Dunfermline take the honours as the memory of Jock Stein is saluted

Thirty years after his tragic death in Cardiff the supporters and former players of Dunfermline and Celtic got together to pay tribute to the greatest manager that the game has ever seen- Jock Stein.

Taking Celtic to the European Cup in Lisbon two years after joining the club from Hibs was a high watermark that will never be touched but even before he arrived at Celtic he was already making waves in the management business.

When Stein became manager of Dunfermline in 1960 it left a few broken hearts among the reserve side at Celtic Park but a legend was in the making as he steered the Fifers clear of relegation- 12 months later Dunfermline lifted their first ever Scottish Cup beating Celtic in a replay at Hampden Parks.

The match programme from today’s game covered the detail that Stein went into after coming to East End Park, explaining how he traveled to Leicester in 1960 to attend a coaching course addressed by legendary Hungarian Gusztav Sebes.

Three years later a visit to Italy to study Helenio Herrra was to come in handy in later years as Stein’s Celtic side memorably lifted the European Cup at the first attempt.

Today’s match didn’t contain the intensity of that day in Lisbon but with some late summer sun in the air the fans at East End Park were able to turn the clock back to see some of the more recent greats.

Supporting Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink in attack were the still youthful duo of Mark Burchill and Simon Donnelly, in midfield Mark Wilson added pace to the reliable waistline’s of Stan Petrov and Neil Lennon.

Chris Sutton partnered Tom Boyd in defence while Jackie McNamara and Tosh McKinlay used their know how at full-back with few of their trademark overlaps in front of Jonathan Gould.

Burchill had a couple of half chances around the Dunfermline goal in the early stages while Gould pulled off a fantastic save midway through the first half to deny Hamish French a goal.

James McAvoy and Gianni Capaldi were among the second half substitutions with an effort from Vennegoor of Hesselink disallowed for offside against McNamara midway through the second period.

In the 66th minute Dunfermline took the lead with a great strike from John Watson who dummied Rab Douglas then smacked the ball high into the net.

With 15 minutes left to play and celebrity legs tiring in the Celtic side David Bingham put Dunfermline two up.

Petrov and Donnelly returned for the last ten minutes but home keeper Marco Ruitenbeek pulled off a couple of impressive saves to deny a late fightback.

DUNFERMLINE: 1 Marco Ruitenbeek, 2 Jason Dair, 3 Scott Wilson, 4 Andy Tod, 5 Andrius Skerla, 6 Scott Thomson, 7 Barry Nicholson, 8 Gary Mason, 9 Hamish French, 10 Stevie Crawford, 11 Stuart Petrie, 12 David Bingham, 14 Ross Jack, 15 John Potter, 16 Martin Hardie, 17 Allan Johnston, 18 Vinnie Jones, 19 John Watson, 20 Derek Stillie, 21 Paul Fitzgerald, 22 Istvan Kozma

CELTIC: 1 Jonathan Gould, 2 Tom Boyd, 3 Tosh McKinlay, 4 Jackie McNamara, 5 Scott Cardle, 7 James McAvoy, 8 Martin Compston, 9 Chris Sutton, 10 Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, 11 Gianni Capaldi, 12 Mark Wilson, 13 Simon Donnelly, 16 Sam Miller, 18 Neil Lennon, 19 Stiliyan Petrov, 20 Rab Douglas, 21 Gary Kirkwood, 27 Mark Burchill