T Cairns
Turner
Match Information
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: J Matthews (Greenock)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Twas a happy Paisley official party I foregathered with at the close of Saturday’s game. And they had reason to feel satisfied. They had taken a point from the Rangers when they might have well have lost both; they had housed their biggest crowd of the season. It was something like pre-war times with the Love Street enclosure. And the 15,000 crowd got something to keep them interested. I have seen much brighter forward play many a time, but seldom a sterner, a more rousing or a more gruelling contest. It was like one of these strenuous old-time cup-ties of happy memory. Nobody – well, hardly anybody – spared himself in what I cannot’ describe better than ninety minutes’ hard grafting, punctuated here and there by thrills and spicy interludes. Some of these latter could have been cut out. I have already indicated that St Mirren came well out of the encounter – they did just a shade better than run of the play or the pressure on the respective goals warranted. I grant to that the ‘Saints’ settled quicker than their Ibrox visitors; that they got the first goal – two very important matters – and that they were oftener in Rangers’ territory than the Rangers were in their before the interval. But against all this it much be remembered that the Rangers than – all the time, indeed – had the better scoring chances, they were the more dangerous lot in front of the posts, and they held the whip-hand in the closing portion. To illustrate these points I need only to refer to the work accomplished by the respective custodians. Hillcoat effected many brilliant saves; Hempsey got little of consequence to do. Then the Rangers were simply robbed of a penalty kick. How Mr Matthews failed to notice the ball being handled is one of the things I cannot understand. The referee was in a first-class position to see. This happened when the game was about ten minutes old, shortly after Turner had put Paisley in front. Manderson had just brought up the lively Neil with a jerk, when the ball was returned by Walls on to Lindsay’s head. The inside left didn’t seem to get enough of it, but what he got sufficed to set the Ibrox defence guessing, and give Turner an opportunity which he made the most of. Before we were finished with this half the Rangers made a claim for a goal. And they would have got it, I believe, had Cairns played Hillcoat over the line instead of shoving him. The Paisley goalkeeper should have got rid of the ball much smarter. Hillcoat atoned for this little bit of dilatoriness before the second half had gone many minutes. In quick succession he dealt in first-class fashion with grand shots from Riddell, Cairns and Duncan, and before he was beaten and incidentally, injured a quarter of an hour from the end, he had worthily earned the plaudits of the crowd. It was all, or nearly all, Rangers now; but no goals. Croot’s lovely centre was allowed to slip by both Bell and Duncan, and Hillcoat picked one away from Cairn’s very nose – then the equaliser. I thought the referee should have allowed Croot to go on after being interfered with instead of awarding the Rangers a free kick. It looked like penalising the victims, but (to Ibrox) the decision turned out a blessing in disguise. Blair fired the ball at Hillcoat; there was a scramble and a goal, which Cairns got credit for. He touched the ball last. Either defence was very safe, with Blair the master tactician. The old Ashfield boy’s mistakes were few and far between. Of the Paisley pair I liked best Callaghan, and Walls impressed me most in a half-back line I have at last seen live up to its high reputation. In a defensive connection Dixon was grand; indeed, the little Oldham man simply towered above his vis-a-vis-in effectiveness, I mean. Riddell took a long time to get the hang of things, and as a consequence Turner was often given a clear passage. Martin did splendidly, but to Bowie I award the middleman’s palm. His tackling was keen and clean, his placing accurate, and he started as he finished – just as a half-back should. Scott Duncan wasn’t in the best of fettle, and the injury which kept him off the field for five minutes in the middle of the opening half didn’t improve things. Bell didn’t shine, and if Gordon put out several very good balls to Croot and delivered an odd shot in the direction of Hillcoat I would not say he was a centre-forward to go into raptures about. The Sergeant was far too eager. Cairns was the pick of the basket, and, as at Dumbarton, Croot came away nicely after the interval. But the best forward play of the match was supplied by the St Mirren inside trio before half-time. Of the three I preferred Lindsay, but Turner did surprisingly well. Certain Paisley people may tell you that had Marshall been in the centre he would have got goals. He might, and he mightn’t; but that doesn’t alter the fact that Turner was anything but a failure. Brown lacked confidence on the right wing, and Higginbotham failed because he bit off more than he could chew. He tried to beat Blair single-handed instead of middling the ball first pop. One needs to know a trick or two to get the better of the Rangers’ left back. Get it into the centre slick, Higginbotham; that’s your game
