Celtic in the spotlight at Molineux’s second ever floodlit friendly
Tim Gibbons looks at another of Wolves’ night-time games of the early ’50s
October 14, 1953 Wolves 2-0 Glasgow Celtic Friendly – Attendance: 41,820
THE month after their first floodlit game at Molineux that saw them beat South Africa, Wolves welcomed Glasgow Celtic. on October 14, 1953.
Celtic should have been
Wolves’ first opponents under the Molineux lights, however they let South Africa take the honour to financially help the Springboks.
The programme welcoming notes informed the supporters that the club invited Celtic as they were ‘one of the most famous clubs in Scotland’, and they hoped to be able to see demonstrated on the pitch the difference between the best English and the best Scottish styles of football!
41,820 spectators were inside Molineux to see the famous green and white hoops of Celtic under the Molineux lights. The visitors held the Scottish League record of 63 matches without a defeat and had won the League Championship 19 times and the Scottish Cup on 16 occasions.
There were some team changes in the Wolves line-up from the team that had beaten South Africa. In goal, Nigel Sims deputised for Bert Williams. Roy Pritchard and Bill Slater were both absent through injury with Bill Guttridge and Bill Baxter taking
Spectators hoped to see the difference between the best of English and Scottish styles of football
their places.
Peter Broadbent was away completing his National Service, and this presented the chance for youth player Bobby Mason to take his place.
For most of the game the tie was evenly balanced with Celtic playing well in the first half, and creating some good chances with some crisp passes, but they faded in the second half as Wolves took a hold of the game.
Wolves went close to breaking the deadlock with Johnny Hancocks having several wellplaced shots that came close. And they did finally make the breakthrough in the match with four minutes left, it took two quick goals from Dennis Wilshaw to wrap up the victory. This would see Wolves maintain their 100% floodlit record. Wolves took the lead in the 86th minutes when Wilshaw worked his way through the Celtic defence to beat keeper George Hunter, who earlier had made some fine saves to keep his side in the game.
The visitors had claimed that Wilshaw had handled the ball in the build-up to the goal, but it stood and Celtic were soon to face further misery. Wolves doubled their lead with a second goal only two minutes later, when Wilshaw picked up a pass from Roy Swinbourne to neatly hook the ball over Hunter.
Dennis Wilshaw was a natural goal scorer for Wolves, he was known as a strong and determined player that could unleash a powerful shot. He went on to make 232 appearances for the club, scoring a total of 113 goals, that ranks him in 12th position in the Wolves all-time goal scorers between Kenny Hibbitt and Roy Swinbourne, both on 114 goals, and Jimmy Mullen on 112. For Celtic goalkeeper Hunter his career at the club was limited to 38 appearances. He would later join Derby County and various other clubs, including a successful period at Exeter City where he is regarded as one of the club’s greatest ever goalkeepers. The scoreline could have further flattered Wolves had it not been for Hunter, who made a magnificent diving save in the last minute of the game to deny Bobby Mason his first goal for the club, and what would have been Wolves’ third goal on the night. Mason was making his first appearance with the first team and the seventeen-year-old inside right from Tipton nearly made a dream start to his football career. Mason did in fact go on to have a very successful Wolves career, making 173 appearances in the Wolves colours and winning the League Championship in consecutive seasons, 1957-58 and 1958-59.