McGrogan 6, 84
J Smith 83
Kinnear 26
McPhail 67
Match Information
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: M.C. Hutton (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
This Dunfermline team is as big a mystery to me as ever. I never see them playing like a relegation team. Yet they keep on getting relegation results. I cant help feeling Dunfermline is the unluckiest team in the League. I havent much time normally for the customary prattle about lucky breaks, etc. But, in very truth, this clubs experiences have convinced me there are such tings and the other fellows invariably get them! There were periods in this game when a gentle bow from Fortune would have been enough to transform the whole outlook. Times when a matter of inches beat the pass, or wood beat the shot. Make no mistake, Rangers had to fight for this win. My sympathy for Dunfermline in their death-or-glory struggle doesnt blind me to the fact that Rangers were the more polished fellows. At the same time, they got a real fright. It seemed incredible that 18 other clubs separated these two on the league chart, and all of them above Dunfermline. Up to the last minute, scored for the home team, and there was quite a fuss from then to the finish. Most Dunfermline folk maintain that actually Rangers should not have won. They claim that Ibrox defenders conceded two penalty-kicks, and that there should have been a free-kick for Dunfermline before McPhail scored Rangers third. If we work it out in this way, then it seems the score might have been 4-2 for Dunfermline. And that would have been a lucky break all right. Because, in my opinion, neither penalty claim was justified. But I will say the free-kick claim seemed perfectly warranted. The score was 2-1 for Rangers when the McPhail goal came along 22 minutes after the interval. My eyesight is pretty good, and Ill swear I saw Venters interfere with a defender before the ball reached McPhail. Indeed, most of us thought the referee had actually signalled an offence and that Big Bob was merely shooting home for the fun of the thing. But if it was funny to Rangers, the home team and crowd couldnt be expected to see the joke. This gave Rangers a lead they certainly didnt deserve, and likewise Dunfermline a sickener they didnt deserve either. The first half saw three goals scored McGrogan for Dunfermline in six minutes, Smith for Rangers two minutes later, and Kinnear in 26 minutes, when Dougie Gray was in the pavilion with a bleeding nose. Rangers second goal was a surprising affair. Surprising in so far as Whitey McDonald was almost the scorer! From 35 yards he suddenly released a proper hum-dinger of a shot. Farquharson threw himself across the goal and did mighty well in beating the ball down. Alas, however, Jimmy Smith caught it almost on the line and screwed it home with one of these button-hook shots he appears to have copyrighted. Rangers have often had less trouble from clubs in the top half of the table. They werent a great team. But they had tons of resource and refused to be put off by the keenest of tackling. I watched young McKillop closely. He was terribly loose at the start, when Benson, the new man from Falkirk, beat him often in the air. But he warmed to, and with the game. He finished quite strongly. Kennedy had a sparkling first-half for Rangers, and sat back to let Brown take the honours in the second. Both Main and Kinnear had a tin first-half, but their venturesome raiding after the interval was a godsend to an Ibrox team pegged back for spells after the interval. The three inside men were always ready for a dare. Nothing wrong with the defence. Jerry Dawson added some more ribbons to his medals. The most impressive player on the field, to my mind, was Bolt, the Dunfermline right-half. He thundered into the tackle and through the melee with unbounded enthusiasm and skill. At times he seemed only to have an ounce of energy left but he gave it just the same! Dunfermline might have done more damage had their extreme wingers shown more devil. Benson, the new centre, missed a few good chances, but is a clever plater none the less. Stewart Chalmers is still the prince of football kidders there were times when he foxed defenders to blushes. But this kidding got the fans goat. And I dont blame them. McAllister had a good day against the tenacious Smith, while young Hogg looks as if hell be a real good back in time. One thing annoyed me. And it isnt the first time it has done so. When will linesmen realise that a ball is NOT out of play until it has actually passed over the line? The fellow on the stand side inflamed the crowd on two occasions with annoying misinterpretation of this rule.
