Seeing Colin Stein mentioned in a recent BwB article prompted a reader to ask about the striker’s time with the Scotland international squad.
The unnamed reader asked: “How many games in a row did Colin Stein score for Scotland?
“Also, can you confirm he scored hat-tricks in his first few games with Rangers?”
Rangers centre Stein netted in six successive games for Scotland.
He got on the goal trail with a double in an away 5-2 win over Cyprus in Nicosia in December 1968.
Stein then missed the next game — a 1-1 draw with West Germany at Hampden — but proceeded to score in Scotland’s next five internationals.
He hit one in a 5-3 away win over Wales in Wrexham, then hit the Scots only counter in a 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland at Hampden.
Stein then netted the only counter in a 4-1 defeat against England at Wembley, before firing four in an 8-0 thrashing of Cyprus at Hampden. His final strike in the six-game sequence was against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, which finished 1-1.
He made a startling debut for the Ibrox side with a hat-trick against Arbroath at Gayfield on November 2, 1968.
Seven days later, he helped Rangers turn over his former club Hibs with a 6-1 scoreline, again helping himself to a treble.
* “How many of the Celtic team which won the European Cup in 1967 played for Scotland against Brazil in 1966?” was the query posed by Muirhead reader George Thomson.
Only Steve Chalmers, who scored, and John Clark played in that 1-1 draw with Brazil as they warmed up for the 1966 World Cup Finals in England.
The game took place on June 25, 1966, in front of 74,933.
Scotland — Ferguson; Greig, Bell; Bremner, McKinnon, Clark; Scott, Cooke, Chalmers, Baxter, Cormack.
Brazil — Gilmar; Fidelis, Bellini; Henrique, Zito (Lema), Orlando; Jair, Gerson, Servilo (Silva), Pele, Amarildo.
Servilo netted for the South Americans.
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