Meiklejohn 4
B McPhail 30
Main 47
Match Information
Attendance: 56,243
Referee: J.M. Martin (Ladybank)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Maybe we ought to rechristen it Ha-Ha-Hampden. There were three goals and three laughs in yesterdays game. Not the hearty guffaws od happiness, but laughs of the slightly bitter sort, signifying the disillusionment of those who had hoped to see a real scorcher of a semi-final. It was a bad day for Brown, the Clyde keeper. Maybe he walked under a ladder or met a cross-eyed kitten on his way to the ground. There was a hoodoo hanging around him somewhere. I doubt whether three softer goals have ever been conceded in any game of similar importance. In the third minute, Meiklejohn booted the ball goalwards from about thirty yards. Brown, who had come a few strides out of his goal, stretched his arms heavenwards. He was about a foot too short from oxter to fingertips. The ball dropped behind him into the goal. It is doubtful whether the Ibrox skipper even meant this as a serious scoring effort. Three minutes from the interval, McPhail popped in a high shot from the edge of the penalty area. Brown met the ball with both hands, but let it pass between them to bounce over the goal-line. Rangers third counter was the weirdest of the lot. McPhail had tricked Beaton and passed up the left to Turnbull, who sent a low ball across the goalmouth. There it was stopped by Mathha Smith, with Brown attendant. The left back and the goalkeeper appeared to be brooding over the problem of what to do next, when Main ran in and poked the ball with his toe. Ever so slowly the ball rolled towards the goal-line and crawled over the sawdust, while the defence stood apparently petrified. Some of the crowd began to leave at this point. They must have sensed that nothing very remarkable was going to happen in the remaining forty-three minutes. Nothing much did happen. Clyde made ground by nippy outfield play every now and then, as they had been doing throughout the game, but when they got anywhere near Dawson, they seemed to find the ball too heavy for them. Hardly a shot with any sting in it came the Ibrox keepers way, and some of the Cuthbert suggested that these gentlemen had bunions on every toe. Brown, despite the fatal lapses referred to, cleared smartly in many dangerous situations. Kirk was a lion-hearted little back, and Mattha Smith, barring his momentary aberration in the affair of the third goal, a grand defender most of the time. Wood, however, was Clydes outstanding player. The centre-half shirked nothing and never let up. He found time to do a lot of useful work besides policing the energetic Smith. Rangers, after that first early goal, always seemed to be keeping something in hand. Meiklejohn took a knock soon after the start and sent Venters to the right-half berth, himself going to the wing with Main inside. Later, the Rangers captain went to inside right and Main resumed his usual position. These changes threw the Light Blues attack somewhat out of gear, although the brightest spots in the second half were certain cheeky passing bouts between
