Brown <45
S Archibald 60
Match Information
Attendance: 22,000
Referee: R Innes (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
A Bad, bad day for Hibernians!!! The end of the game found them with their home record gone; Murray off to infirmary with a fractured leg, and McGinnigle in the pavilion nursing a strained knee. And at a time when Easter Road was thus reduced to nine men that Rangers obtained the goal that carried them through – a hotly disputed goal, too. Willie Robb maintained at the end that Craig carried the ball in with a hand, and there was others ready to argue that the ball had never been over the line. From all of which you will gather that the Ibrox men had a sore fight to pull through. They undoubtedly had. But over the game they were the better side, and it was more the fine spirit shown by the Hibs players than the quality of their play that kept the issue open all the time. Rangers did not show a great deal of clever football either. They were not allowed to. Hard knocks were more plentiful than good football. Perhaps just a little too plentiful. It would be an exaggeration to say that the game was a scramble, but at times it was not far removed from being that. Rangers’ players were first in the wars McPhail met with an early injury that impaired his usefulness, and Buchanan was off for a time. Just as Buchanan was returning – time, 30 minutes – Brown caught the Ibrox defenders in a tangle and put on the opening goal. Goalkeeper Hamilton was at fault here. He had the ball in his gasp but allowed it to slip. Up till then there had been little between the teams. Hamilton fielded shots from Bradley and Gilfeather. Robb saved well from McPhail, who was by far the deadliest of the Ibrox forwards. Shortly before the interval a clever bit of headwork resulted in McPhail getting the ball past Robb, but the referee gave offside, and turned a deaf ear to protests. It was a near thing. Then McGinnigle, having come to earth close in, was adjudged to have handled. McHail’s penalty kick was well on the mark, but Robb shot out a foot and turned the ball aside. Willie deserved the round of applause that was given him. At the end of an hour Gilfeather gave away a free-kick 25 yards out. Archibald tried a hard shot through a crowd of players, and the ball glided off one of the Hibs’ men into the net well out of Robb’s reach. Five minutes later Murray came down heavily in collision with Muirhead and was carried off. Then McGinnigle collapsed – this was a dozen minutes from the end – and immediately followed, Rangers got the disputed goal that gave them the points. The ball was past Robb, but whether it actually crossed the line is a question on which there is room for two opinions. In the helter-skelter game the Ibrox players seen to most advantage were McPhail, Morton, Craig and Buchanan. Both backs played well, and Ireland was a good defender, if not so good on the constructive side. Some smart bits of work were done by Muirhead, but Fleming was under a cloud. Hibs’ forwards were below form, and came little into the game, although Brown again showed that he is made of the right stuff. The outstanding man in a tough defence was Dick, who did great work in breaking up the Rangers attacks. Stark also came into prominence, and Robb was his usual safe self. McPhail missed a first half penalty
