WHEN the clock strikes midnight tonight Johnny Hubbard will have greater reason than most to celebrate as his mind races back 60 years to a remarkable Ne'erday Old Firm encounter which remains etched in history.

 

Rangers can boast some outstanding strikers in the period since, from Billy Simpson, through Jimmy Millar, Ralph Brand, Colin Stein and Derek Johnstone to Mark Hateley and, of course, the greatest of them all, Ally McCoist.

These men scored cup final winners, crucial league strikes and vital goals in the European arena but one thing they cannot boast is a hat-trick in a league game against Celtic.

The last one was achieved on January 1, 1955 by the diminutive South African.. The Pretoria-born winger achieved the feat in a 4-1 victory and he remembers it as if it was yesterday.

There is no video evidence of his remarkable achievement but those who were there - including Sir Alex Ferguson - feel privileged. Ferguson has rated Hubbard's first goal as the greatest he has ever seen, which gives some indication of the quality.

Hubbard said: "It's amazing to think that my hat-trick still stands [as the last against Celtic in a league game] when you consider all the strikers who have played with Rangers since.

"Six years earlier Jimmy Duncanson did the same thing when he scored three against Celtic on New Year's Day. It's a great record to have and I wonder when it might be beaten."

So what happened that fateful day? It had been a fairly uneventful Old Firm game with honours even after the first 45 minutes and it was late in the game that Hubbard wrote his name into the history books.

Hubbard takes up the story: "It was quite a quiet game. It was 1-1 at half-time - Billy Simpson had scored for us - then, with 14 minutes to go, John Little passed the ball to me just outside our box and I just went on a run from there. I beat Bobby Evans, Mike Haughney, Jock Stein and Frank Meechan and a couple more besides. Suddenly I only had the goalkeeper to beat, I waltzed around him and I walked the ball into the net. I heard that Sir Alex thought it was the best goal he has ever seen; that was a great thing to hear.

"The second goal was a little bit unusual too because I didn't use my feet or head to score it. I passed the ball to Billy and he went off down the left wing. I followed into the box, he crossed the ball over and I chested the ball into the net."

Hubbard, of course, built a reputation of being one of the greatest penalty kick takers in history - he scored 54 out of 57 penalties for Rangers - and it was from the spot that he scored his third. He added: "With a minute to go Derek Grierson was pulled down in the box and that gave me my hat-trick."

He noted: "Ally [McCoist] scored three [against Celtic] in the 1984 League Cup final and the Glasgow Cup final two years later but I'm surprised that no-one else has done it in the league since I did it."

Hubbard, who celebrated his 84th birthday 15 days ago, is still a regular at Ibrox - he usually makes the journey by bus from his Ayrshire home - and, of course, the tumultuous and calamitous events of the past three years have hurt him more than most.

Rangers and Celtic, of course, meet once more in the League Cup semi-final on February 1 - it will be the first meeting of the teams in nearly three years - and, more than anything, Hubbard hopes the occasion will pass off peacefully.

Many fear a poisonous atmosphere but it is hardly new. Indeed, Hubbard witnessed the ugly side of the rivalry with his own disbelieving eyes as a raw teenager back on August 27, 1949 when the sides met in a League Cup sectional match.

He recalled: "I had just joined the club and to see the Old Firm game was amazing, especially as Rangers won 2-0, but I will never forget it because there was a riot in the Celtic end. When the final whistle blew they started throwing bottles into the main stand and three mounted police actually went into the terracing after them.

"I had never seen anything like that in my life and I still remember it vividly. I was only 18 and I didn't know a soul; it was a real eye-opener for a youngster from South Africa. I think there were 95,000 there and I was used to playing in front of 95."

Non-committal as to whether he has "missed the fixture or not" in the intervening years, he would not be drawn either on how he sees it working out. "Although Rangers are having troubles and Celtic are stronger, it doesn't always work out that way [according to form] in an Old Firm game. I just hope Rangers are lucky on February 1 because it you are unlucky you have lost."