B McPhail 37, 44
Mills 80
Match Information
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: J.M. Martin (Ladybank)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
The great show-down is over. The Ibrox terracings are empty. All that remains to tell of the big battle Is the scattered assortment of chewing-guns covers, cigarette cartons, orange peel, and here and there a sly bottle that once held a pint of whoopee. But yesterday . . . During the last eleven minutes of the game, those terracings held an agitated, alarmed mob who kept hopping from one foot to the other in a very paroxysm of anxiety. For Aberdeen had struck home at last. Just prior to this moment, Rangers were sitting with a two-goal lead tucked underneath their arm. Many of the Rangers fans had drifted up to the top of the terracing ready for the first tram home. Then Mills dropped his bomb! From sixteen yards he got a chance and snapped a low, fading ball into the corner of the net, with Dawson partially unsigned. The Ibrox fans decided to miss the first tram. Two goals to one. Aberdeen with their chins forward like chunks of granite, Rangers with the most lop-sided attack Ive ever seen them field. The odds were on the Dons. Rangers played for safety, Aberdeen for victory. Ball after ball was lashed over into the Rangers goal. Black and gold bodies threw themselves to connect. But always the heroic Simpson, whose head must have been sore and spinning, yanked himself an inch higher than the rest. The surge went on, Fraser and Thomson smashing and sweating down the sides, urging, forcing, stampeding, Armstrong and the rest straining every sinew to regain their stamp. Whistles, catcalls, etc, from the Light Blue fans telling the referee he didnt need to stick to the ninety minutes so far as they were concerned. McPhail smashing the ball clear inside his own goal area. Dougie Gray stabbing the ball upfield with astonishingly unruffled calm in that sea of uproar. Then the long whistle. The whistle that pulled the Dons up in their tracks and let that weary Rangers defence relax with heartfelt relief. Willie Mills and Armstrong sprinted over to Jerry Dawson and shook him warmly by the hand. The crowd liked that gesture. And approved it. For Dawson was again the goalkeeper immaculate. You can talk as you like about a goalkeeper only being one member of a team. Dawson yesterday was half the Rangers team. The other half was McPhail. One kept them out, the other put them in. Rangers once again proved that they can rise to the big occasion, especially when there is a McPhail in the ranks. The man who says McPhail is done is the kind of bloke who would walk away and leave a couple of inches of beer in his glass! McPhail won this game for Ibrox yesterday, as he has won dozens in the past. When he scored the first one, after 36 minutes, he merely snapped up a goal-mouth chance provided by Smith. But the second had a McPhail stamp that chucked all other into the imitation class. In his own half of the field, he got boot to the ball and sent it thundering up the wing to Kinnear. The wee winger brought it down, crossed his legs twice until he saw Big Bob come crashing up on the inside, then stabbed it in to him. McPhail took it in his stride and raised his boot as if to shoot. Eddie Fallon ducked. But the Ranger swung round him and crashed a shot from about twelve yards. Goalkeeper Smith could only slow the ball down, but not enough to keep it from crossing the line. And there were Aberdeen, after having 75 per cent of the attack and a strong wind fanning their shoulder blades, two goals down and the wind to face in the next portion. It was a bit tough no matter how you looked at it. For Jerry Dawson had at lease two saves in that first half which were so miraculous that you felt nothing short of tapping him on the bean with a corner flag would get him out of the way of even the best kind of shot. Willie Mills hit a crashing volley from a free kick. By right, Jerry should have blinked at it in passing and mechanically bent down to recover it from the netting. But instead, he catapulted his body into the air and knuckled that ball high over before crashing with a thud to the turf. But, if that was a surprise to Aberdeen, the second affair was a heart-rending shock. Mills came through and dummied the Ibrox defenders. The he squared an intimate pass to McKenzie, who was lying as open as an anglers arms. Biff went that ball. McKenzie had never hit a better one. But it wasnt good enough for this uncanny fellow in the yellow sweater. As the ball was flaring into the top corner, Dawson with an amazing body-twist, got one hand to it, squeezed it past the post and then turned two somersaults before sitting up to wonder what had exactly happened. No wonder the Dons looked at each other with dazed expressions as if to say Heevens, wi a goalie like that, ye dont need only ither players. Yed aye be sure o a draw! Frankly, I though that over the whole game, Aberdeen were definitely the better ball-workers. They could move together, but just when it seemed the fruit was falling into their hands, a malicious gust would blow it aside. On the other hand, they were handicapped physically down the middle. Armstrong could never peel off the Simpson adhesive plaster. At the other end, Smith and McPhail were always getting a close-up of goalkeeper Smith. The valiant pocket-Hercules, Falloon, succeeded marvellously most of the time in retarding the movements of the towering Jimmy Smith, but he had to be first in the jump. When he wasnt, it was all hands to the pump! Though Rangers won, and deservedly because of their greater incision, there were glaring weaknesses in the side. Indeed, when I think back on them, I wonder how the dickens the Light Blues did win! They had only three forwards, Smith, McPhail and Kinnear. The right wing was the most apologetic affair I can remember in any Rangers team. They hadnt one decent move in the whole game. McGill took the ball from Souter almost shame-facedly at the finish it was like taking toffee from a kid. As for Venters, he was so far out of the game I got fed up waiting for him coming back. Yet Rangers won. The other three forwards did their bit and more! And behind Simpson and Brown were back to their brightest. Whitey McDonald made a fine return. The crowd seemed to welcome it, too, cheering the Canadians every clearance at the start. I hate to have to sat it, but Matt Armstrong has gone back a bit on this form. He never seemed to want to finish anything he started. Willie Mills was the pick of the front line that could stroll up the garden path but were never quite sue who had the door key or if any of them had! Fraser and Thomson were superb throughout. The Aberdeen skipper came back with a bang. Cooper, McGill and Smith all had a good day. It was an amazingly fine game under the windy conditions. And clean too. The Dons went down, bit all the flags were flying at the finish.
