Young 20
McMenemy 42
Match Information
Attendance: 75,000
Referee: Major Vick (Glasgow)
Matchday: Thursday
Match Trivia
Final impressions usually last longest, and the final impression of the great and, in some way, momentous match at Parkhead, yesterday, was one of a rampant Celtic team going like a roaring furnace, and winning easily. Bit it would be grossly unfair to Rangers, the defeated side, so let it go at that. I seem always to see in a match a turning point that set a team on the road to either to defeat or victory. It may be a trivial incident easily missed, or it may be one clearly manifest to all looking on. There were between seventy and eighty thousand present at Parkhead, and to all of them I imagine a turning point was as clear as ice in a tumbler. For the first twenty minutes there was full promise of a Titanic struggle. Rangers had enjoyed perhaps a shade the better of the play. Then Hendry, running in to head the ball, met with the accident to his face that led to him being carried off the field to have a painful cut stitched. He never afterwards took part in the game, and though for ten minutes more Rangers, playing four forwards and with Bowie at left half, put up a heroic resistance; it was patent to all they could never afford to give away a man and hope to hold out to the end. Let me say at once that Gallagher, whose boot was the cause of Hendry’s injury, was blameless. He was facing his own goal as the ball came out to him, and in trying to bring it over his head his boot caught Hendry on the face as the Ranger dashed onward to head the ball. Hendry had been playing well, the Rangers had a little more than held their own. Losing Hendry disorganised the team, and must have disheartened them in addition. Having said so much, I feel I have dealt in common fairness to the losers. In regards to the first goal, which Rangers strenuously disputed, it was almost impossible to find two people agreeing as to how it was scored. I believe that the referee and linesman differed as to its legitimacy, but, after all, its importance is entirely concentrated in its moral effect on the play of the two teams. A man short was handicap enough for Rangers, but a man short and a goal down seemed to me to settle the match on the spot. For ten minutes or so Rangers made play in Celtic quarters without again being able to trouble Shaw. First of the Celtic forwards to come into prominence was Owers. Standing well away from the crush, he got the ball with a wide space in front of him, but after running well down on the right he shot wide. This was Owers’ failing right to the end, and many glorious chances were lost to Celtic thereby. A shot by Gordon, which went a little wide, and some lustreless midfield play intervened, and then Hendry met with his injury. He was no sooner off when Owers brought out a fine save by Hempsey, and then from pretty round of passing between Bennett and Paterson slipped Reid away, and he racing through when Johnstone brought him down. Following had on this Gallagher dribbled cleverly, and gave Owers a scoring chance, but the centre shot badly. He did better next minute, when he sent the ball right across the goal, and McAtee returning it, desperate defence alone saved Rangers. Celtic, however, had become firmly lodged in Rangers’ ground, and they did not leave until they had a goal to take with them. Young threw the ball in, got it back from Gallagher, and from the by-line, almost sent across a high, drooping centre. The ball fall right in front of the bar, and bounced up off the ground and over the goal-line. Hempsey did not have a chance to save, because Owers, in jumping to head the ball, was in the way. As the interval approached the period of Celtic pressure was relieved by a shot from Reid, splendidly saved by Shaw, who again distinguished himself by a save from Paterson while full length on the ground and with Reid bustling him. With two minutes to go, Celtic got their second goal, and a splendid effort it was. McMenemy took a pass from McMaster, and dribbled ahead straight for goal. Gordon dashed after him and attempted to charge him off the ball, but he held on, and next avoiding Ormonde, was left with a clear space for a shot. He took it deliberately, and the ball beat Hempsey high up. It was possibly the best goal McMenemy has ever scored. Two goals to turn with, Celtic already looked safe winners. For a little after resuming, Rangers showed their teeth, but their four forwards, and both Paterson and Duncan unable to make much headway, were no match for the Celtic defence. Gordon narrowly missed with a header following a corner, and Shaw ran out and punched away from a free kick, after which Logan caused Shaw to tip ober the bar from a header, but these were the only chances Rangers had before Browning made Celtic score three with a beautiful shot, after thirteen minutes. The ball went quickly over to him, as he stood at a sharp angle from the goal, and as Ormonde tried to charge him, he shot with terrific force, and the ball was in the net before Hempsey could do anything to save. Rangers defence had to withstand a severe gruelling after this. Though now and then their forwards forced their way down, and Reid and Duncan had each a good shot, Celtic remained the dominant force, and the one more goal, making four, scored by Browning, following a corner by McAtee, by no means represents the chances that fell to them. There is no use harping again on the mishap that sounded the knell of the Light Blues. They did their best, and their best under the circumstances was not good enough. Hempsey had no chance at all with the balls that beat him, and his only complaint is in regard to the first goal, at which he considers he was interfered with. Shaw had a handful of saves to make, and curiously enough, they were all good ones, for on each occasion slight misjudgement would have cost a goal. McNair was again the best of the backs, for Dodds often skied the ball, and both Ormonde and Fulton preferred to play safely by tipping it out. Of course, the extre work thrown on them late in the game made that a necessity, but at their best they did not display the resource needed to cope with the nippy Celtic forwards. Celtic half-backs were not so formidable a factor as they sometimes are, but they never fell below a good serviceable level. McMaster seemed to me best of the three, for he held Duncan so well that the latter was very little in the game at any time. Rangers’ half-back line existed only in name, for Gordon was as mush among the forwards after Hendry’s injury as he was a defender, and Bowie, when he went to left-half, was completely unhappy. Logan worked tremendously hard, and the best of him was seen in the second half. McMenemy and Browning had three goals between them, and it was fitting that that should be so. They were the keystone of Celtic victory. Their play together, and singly, was often brilliant, and with a centre of their own class to accept the openings they gave Owers, the score might have been anything. Neither McAtee nor Gallagher was on the same level as the left wingers. Rangers were weak on both extreme wings. Duncan and Paterson have seldom done less in any one game. Duncan had a good excuse in the loss of Bowie, but Paterson, when faced by McNair, lost all his self-reliance. Bennett and Reid did all that two men could do
