Bell
T Cairns
Match Information
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: T Dougray (Bellshill)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Rangers were certainly the better balanced, the better finishing, the more confident, and the more methodical team at Dumbarton; yet I think their three-goals victory flattered them. Plucky, do0or-die, go-at-all-the-time Dumbarton, with their many sins of omission and commission in their heads, were surely value for one goal, and they came very close to getting it before the game had rightly started. I might say – before Lock, Manderson and Blair had properly sized up the footing. Boghead was a difficult pitch to play on. The more superficial observer said it looked perfect, but a closer inspection revealed a blend less mass of crisp and plastic mother earth – a combination on which the ball played many cantrips. Yet in the circumstances much of the play was wonderfully good. Dumbarton started like hounds slipped from the leash, and almost as quickly as I can write it Lock had to come out to pick one away from Lister; the next minute Herbert slipped when about to deal with a long shot from Reid. The Ibrox goalkeeper was beaten to the world, but fortunately (for him) the ball got just outside instead of inside his left-hand upright. Rangers settled somewhat, and we were treated to a nice centre or two and as many good shots from Scott Duncan; still, the best scoring chance, so far, cropped up at the other end, but Thom shot harmlessly over. In their own way the restless and rushing., of less clever, Dumbarton were doing very well, when Lister got a knock on his weak knee which sent him to the right touch-line; and on the top of this misfortune, after Croot had thrown away something very like a ‘pinch’ young Raeside was badly winded. Dumbarton did not lie down, however. Their sound nine rather increased their efforts. With Ritchie leading, the Boghead forwards got away with a rush, and a rattling rising shot found ground beside Lock from off the underside of the crossbar. Then a simple-looking goal – for the Ranger, of course. Semple made to ‘head’, but only partially got a centre from the left; Gunner Duncan picked up the ball as it skidded off the Boghead left back’s cranium and landed it in front of Miller, who missed, and Cairns lying handy the rest was easy. This happened midway through the half, and nothing of mush importance took place until we were four minutes into the closing portion. Then, following a corner nicely placed by Croot, Scott Duncan got the ball across. As Dumbarton’s similar try did in the first half, this one got the underside of the ‘wood’ above the goalkeeper’s head. But there was the difference. Nobody was offside this time, and Dick Bell was on the spot to slip it home. Dumbarton again went strong for a bit – fair hammer and tongs. Lister, once more in the centre, shot over instead of under, and Lock and Blair each cleared a couple of dangerous balls in rapid succession. This burst stalled off, the Rangers, doubtless fortified by their two goals, struck a really fine game. Corporal Croot, who earlier had reminded me of Jud Browning’s account of Rubenstein at the piano, now came away like a regular top-notcher. In the first half the Leeds City soldier, show and apathetic, appeared to me as if like the aforementioned Rubenstein ‘he wished he hadn’t come’; now he was all life, agility and ability. He centred and shot splendidly, and, thirteen minutes from the finish, after as fine a run as I have seen for many a day, he flashed the ball into the net like greased lightning. I question if Miller saw it. Scott Duncan, on his native heath, was in the best of fettle. In the last half-hour he fairly ran the rig on Reid and Semple, and finished in glorious style. Bell, to begin with, lay too far behind, but all the time his passes were accuracy itself; and Cairns, if a trifle too individualistic, was liker the Cairns of a year ago than I have seen him this season. Charles Duncan doesn’t seem to have wholly got over his injury yet. He appeared timid. Martin and Riddell were grand half-backs throughout, and, after Bowie properly found his feet, he did fairly well behind Bell and Scott Duncan. Manderson and Blair, like Lock, had their uneasy moments, but all three were sound defenders. Miller, I thought should have got the ball away before Cairns scored, but he was helpless with the other two. McGrory was the better Boghead back, and Travers pleases me most of the half-backs, although Raeside did a lot of useful grafting in the defensive way. This youngster, whose greatest defect was lack of experience, never spared himself. Ritchie and Garry were best of an attack which was badly handicapped by Lister’s injury
