A Cunningham 10
Dixon 25
Match Information
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: William Bell (Hamilton)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Any chance of Hearts making a game of it vanished with the spin of the coin. Winning the toss, Rangers went ahead with half a gale at their backs. Goals came at regular ten-minute intervals, until the total had reached three. I am not blaming he Tynecastle men for their display during this period. With their backs to the wall, and up against a side playing great football, they did reasonably well in preventing the score reaching higher dimensions. My quarrel with them concerns the poor game they played in the second half. Even allowing that the wind died down a bit, it has to be said that the Tynecastle men’s display was most feeble. They were not only beaten, they were outclassed. At no time had the Tynecastle halfs the same grip if the game as the Ibrox lot, and the forward play of both sides simply don’t admit of a comparison. Cunningham dominated the game. There he was up at the beginning spoon-feeding the men alongside him, and every now and again having a good try at goal. A great try of his in the opening minutes was magnificently stopped by Gilfillan. Andrew was not to be denied, however, and when Cairns slipped the ball to him at the end of ten minutes, he promptly registered the first goal. Hereabouts the Rangers’ forwards kept crowding in on the Hearts’ backs who added to their own troubles by frequently kicking the ball into the air. If Gilfillan had been beaten six times instead of three this half, no one could have found serious fault with him. He made some magnificent saves, tipping over shots from Muirhead, McDiarmid and Cairns, and kicking clear another time when McDiarmid looked like scoring. On the last of these occasion, however, the ball came out to Dixon and on went the second goal. Number three came from Cunningham – following a corner. Gilfillan had hard luck here, the ball passing over his head after being touched by one of his own fellows. Before this goal, Cunningham beat Gilfillan only to be beaten by the far post, and Archibald sent over a ball from the corner spot which went into the net without being touched – result a goal-kick. Cairns too, had many fine tries. One of Tommy’s shots was beautifully turned aside by Gilfillan. All the time the Rangers’ defence was getting along without any worry. Robb got easy shots from Cameron, Forbes and Meikle. That was all. The first half was really good stuff, but, oh, what a falling off after the cross-over. Rangers had as many good tries in the first ten minutes as the Hearts had had in the whole of the earlier period. A fine save which Robb made for Sharp at the end of an hour marked the first occasion the Tynecastle men were really dangerous. Crossan followed on with another good try from a free kick. At the other end Archibald missed a snip put his way by Cairns, but in the closing minutes McDiarmid fastened on to a ball sent forward by Jamieson and went ahead to bring the total up to four. A simple explanation of the result is that Rangers were in tip-top form, and much too good for the opposition. An attack if influenza kept out Manderson, but Jamieson was not severely tested. A feature of the defence was the sound kicking of McCandless against the wind. I liked Dixon and Muirhead best of the half-backs, who took an early grip and never let go. Cunningham was the star forward with Cairns a good second. Both wing men did well, and McDiarmid made a satisfactory centre. Hearts best were Gilfillan, Crossan and Preston. The wing halfs fell short of requirements. Birrell has often played better, but his forwards never got going. Meikle ought not to have been played. He was obviously unfit
