Lennox the hat-trick hero as Celtic at Ibrox

RYAN GYTE (Waterfoot) asks: Who was the last Celtic player to score three goals against Rangers at Ibrox?

A: Celtic hat-tricks at Ibrox are rare occurrences. In fact this feat has only been achieved once. The player concerned was Bobby Lennox and the game was a Glasgow Cup tie on August 23, 1966.

Billy McNeill opened the scoring with a well-struck volley, in the eighth minute, and Lennox followed up with goals in the 32nd, 81st and 83rd minutes to give Celtic a 4-0 away victory.

Stevie Chalmers had scored three against Rangers in January that year in a league match at Parkhead.

Harry Hood repeated the feat against Rangers in the 1973 League Cup semi-final at Hampden Park.

More recently, Moussa Dembele scored three against Rangers in a 5-1 Premiership victory at Celtic Park in 2016.

Nicholas (email) asks: The festive season brought back memories of going to a match on Christmas Day in the 70s to see the Bankies take on St Mirren. I believe it was the last match played in GET the lowdown on Scottish football’s fascinating history with a visit to the National Stadium. There’s fun among all the exhibits for every family member. Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sunday 11am-5pm. Adults £6, U16/concs £3, U5 free. Tel: 0141 616 6139 or visit www. scottishfootball museum.org.uk

Scotland on Christmas day. Could you provide some info as the match is a bit hazy?

A: The match was on Christmas Day 1976 and it was indeed the last senior game played in Scotland on that date. Both Clydebank and St Mirren where going for promotion to the top flight and the match attracted a bumper crowd of over 7000 to Kilbowie.

The game finished 2-2, after Clydebank had gone ahead 2-0 through Billy McColl and Mike Larnach but Bobby Torrance and Billy Stark struck for a share of the points. St Mirren would go on to win the league, with Clydebank being promoted.

Graham (Gartcosh) asks: Reflecting upon Rangers’ 3-1 win over Rapid Wien in October, how have Rangers fared in their overall record against Austrian opposition? A: Coincidently, Rapid Wien was the first Austrian team Rangers faced in European competition in 1964/65 in the first round of the European Cup.

Rangers won 3-0 on aggregate to progress to the quarter-finals were they faced Inter Milan who knocked them out 3-2 over two legs.

Rangers did not face Austrian rivals again until 2000/01, when they met Sturm Graz in the Champions League group stages. Rangers won 5-0 at Ibrox and lost 2-0 away. Sturm Graz finished top of the group while Rangers finished third to drop down into the Uefa Cup.

In 2004/05 Rangers faced Grazer AK in the Uefa Cup group stages and defeated them 3-0, but they could only finish fourth in the table.