Parker 20 secs
Gilchrist
Match Information
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: J Lyons (Hamilton)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
A facetious person said at the finish of the match at Ibrox Park. “Well done, Rangers Reserves!” It was only half a truth but it was well enough done. The reserves were certainly not a weaker part of the team. They had the bigger share in the win. But Motherwell! I consider they missed a chance of a lifetime of gaining one of their hearts desired – that is to beat the Rangers at Ibrox. To be candid, I was disappointed with Motherwell as a combination. To a large extent they beat themselves. Always up to a point, their forwards were suggestive of a winning line. At the unspecified point they got them themselves into a tangle, and – the Rangers halves almost invariably did the rest. However, Motherwell may consider they did pretty well, looking to the fluctuations of the game. Take phase number one. Parker had the ball whipped past Mitchell for the first goal while the reporters were only giving their pencils the finishing touch. A service from the kick-off to Paterson, a gliding centre, and a whizzing drive by Parker – not a minute gone. I tell you there was scarcely a man in the ground that did not see a bit of heavy counting ahead of him. But Motherwell set about the task of securing the equaliser in the wisest possible style – by playing close in on the Rangers backs. One or two incidents of slack defence were the precursor of the goal that Gilchrist scored, and nobody was surprised when it came. Gilchrist – an old Ranger – had worked over to the left, and the Rangers right-side defence had become a little bit mixed when, just as Kelly gave him a return pass, he espied an opening, and with a longish slanting shot beat Hempsey. The goalkeeper threw himself full length on the ground, but I should say the ball was in the net before he got down. This was enough to put the Rangers forwards in the way of playing effective football. They had been trying too much of the pass-and-pass-again variety, but now they raked Mitchell’s goal like a ten-gun pirate. Mitchell, though only a reserve, was selling his goods dearly. Behind backs who were often outwitted, he defied all the wiles of the home attack until close on the interval, when Rangers went along on the right, transferred to the left, where Smith before centring, gave his men good time to be all up. When his centre came across, there they were almost breast-to-breast with the poor goalkeeper, who was helpless when Parker tapped the ball into the net. So the interval found Rangers with a 2-1 lead – not much counting, after all. For the greater portion of the second half, Rangers kept threatening to score, but they could never quite get there, so clever was Mitchell, and so dogged the Motherwell half-backs. Frequently the Motherwell forwards set off for Hempsey, and there was a period mid-way through this half when they actually seemed to be taking a grip of the opposition. Once they actually had the ball past Hempsey, and the play leading up to the score was well worthy a goal, but no goal was allowable, because Hempsey had been interfered with. But the escape once more acted like a spur to the home team. Still, they could not master, Master Mitchell until just on the finish when Parker, who had tried often and failed, fought his way through past Watson and Kelly, and shot a capital goal – his own and his team’s third. It was a good, hard contest. Though Motherwell disappointed me that was largely because they had been setting themselves a fairly high standard. Their forwards were often clever, sometimes too clever. They seldom lacked effect when they kept going on with the minimum of palaver. But they were up against a set of worrying half-backs, who had more to do with Rangers winning than anyone. Galt played a powerful game, and seems to have recovered all his old strength. That being so, I don’t see how anyone is going to keep him out the line. Waddell was always interfering with the designs of the Motherwell inside forwards, but I wish he would keep his eye on the ball when he is heading it. A lesson or two on heading from my old friend Jacky Robertson would improve his game something per cent. Jacky was as good with his head as with his feet. I thought the back play moderate all over, With Ormonde redeeming this feature by some clean, strong kicking as the game lengthened. Neither Watson nor Kelly touched average form, but they were faring a fast, dodgy set of forwards who will take their hats off to Mitchell. There was a big score on the broad but for him. Gordon was a capital partner for Paterson, always likely to go through and take a goal himself. Parker is a fighter and he would nearly be a Quinn type. It is part of his style, evidently to stick to the ball, but a judicious pass oftener would do his game a world of good. Gilchrist played a good deal of clever football, and Finlayson showed refreshing dash. Motherwell should lose this lad with regret.
