A Bennett pen >45
Match Information
Attendance: 28,000
Referee: J Bell (Dundee)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
He would have been a rabid Ranger indeed who could not have found some little bit of sympathy for the Clyde team in their hour of defeat in the Glasgow Cup-tie at Ibrox. Seldom does a team play so well without getting some reward, but there was nothing but misfortune for them in the game, which was won by the side which did the least of the attacking, and scored from a penalty kick. Up to a point the Shawfield team played magnificent football, but after that – and it was the crucial part of all – they failed. Thus it was that, owing to weak shooting altogether – the Clyde contributed to their own undoing, and in the end paid the extreme penalty – dismissed from the competition. It is seldom that one sees a forward line so extremely clever as the Shawfield five were in their movements up to the shooting point, and then so foolishly neglecting that all-important asset of the game. As a matter of fact, the whole match was singularly devoid of commendable attempts at goal scoring, and it was a reflection upon the forwards that the two best efforts of the afternoon came from a half-back on either side, and both in the first half. Blair saw a beautiful drive of his rebound from the cross-bar, while Galt caused Grant to bring off the best save of the day, when he shot hard and low after carrying the ball well through. From start to finish the game was contested at a punishing pace, and if certain of the players did momentarily forget themselves on occasion the keenness with which the game was fought out excused the offences which were not serious. It was a game in which the half-back work stood out prominently, and the change which the Clyde directors made in this division of their team was justified by the splendid display given by Blair, who if not the best half-back on the field was ahead of Hendry in the corresponding position on the opposing side, the latter being the weakest of the six. McAndrew played one of the best game of his career, and if he did not excel Galt in spoiling work, he certainly was ahead of him in the matter of constructive attacking methods. Galt’s services, however, were invaluable. If there was a fault in Walker’s clever display it was that he did not open up the game sufficiently, inclining to crowd the play into small area on his own side of the field, when a long pass to the other wing would have proved more effective. Gordon, if not quite so elusive and tricky, nevertheless put up a grand game. It was a bog ordeal for George Reid to make his debut in such an important game, and if he did not quite realise all the expectations, there is a big excuse for him, coming as he did, a stranger to the other players. If he had taken two chances which came his way – one in each half – and shot, instead of passing the ball out, he might have scored; and to have done that would have covered all his other short-comings. There seems little change in him since his St Mirren days, except that he shows more judgment in getting into position for a pass. He had two great workers on either side of him in McCartney and Jackson, and the strategy of the elder of the two was splendid to watch. The extreme wing men did very well indeed. Hamilton’s first half display was faultless, but he spoiled his work in the second half by failing to get in his centres. Stevens was both clever and plucky. The Ibrox forwards seldom seemed happy, and until Bowie comes back the line is not likely to strike its best form. McAndrew saw that Reid did not take too prominent a part in the game, and Gilligan took upon himself – and successfully too – the task of seeing that Hogg would not travel far. Thus it was that the best of the work came from Bennett and Smith, and even they were not quite at their best. The latter was clean through when he was brought down in the penalty area, after half an hour of the second half gad gone, and his partner was successful with the kick, which carried the Rangers into the final once again. The excellence of little Gilligan gave the Clyde the balance in their favour at back. Never did he make a mistake; he went into Hogg, never thinking of the difference in physique; and he was rarely beaten. None of the other three backs was so sure in his kicking, and not one fielded the ball so well. It was altogether a masterly display. Watson hid all right, except that he spooned his kicking pretty frequently. In the Rangers team Campbell was decidedly Richmond’s superior’ but neither of them inspired confidence. After Bennett had scored from the penalty kick, Hogg put the ball into the net for a second time, but the point was disallowed. The ball came from Grant to Hogg, so that it must have been for some other infringement than off-side that the goal was not given. In the first half there was deliberate handling of the ball in the Rangers’ goal area by one of the defending side, which escaped the referee’s notice, and they were also lucky to get off in the early minutes of the game, when Reid seemed to be fouled as he was making close into goal.
