A Cunningham 75
Match Information
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: J Martin (Glencraig)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
The champions won through at Ibrox Park by the barest possible margin. Motherwell held out for an hour and a quarter. And then Andy Cunningham got his foot to a ball as it came out from the defenders, and flashed home a beauty of a goal against the man who had defied every one of the attackers. McClory never did better in his career. Andy’s show was low and swift. The official attendance was 28,000, and a more stirring game the crowd could not have bargained for. The resistance of the backs against a strong easterly breeze was a feature of a s fast a struggle as one could conceive in the circumstances. Some captains believe in playing against the wind when the spin of the coin is in their favour. That is what Arthur Dixon did yesterday. When Hugh Ferguson kicked off with a following wind in his team’s favour, many people were surprised. The Ibrox faithful had many an anxious moment, in the first half especially, as the run of the game went mostly in favour of Motherwell. The men from Fair Park, in their gold and amber stripes looked an imposing lot, and they played on to the Rangers’ defence with a confidence that was refreshing to see. A note of distinction was given to the first half by the brilliance of McCandless at full back for the Rangers. Later on, the dashing football shown by the most artistic and effective defender in Scotland was almost rivalled by Dick Little on the other side. In diverse ways the back play was admirable, for Frame almost equalled his better-known partner by the resolute way he went out to tackle Archibald and Cunningham, who were as full of running and shooting as any couple on the ground. Where McCandless shone pre-eminently, by contrast with the other backs, was in his raiding forward after beating his man. Dick Little went into Alan Morton and Tom Cairns with a vigour that revealed the grit that is in him. The Rangers’ left pair were quite at the top of their form. There was more of the double-wing at tack in the manoeuvring of the Rangers than one saw from Motherwell, who spread the game in more open style. They had practically all the corner kicking in the first half, when Ferrier, Hugh Ferguson and Stevenson came nearest to scoring. The goalless result at half-time was a testimony to the effectiveness of the Rangers’ defence. After the crossover Motherwell forced another corner before the Rangers got into their stride. Then came the transformation of attack, with Cairns and Cunningham bringing out the best that was in McClory by testing him with powerful drives in succession. Alan Morton fanned the excitement by hitting the top of the bar. There was no period in the game that equalled for excitement these eventful passages of determined attack and defence. In the result, Motherwell were almost on a par with their opponents, and they all but scored on two occasions – once after the Rangers had taken the lead. Henderson was so well played on to that he had few chances to shoot. Once when clean through he was held in the penalty area by Little, but the infringement passed unchecked, as did one on the other side. I was more than impressed with the strength of the Motherwell half-backs. McFadyen, Craig and Thackeray proved by their resistance and passing on a better trio of intermediate defenders than any three the club has had in recent years. Craig was ever prominent. In attack, Ferrier never wasted a ball, and McCafferty, on the other wing, was almost as game as McCandless was daringly brilliant. Craig was the stylist of a strong Rangers’ half-back line. Dixon proved his value all the time against Ferguson, who took a deal of stopping. As a whole, the Motherwell team, in a most exacting test, came off, in the best sense of the term. There was so many high balls McClory had to deal with that the Motherwell keeper looked all arms in a scrimmage. He got a shade more work than Robb, who was at his beat.
