Fleming 9
Match Information
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: T Small (Dundee)
Matchday: Monday
Match Trivia
Celtic Park’s other name – Happy Valley! So must think the Rangers! For the last twelve season they have gone there on League adventure and departed without being once beaten. Five times have they won, and seven times drawn. What about the latest clash? Rangers won well. There is no mistake about that. Their football of the first half was the kind we like to see champions play – even if Rangers do not finish as champions. They were an admirably balanced team despite that Morton could not being the left wing up to the storming standard of the right. The ball went from man to man with delightful precision – no sloppy, short passing that leads nowhere, but breezy, open, robust advances which had danger stamped all over them. After the interval it was rather different. The Ibrox confederacy lost some of their grip. Celtic came on, frequently looked like equalising, struck the bar, failed to take other chances, and in the end, were beaten by a team that met all the calls and it was a goal that could be seen coming from the start. They went through on the left, with Fleming chasing the ball to near the by-line 15 yards from Thomson’s right-hand post. McStay was left to deal with the situation, and I think he was surprised at the speed with which Fleming was on him. In any case, the Ibrox centre picked the ball away from his feet, turned quickly inwards, and as he drew his right foot back, took aim. Thomson saw the shot coming, but he could not get down to it, and there was no discredit in his being beaten. Rangers played some dashing stuff down the right after this, with Archibald running and centring like a machine, Meiklejohn acting as perfect feeder, and Fleming joining in with a lusty abandon that must have made some gentlemen in the Celtic rear imagine a miniature cyclone had arrived. Cunningham, too, was putting his passes about with fine judgment. Celtic’s forwards were not idle, but they did not get the support from their half-backs the other vanguard enjoyed. Still, it was a ‘life’ for the ‘Light Blues’ when McLean headed against the bar following a Wilson free kick, and it was a near thing when McCandless just pushed a ball away from McInally’s feet when another yard would have seen the latter safely through. It was Rangers’ first half, however. After the energy they had expended it was, perhaps, little wonder they were more on the defensive afterwards. There were spells when it was touch-and-go for the equaliser, McInally struck the bar. The Celtic forwards came and came again, creating several desperate situations, out of which the Rangers defence, one way or other, emerged winners. Then the referee became particular about charging, and some of the free kicks he awarded were in mu opinion, quite unnecessary. It was from these that the Rangers’ goal had its narrowest escape. But the game did not go all the one way. Thomson, indeed, distinguished himself with some brilliant saves from Morton, Fleming and Meiklejohn, Cunningham just missed heading through. On a note of tense excitement, the contest finished. With a little luck Celtic might have drawn. On the other hand, they might as easily have been beaten by a bigger margin. Over the pieced Rangers were the more cohesive side, and that was the winning factor. Celtic were very disappointing in the first half, and afterwards lacked steadiness round about goal. Hamilton had to save fewer shots than Thomson, who came out of the game with his young reputation enhanced. Gray was superb in his judgment, and McCandless not much behind. They were a better pair than McStay and Hilley. At half-back, also, Rangers held an advantage for three parts of the game, and especially in the first half. Craig had never played better, Shaw was steady, and Muirhead, often at full stretch, put in some valuable defence in the second half. He was under a great handicap, for one of his shoulders was ‘out’ and that was why he did not take the throws-in. Celtic’s trio did their best work after the interval, but I thought McFarlane marred his play by showing temper in a real man’s game. Knocks were going on both sides, but it was a case for grinning and bearing, giving and taking. No children’s nursery nonsense. Celtic’s forwards, at their best, were never so good as Rangers lot at their best. Meiklejohn made a strong assiduous partner for Archibald and was tremendously useful in defence. Archibald was right on his toes, so was Fleming – a new sort of Fleming, I would say – and Cunningham and Morton were the real thing as a pair in the second half. When the home forwards were getting a ball from their half-backs in the second half, they showed that they could play. McInally was not, however, the only one to blame for not making sure of the equaliser. There was too much eagerness shown, although McMenemy and Thomson deserve praise for their efforts to draw the defence
