Wattie 33
Logan 47
Match Information
Attendance: 15,500
Referee: J Bell (Dundee)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Looking back upon their initial defeat for the season at Tynecastle, the League champions may be excused for thinking that a different result would have been arrived at had all the scoring chances in the second half game the way of some other of their forwards than Brown. With the same opportunities I should say that either Paterson or Reid would have made a Rangers’ victory more or less secure before the Hearts got the winning goal. Be that as it may, the Tynecastle men are not to be grudged their success. They held a distinct advantage in the first half, when their right wing was particularly of putting Muir’s speed to the test, and having found it somewhat deficient, he showed a clean pair of heels much too often for the peace of mind of the ex-St Bernard defender. The winger’s shooting too, was generally well on the mark. When a goal did come it was from the foot of Wattie, who sent Low nicely away on the wing, and then took his chance when the ball came to him following on the outside man’s cross. It was Wattie, too, who bundled the ball through out of Hempsey’s hands in the last three minutes of the game, so that the latest aspirant to Bobby Walker’s place may claim to have made a most successful debut as a member of the League team. Leaving his goal out of account, I was much impressed with the clever way this Tranent recruit bore himself through as stiff an ordeal as a young player could be put to. For one who has been only three weeks in senior football, he kept his head well, and got his passes out to the wing with remarkable accuracy. The improved right wing had a lot to do with the Hearts’ success, but the real strength of the team was at half-back. I don’t want to see finer half-back play than was severed up by the Tynecastle trio after they got rid of the tendency to hang on the ball which manifested itself at the start of the game. Abrams played about his best game for the Hearts. For sheer skill he carried off the palm. No matter how tight a corner he might be in he generally contrived to place the ball beautifully. Nellies was just his usual, which is another way of saying that he hung tenaciously to the men opposed to him, and never gave them a moment’s rest. Half-back strength was the key to the Hearts’ success, and the master key was at centre-half. In play as in stature, we had a stalwart player right at the heart of each team. But Mercer and Logan adapted different methods, which had a big effect on the run of the game. The Hearts’ man was content to pursue his own game, and to force on his forwards occasionally even at the expense of giving Reid a little scope. Logan on the other hand, made it his solo mission to control the movement of Dawson. Right well he did it – in no game have I seen the Englishman move effectively blanketed – but the natural effect of this policy was that the Rangers’ forwards did not receive their usual backing. In the second half this plan of campaign was slightly modified, and if it was then that Dawson began to have a look in it was then that the Rangers assumed their proper place in the game. Logan scored a minute from the re-start, the change of tactics having permitted him to be lying well up towards the Hearts’ goal ready to hook the ball through. There were many who predicted a Rangers’ win after this, but the Tynecastle men recovered well, and finally won on the tape. It was a great finish to a great game. Even those of the 12,000 spectators who had to stand out in the steady downpour must have felt well rewarded for their pains. The excitement was hot enough almost to dry their saturated clothing. This did not prevent a good standard of play from being maintained. Some of the most clever bits of combined play came from the Ibrox forwards but in every other department of the game the Hearts held a slight advantage. Though both goalkeepers did good work, Allan handled the wet ball much more surly than did Hempsey. The Tynecastle backs were also superior. Crossan played the game of his life, and Taylor improved upon a shaky start. The Rangers pair did well when room was allowed them, but when played on to by the Hearts in the first half, they showed to no great advantage. I thought Campbell the better of the pair. The half-backs play need no further commented on than to say that Gordon was the better of the men who operated on the Rangers’ wings. There was no outside forward on view so dashing as Low, and no inside man so effective as Graham. The latter gave good support to Currie, whose accurate crosses when he did get them in were a source of trouble for Hempsey. If Dawson had to be left out of account he may console himself with the reflection that the attention paid to him made possible the success of the men on his flanks. The worse feature of his eclipse was the upsetting of the combination. The line had to be carried along by wing play. Like the Hearts, the Rangers were stronger on the right wing than on the left. Neither Bowie nor Bennett was seen at his best, but Paterson played a skilful clever game, and shared with Reid the honours of the line. No man worked harder than the Ibrox centre, who burst off time and again in a way that caused the Tynecastle hearts to flutter. But there was always someone to circumvent him.
