Harrison 25
Main 27
A Venters 37
McCulloch 43
Brand 72, 83
Missed Penalties
McInally pen miss
Match Information
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: R.G. Benzie (Irvine)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
A smashing finish the kind that see a no regrets note go down in the Saturday afternoon diary. The tale in brief is this :- Thirty-nine minutes Rangers 3 Arbroath (with ten men) 0. Ninety minutes well, you can see the score above. And Arbroath might have got the winner. McInally gave Brand the chance of a lifetime two minutes from the end, but the centre hesitated with only Dawson to beat and was dispossessed. And now Ill tell you of that thrill-packed finale that sent the Gatfield fans home hoarse. The fun started not so long after half-time when McCulloch was downed in the penalty-box. The score was then 3-1, McCulloch having reduced the leeway just before half-time. McInally took the spot-kick. His show was good, but not good enough, for Dawson threw himself sideways and got his fists to the ball an international save. I though that miss would have finished the Arbroath challenge. I was wrong. Time and again they swept downfield, not so much by good football as by sheer grit and enthusiasm, with McInally and Gould on the right wing giving the Rangers left flank all they wanted and a bit more. We had Rangers flashes, but they were only flashes. Anderson, making his League debut, made a great save from a Harrison header, a brilliant piece of work by the goalkeeper that was only excelled by a daring dive to stop a certain Kinnear counter. Back came the Red Lichties, and the cool, confident Rangers of the first half became fidgety in front, panicky in the rear. Just when we though that the Light Blues defence would hold out, Arbroath struck. A bonny Goal too. Urquhart to Cowan, Cowan to Brand, Brand first time to the back of the net. With Arbroath piling on all sail, we saw the equaliser on the way. It came in 38 minutes. Gould crossed for McInally to head in. Dawson got the ball out, but Brand headed back under the bar and a defenders hand could only touch the ball into the back of the net. A Rangers collapse, you say. You are right. The Ibrox team played studied machine-like football in that first period with Harrison touching the form that made him a Douglas Park hero. Little behind him made George Browns absence almost unnoticeable. With Kinnear they made up a triangle that gave us that man-to-man football that was a delight to watch. Yet it was from the other flack that the opening goal came. Symon slipped a perfect pass to Thornton, who transferred to Harrison. The inside left had the easiest of jobs to beat Anderson. A piece of opportunism by Main following a Little free-kick and a terrific 25 yards drive by Venters saw the Light Blues with a 3-0 lead that flattered them just a bit. Hats off to the Gayfield team for their plucky fight back. They are not brilliant, but that team spirit and enthusiasm takes some beating. The Referee The Gatfield crowd did not appreciate the penalising of the Arbroath defenders on several occasions. That might have been prejudice, but I must confess that Rangers were awarded several free kicks which I thought might well have gone the other way. McInally missed 50th minute penalty
