J Smith
English
Simpson og
B McPhail
J Smith
B McPhail
Match Information
Attendance: 7,000
Referee: Davidson (Leith)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Kilmarnock were not nearly so far out of this game at Rugby Park as the score suggests. Until the closing stages, when they caved in, in face of the inevitability of defeat, they played with spirit, and had a good share of the exchanges. But neither was their defence so solid nor their attack so penetrative as those of Rangers. In the one case, Smith was missed, and in the other, Maxwell. By reason of their superiority in front and in the rear, Rangers deserved their victory. But the extent of it might have been less had the turn of Fortunes wheel not gone against Killie midway through the first half. Then Simpson used his hand to the ball instead of his head. There seemed to be no doubt whatever that he was inside the penalty area, and it was surprising to see the referee whistle up his linesmen one after the other, and then place the ball for a free-kick a few inches outside the penalty line. Each of these two incidents should have meant a goal for Kilmarnock, but instead they went two behind as the result of a couple of swiftly delivered blows. Bad marking, following Killie pressure and a free-kick on Rangers goal-line, led to Smith getting the first with a solo dash, and a free kick just outside the Kilmarnock penalty area brought the second. McPhails terrific shot at the standing ball crashed down off the crossbar, and English nipped into net. A third goal was worked in the neatest possible fashion by Fleming, who headed the ball over Leslie to Smiths toe, and the centre sent it with his left foot into the corner of the net. Just on half-time, Dawson twice came out and missed high balls, and the second error cost a goal, for Liddell dashed in and scored. Another goal was knocked off Rangers lead four minutes after the restart. Simpson appeared to handle Aitkens cross, but he saved the necessity for an appeal for a penalty by putting the ball into the net in an attempt to hook it clear. But for a brilliant save by Dawson, a glorious shot by Gilmour would have brought the equaliser. From that point, Killie went steadily back. Meiklejohn placed a free kick to perfection, and McPhail pushed it in near the post. Smith followed up a header of his own which Milliken failed to clutch, and got Rangers fifth and his hat-trick, and McPhail finished the scoring with a great shot from thirty yards out. Kilmarnocks defensive weakness lay in their attempt to cover their goal by packing it instead of by tactical positioning. The Rangers attack had both strength and guile enough to make that policy useless. English was the least satisfying member of a Rangers front line that carried cleverness and punch and was all the more dangerous on account of its balance
