G Henderson 7
A Morton
G Henderson
A Cunningham
A Fyfe 86
Match Information
Attendance: 32,000
Referee: J.A. Martin (Clydebank)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Long live Queen’s Park! Many years ago, when Queen’s Park were urged to adopt professionalism, a striking article appeared in a Glasgow paper advocating the club to stick to its guns and keep the amateur flag flying mast high. Then, as now, the officials had to contend with an outcry from a section of the public who could see nothing in the future of the club but second-class football if the amateur traditions of Hampden Park were to be maintained. It is significant of the wonderfully vitality of the old club that in spite of recurring secessions of its players to professional clubs it is able to keep pace with the times. Queen’s Park might have been a more serious competitor in First League football this season but for its tenacity in championing the cause of amateurism. The half-yearly meeting, held this week, passed without a single voice being raised to advocate a change of principle. Yesterday the players equalled the scoring feat of the Heart of Midlothian by twice beating the defence of the Rangers in a sporting game at Hampden Park that reflected much credit on the lousing team. Surely an answer to the critics. Only the Tynecastle and Hampden teams have done so well. You had to admit the Rangers were the superior side to the extent of the four goals to two margin by which they won, but when allowance is made in regard to the surperior training professional players undergo, the quality of the play of the losing team was much better than I have seen from more pretentions sides. The young Queen’s Park team is gradually settling to a game that holds out the prospect of a good season. I heard an influential football leader declare last week that the Amateurs will escape relegation, and he coupled Third Lanark in a £10 to £5 net with a friend that both the South Side organisations would end the season in the circle they are now striving among. When Queen’s Park won the toss, I expected they would have taken advantage of the strong wind that came out of the west. Their captain took the opposite course. How much the winning of the toss affected the result is open to question, but the fact that the Rangers scored three times with the half gale at their backs, and only once against it, may be cited as a strong argument that it would have paid Queen’s Park better to have followed the orthodox rule and set their opponents to face the wind in the first half. The thirty thousand spectators were treated to some lively open play in the first half, with the advantage and a shade of the luck in scoring falling to the side that revealed the best standard of play. Except for an opening burst in the second half, and a dying effort to improve a position that was almost hopeless, Queen’s Park were almost dwarfed by the men of Ibrox for accuracy and quickness of passing. The Rangers at times touched their finest form of the season. The inside game was splendidly controlled by George Henderson, and the half-backs exhibited their best form of the match to such an extent that the forwards were almost continually on the beat up towards the Queen’s Park goal. And yet so well did Calderwood, at right half, nip in against Alan Morton, and Gardiner against Archibald, that the Ibrox wing players were forced either to part with the ball, or robbed of it. A goal headed by Henderson after five minutes gave the Rangers the necessary impetus to go all out for more. Eleven minutes later Alan Morton added a second one on delightful fashion. The Queen’s Park defence levelled up matters in a way that seemed to show that the Light Blues would be hard pushed for the honours, even though they were struggling against a deficit that foreshadowed victory for their opponents. The man of lengthy stride and unbounded perseverance on the Amateurs’ left troubled Meiklejohn and Manderson more than their aggressive defenders expected. Indeed, McAlpine was ever a veritable thorn in the flesh for them. He combined nicely with Gillespie and swung centres to the tricky Fyfe which that young gentleman turned to profit against the wily McCandless. The clever Ibrox back was more frequently outwitted by Fyfe than he is usually against other centre forwards, and there was noting haphazard in the process, so ably did Fyfe round his man. From one of these excursions by McAlpine, Fyfe slipped McCandless, who missed the ball so finely slung from the left. Fyfe turned on the ball to the right – a favourite trick of his – and scored a goal after twenty-three minutes, to show there was life in the young blood yet. Four minutes later Henderson got a third goal for the Rangers from twenty-two yards out, while the Queen’s Park players had momentarily slackened up to claim a foul. There were only seconds in it, which circumstance showed how alert the young Ibrox centre was to take advantage of the slightest slips by defenders who gave very little away. Each side had an odd pop at goal before the teams crossed over. The most dangerous occurred from a rally by the Queen’s Park forwards. The ball swung delightfully across the line, and the movement ended by Templeton taking it on the drop and shooting over. Had Scott’s clever partner steadied for a moment there might have been a goal. That the Amateurs had taken too much out of themselves was revealed in their general play when the second portion of the game had gone ten minutes. When Cunningham scored a fourth goal for the Rangers with a fairly long shot which Newton might have saved, as he went down to the ball, it seemed all up for Hampden. At times the Rangers revelled in exhibition football, but Calderwood’s handling of Alan Morton, for which a free kick was the penalty, showed that they could not do so with impunity. Cairns and Meiklejohn each had a try to improve matters, but from one of their spasmodic raids Templeton neatly beat two opponents, and in the resultant scrimmage Robb got a bad knock to the side which necessitated the attention of the trainer. A big portion of the crowd had left the ground when Fyfe scored a second goal for Queen’s Park at the expense of defenders who could not realise danger. There the scoring ended five minutes from the end in a game clean and straight sport. The Winners did not reveal a semblance of weakness in any section of the team. The side derived its real strength at half-back, where Meiklejohn, Dixon and Muirhead revelled in their co-operation with the forwards. Wing play is a favourite method of attack with the Rangers, but on this occasion the inside men were most prominent, with Henderson and Cunningham a trifle more in the limelight than the pushful Cairns. This is as it should be. The game was the best I have ever seen Henderson play. The two goals he scored did not represent his worth to the side. Independent of ready shooting, Henderson passed the ball quickly and accurately, and was not excelled for sterling work by any forward on the field. Queen’s Park put up a good fight. It is a question whether Newton is a better goalkeeper than McLay. He has the same fault as the other – not quick enough in getting the ball away. Sneddon and Davis were stout-hearted and sure in defence all through the game. The chief defect in Pirie’s display at centre half was to give the opposing centre too clear a field. Andrew Fyfe and McAlpine were the pick of a persevering attack. If defeated, Queen’s Park were not disgraced. They have still to win a match at Hampden Park
