once or twice in the first forty-five minutes, but the left winger has not yet recovered the swashbuckling spirit that characterised his play last season.
Hamilton was but a shadow of the real Hamilton. He seemed unable to get clear of the persistent McAuley.
Celtic are at the top of the League table, but they did not impress as a championshipwinning team. The Dons' two goals were taken so cleanly and easily as to leave the Parkhead defence under suspicion.
The inside forwards, McPhail, Haughney and Taylor, are not the ideal combination.
With the exception of the fourth, netted in first-class style by McPhail, the Celtic goals caused no alteration in the pulse rate of the 30,000 onlookers.

Kelly Dives,/p> Aberdeen took the lead in six minutes, when Kelly dived forward to head home a free kick taken by Rice.
The equaliser arrived in thirty-six minutes. Collins cut in along the touchline from a slip from McPhail. When he attempted to get the ball into the middle to Haughney it struck Waddell and was deflected into goal.
Thirty-three minutes after the start of the second period Celtic went ahead. When Taylor edged on a free kick from Boden, McPhail snicked the ball goalwards and it rolled into the net near the post.
Haughney got the third three minutes later and the centre-forward appeared to be in an offside position when received the ball from Tully.
The Dons hit back five minutes from the end. Kelly worked his way out to the left and lobbed the ball into the middle for Rice to beat the Celtic defence in the jump and head into the net.
McPhail completed the scoring in the last minute, crashing the ball past Curran from a dainty lob from Tully.

Source: Press & Journal, 17th October 1949