BERT WAS “SAVING” THE BALL RIGHT TO THE END

The news that former Dundee goalkeeper Bert Slater died last week came as a shock, especially as it came just a day after a nice wee tale about “Punchy” was relayed to me.

During Dundee’s recent 1-0 friendly win at Brechin, the ball went out of play at quite a speed and into the crowd.

There, a spectator leapt up and pulled off a one-handed “save” and threw the ball back on.

It was Bert.

And, my source revealed, he was given a round of applause by those around him.

Of course, to many older football fans (like myself), he will be remembered as the last line of the Dark Blues’ defence during their magnificent European Cup run in season 1962-63.

Especially in the first round against German side Cologne.

Dundee had won the first leg 8-1 at Dens, with the visiting goalkeeper being injured early on.

For the return leg, the Germans were psyched up in the misguided belief that their keeper’s injury at Dens came about after an intentional foul by Dundee front man Alan Cousin.

This, of course, was not the case, but Bert was soon targeted by the Cologne hard men.

Indeed, at one stage he was stretchered off with Andy Penman going in goal — and the Germans soon hit a few goals.

However, trooper Bert came back on again with his head bandaged and managed to keep the home side reasonably at bay to see Dundee winning through on aggregate, despite the 4-0 second-leg defeat.

Bert also played magnificently in the Scottish Cup Final against Rangers in 1964. The score was 1-1 going into the final few minutes and the thoughts of most at the game were turning to a replay.

Not so Willie Henderson. “Wee Willie” was given short shrift by Dee skipper Bobby Cox up until then, so the bandy-legged wee No. 7 decided to try his luck on the left.

In those final moments, he managed to jink around and put in two superb crosses, which were finished off by Jimmy Millar and Ralph Brand.

Most of Dark Blue persuasion still refer to that game as the “Slater Final”, while the Light Blue hordes know it now as the “Henderson Final.”

The line-ups that day, in front of 120,982 fans, were:

Dundee — Slater; Hamilton, Cox, Seith Ryden, Stuart; Penman, Cousin, Cameron, Gilzean, Robertson.

Rangers — Ritchie, Shearer, Caldow; Greig, McKinnon, Baxter; Henderson, McLean, Millar, Brand, Wilson.

IRISH CLUB SIDE BEAT SCOTLAND

BILLY DOCHERTY, formerly of Lochee, and now living in Carnoustie, is the latest in a long line of readers who want to tell a tale or two about Celtic.

However, Billy has diversified slightly from the Glasgow team, and his views are extended to the Irish variety.

“The Irish League has not seen a Celtic team since June 12, 1949, when Belfast Celtic ceased to exist. They were by far the Irish League’s best team,” said Billy.

“In 1994, while visiting the Ulster Museum in South Belfast, the speaker system announced that the story of this famous club’s history would be shown in the library’s cinema.

“My wife and I went down to see the film, but, before taking our seats, we passed a group of elderly men in dark green blazers and grey flannels.

“Later, we would find out they were former players of Belfast Celtic.

“Nobody could miss them as each was enormous in height, and were well-built even in old age.

“The film acknowledged their greatness by the number of trophies won.

“The Irish League were notified they intended to withdraw at the season’s end after playing their rivals Linfield on Boxing Day, 1948.

“The Linfield supporters had attacked the Celtic players at Windsor Park, with Jimmy Jones, their centre-forward, having his leg broken after a Linfield supporter had stamped on him.

“Their greatest day would come on May 29, 1949, when they actually beat a full Scotland team 2-0 in America.

“Such was Scotland’s shame they inserted a rule that stands to this day never to play against a club side.

“The Scotland team that day was — Brown; Govan, Young; Evans, Telfer, Cox; Waddell, Redpath, Thornton, Steel, McKenzie.

“Belfast Celtic were non-sectarian and they no longer exist, despite a number of attempts to resurrect them.

“The Irish League admits it is the loser, through lack of supporters and the substantial loss of finance, but good news is coming soon.

“Donegal Celtic, formed in 1970, playing in their early years in the Junior Leagues, have finally been promoted to the Irish Premier League.

“They are based in Suffolk Road, West Belfast, and they intend to provide facilities for up to 10,000 spectators.

“In the coming season, their intention is not to just avoid being in the lower part of the league, but to be a force in the league itself.

“For some time, I’ve taken great interest in this fine team, and they do, indeed, have potential.

“I wrote them a letter of congratulations recently and received a polite reply to visit them.”

ENGLAND’S FIRST DEFEAT CAME BEFORE HUNGARY

An unnamed reader has a bee in his/her bonnet regarding the England football team.

“I’ve read quite often that England’s first defeat at home from a non-British team was against Hungary in 1953,” he said.

“However, I’m sure that they lost to the Republic of Ireland before that. Indeed, England’s first home defeat to non-British opposition came in 1949 when they lost 2-0 to the Republic of Ireland at Goodison Park.

“Their 6-3 defeat to Hungary, in which Sandor Kocsis and Ferenc Puskas were outstanding, came in 1953 at Wembley.

“This was England’s first-ever defeat to continental opposition.”