W Reid 12
T Cairns >45, xx
Match Information
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: H Humphrey (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
There was once a Scottish Cup tie at Ibrox in which a merely hopeful team of Falkirk crusaders rose up and smote the Rangers – smote them out of the ties, and then went on to win the Cup. That was two seasons ago. Since that memorable day Falkirk have been three times to Ibrox looking for League points, without the smallest success. They have lost the art of charming wins out of the Ibrox turf. Yet the influence of the Cup tie triumph still lingers. I am certain that it brought a tolerably big portion of the crowd to see the game under notice, because when a team has accused a sensation once there is always a lurking feeling that it will repeat it. Falkirk, however, will have to try again. They were not clever enough this time – not all the time, at anyrate, although in the first half they shaped so well against the wind as to foreshadow a stormy passage for Rangers after the interval. But it was after the interval that Falkirk failed, and failed rather badly, as an aggressive force. How this came about will transpire. It was clear for everybody to observe when the game began that Rangers were out to play according to the new (Light) Blue Book. The plan was to keep the game open and the ball moving. Through-out the match the new manner succeeded admirably. It quickened the pace, evolved any number of dangerous situations for the opposition, and was vastly more entertaining to the spectators then the slow-going style I saw badly beaten in more than one engagement since the year came in. Had Rangers earlier got hold of these ideas they would have been treading more closely on the coat-tails of the two clubs ahead of them. Scarcely had the play commenced when Stewart was deftly saving a well-headed ball from Reid, who was up in time to meet the first of several capital centres from Anderson. Rangers’ halfs fed and followed up the forwards in a way suggestive of a better understanding than has been apparent for a long time. Falkirk’s defence met the attack with some indecision at first, but soon screwed up their courage. Then McNaught and Gibbons came on the scene, and later Glancy. Both extreme wings men displayed style and skill in beating the Rangers’ outfield defence, and it required the very best of Lock’s saving powers to prevent a Falkirk score, first from a dashing, point-black high delivery by McNaught, and then a low fast one from Glancy. What impressed me at this early stage, however, was the lack of penetrative quality on the part of the inside Falkirk forwards. This remained a feature of their game until the end, and had a good deal to do with the undoubted Rangers supremacy in the second half. Except that Rangers were more of a piece with the forwards and half-backs a more solid combination, there was not much to choose between the teams up to the time when the opening goal came along – after twelve minutes. Falkirk had been giving the home defence something to do when the ball was slipped out to Bowie, who went on a bit before passing ahead to Reid. The Rangers centre was onside and no more. He did not tarry to learn the result of Henderson’s appeal, but made straight for goal. Orrock dashed across and nearly upset Reid, but the centre recovered, and shot into the net past Stewart, who has come a little out of his goal. This success put Rangers right on to a game. Their forwards were full of running, and with quick passing and hard shooting they caused the Falkirk defence to get about. Stewart at this time saved one or two shots, notably from Reid and Cairns that would have beaten an ordinary custodian. Once he was lucky when Reid rounded off a movement between Cairns and him with a great drive that caused the ball to strike the goalkeeper hard on the head. But soon the Rangers’ defence were getting a taste of the same medicine. Mainly it was McNaught and Glancy who were the leading raiders and marksmen, but now the others responded better, and among them all they came as near to beating down the home defence as it was possible to do, short of succeeding absolutely. Lock made two specially good saves – specially good because the balls came at him high, and opponents were following in, giving him no time to consider how the lilies grew. Before the interval arrived, Rangers enjoyed another spell of hot attack, but Falkirk had revealed qualities enough during their good time to warrant us believing that the second half would see them ‘doing thing’ with the wind to help them. Alas and slack! Rangers, like the Rangers’ teams of old, played into the breeze as if they liked it best that way. Within ten minutes later the restart, Cairns had capped a period of persistent pressure with a terrific shot that left the vigilant Stewart helpless. He could scarcely have seen the ball go past him, so great was its speed, I lost sight of McDonald when Cairns was hooting, but I fancy he should have been marking him at the time. This goal, to my mind, seemed to settle the issue even thus early, buy, anyhow, Falkirk made a big effort to recover. They could fetch out corners, but Lock was never so much troubled as he had been in the first half. This was largely due to the heavy hand laid upon the Falkirk forwards by Gordon on the one side of the field, and Craig on the other. Craig latterly revelled in beating his wing, while once he ran right down the field and centred, for Bowie to head over the bar. This began more Rangers’ aggression, and after some clever right wing play, with Gordon forcing it to rare purpose, Cairns scored again with a shot almost as fierce as the other one. As in the former instance, he was served by Reid with a nice pass. The Falkirk halfs were so bent on keeping Reid from scoring that they overlooked Cairns. There was one real thriller in the game before the finish, Reid running through the outfield defence, and in on Stewart, who was glad to get the shot round the post for a corner. Rangers were always the better team to the end, which found us sadly disappointed with Falkirk’s second-half showing. The fault lay chiefly with their inside forwards, who shows too much fondness for the ball. Clever as they were at times. As I have indicated, McNaught and Glancy were readiest to make ground, and they were the best shots. It almost seemed as if they had learned not to have much faith in their inside colleagues, and yet on their day these same five could be destructive. Rangers’ forwards were a lively lot, always earnest and progressive, even if they had their misadventures. By contrast, they were strongest inside. Duncan often played into the feet of McMillan, but he had many good centres, too, and certainly his speed helped largely in the general scheme of a faster game. Anderson, at outside left, began very well indeed, and I would rather huge him on that than oh his subsequent retrogression. He is worth persevering with, for he seems to have pluck. Bowie, Reid and Cairns were a fountain of dash and energy. With some of his scoring efforts, Reid was a little unlucky, but those two scoring shots by Cairns were goal all the way. So hard did he hit the ball that it seemed to reach the net without the lapse of any fraction of time. The best half-back playing was Gordon. In the second half his judicious service to his forwards added greatly to the burden of the Falkirk halfs. Pursell kept Robertson, the Falkirk centre, from being dangerous, but I thought that he and Logan, in their endeavour to adhere to the new style of keeping the game on the swing, parted with the ball too quickly at times. Falkirk’s halfs lacked personality. They failed most at forcing the game. Their marking was also sometimes at fault, and on that account they were frequently easily penetrated. Rangers had the best back in Craig. He was bothered by McNaught in the first half, but afterwards he could do nothing wrong. The other three backs were on a par. The Falkirk pair had incomparably more to do than Kelso and Craig, and their work has to be judged by that. Both Lock and Stewart saved at time brilliantly. Lock has recovered all his old confidence. He was dealing with high shots almost as well as with low ones. Stewart would have had to put 6-inch armour plate over his goal to have kept out the shots that coun
