Unbeaten Celtic break 100-year-old record with 63rd straight game without defeat

The Hoops have not lost since May 2016 and surpassed the record mark set by Willie Maley's side during the First World War

Ronnie Esplin
Saturday 04 November 2017 11:59 EDT
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Celtic broke a 100-year-old record with their 63rd consecutive match without defeat
Celtic broke a 100-year-old record with their 63rd consecutive match without defeat (Getty)

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Celtic broke their own 100-year-old British record by stretching their unbeaten domestic run to 63 matches with a 4-0 victory over St Johnstone.

Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele and Olivier Ntcham were on target and Steven Anderson netted an own goal as Celtic strolled to three Ladbrokes Premiership points at McDiarmid Park.

Saints were the last Scottish team to beat Celtic, on May 11, 2016, in Ronny Deila's penultimate match in charge. But the Perth side had not scored in five matches before the visit of Brendan Rodgers' men, who are a different proposition from the team managed by the Norwegian.

The victory was as one-sided a game as Celtic have enjoyed during an 18-month spell of invincibility in Scottish football.

The previous record was set by Willie Maley's side during the First World War, during a time when only league football was played.

Between 1914 and 1917, internationals and the Scottish Cup were put on hold while the League Cup did not emerge until after the Second World War.

During that time, Celtic won the league four times in a row and instrumental in that success was a unbeaten run of 62 matches between November 1915 and April 1917.

It was a 2-0 home win over Kilmarnock in front of 4,000 fans, thanks to goals by Joe Dodds and James McColl, which set the Parkhead club on their way. The run was halted with a 2-0 defeat, coincidentally at the hands of Kilmarnock, at Celtic Park, Glasgow.

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