A Venters pen 13
Match Information
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: W.S. Gilchrist (Bellshill)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Defeated, yes! But the Amateurs emerged with their chins sticking out an encounter in which there was some rather shady play. They lost by a penalty goal, scored in the fifteenth minute by Venters. Johnstone had armed the ball in the box. But I think the referee was wrong when, half a minute before, he did not award Queens Park a free kick. Shaw, from afar, fired a searing shot bang into Queens goalmouth. Mansour was just catching the ball when Thornton knocked him out. The ball fell almost on the goal-line, and was about to cross it, when Dickson rushed over and cleared with not a split second to spare. Mansour looked down for the count, but Bert Manderson soon brought him round. Now, in my opinion, Thorntons charge was not accordingly to Cocker, and a free kick should have been granted Queens Park. Had that course been followed, there would have been no penalty award to follow for Rangers. A draw would not have done the league champions an injustice. They began in splendid style. They were all over Queens in the first half. I thought they were to win a canter. Playing very good bread and butter football against a breeze, they had the Amateurs defence in doubt, difficulty, and distress. They had the Amateurs half-backs often befogged and confused. They had their attack about as useless as a glass eye at a keyhole. To me it was only a question of time until Queens were lost in wandering mazes and several goals behind. But I was wrong. As the first half drew to a close Queens, a goal down, began to come into the spotlight. They made several minatory incursions into Rangers territory. They fired several wild shots which flew wide of Dawsons charge. Only one shot had Jerry to save in all the forty-five minutes. A thunderbolt thing with which he dealt in his best manner. And that brought us to the interval. Next moiety Queens faced the breeze. General expectation was Rangers would run through them to an easy victory. All wrong. The Amateurs surprised the Light Blues, surprised themselves, and astonished some 20,000 onlookers by not only putting up a successful resistance to all Rangers attacks, but outing the Ibrox defence through a spifflicating three-quarters of an hour. The Amateurs defence developed confidence and fortitude. The half-backs were no longer a threadbare line. The forwards, better buttressed, developed a telling balance and a blend which made progress. Sleigh ought to have equalised. He had a glorious chance when a cross ball came to him pleading to be netted. Sleigh bungled. Kyle hit the crossbar with Dawson jiggered. Wright shot from short range. Dawson was running back after partially clearing. Ball looked a cert for the net. But no. Woodburn appeared miraculously and headed away. No break for Queens. Nay, Rangers were not by any means doing all the defending. In general tactics they were ahead of the enemy. But they werent a patch on the first-half Rangers. They were no rhapsody in blue. Forwards lost a lot of their beauty and order and finished often very erratically. Defence became suspect in places under the searching thrusts and sudden dashes of the opposition. In Queens team I specially noted Mansour, Dickson. Johnstone, Christie, Browning and Wright. But that second half found all hands in fine fettle. Rangers, by no means the Rangers of yesteryear, were perhaps best served by Dawson, Gray, Shaw, Woodburn, Venters and McPhail. Queens Parks relegation plight is bad, but not hopeless.
