G Henderson (4)
S Archibald
Match Information
Attendance: 43,000
Referee: A. Edward (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Before the match yesterday I had the view expressed to me by an old Parkhead favourite that football had depreciated 50 per cent on the pre-war standard. This is really a difficult matter to decide, as I can remember when I was playing, we used to hear the same old story – that the players of that time were vastly inferior to those of the previous decade. So, it will be ten years after this, and so on until the players will be quite unable to kick a ball. Whether or not the general standard of football has deteriorated, this, at all events we are certain of – the Dundee team of yesterday was a mere shadow of the team we knew a dozen years ago, when stalwarts like Dainty, Fraser, McFarlane and ‘sailor’ Hunter used to foot it. One would remind Ibroxites of the great Cup tie which the Rangers won by one goal to nothing, and at the close of the game, so pleased were the standites at Ibrox, that they an ovation to the men, frae ayont the Tay for the great display of football that had given. Yesterday it was a different story, as the game served up was a very mild affair, and not at all in keeping with the huge crowd. Rangers were short of Bowie and Muirhead, Meiklejohn and Handerson coming into the home side. To compensate for this, they brought out their new capture, McCandless, late of Linfield and an Irish Internationalist. Right from the start the Light Blues took control of the game. Archibald and Morton kept forcing the pace, but their centres were easily cleared. Cunningham let his outside man away with a fine forward pass, but Archibald, instead of going on, brought the ball back, and the opening was thrown away. So far, the run of the play had kept the ball away from McCandless, and it was fully ten minutes after the start ere he got his first kick. He soon demonstrated that he had a right foot as well as a left. A fine return along the touch-line easily showed the master-touch. Play kept round the Dundee goal, and Henderson had hard lines with a couple of headers, one just skimming the bar and the other being well cleared by Gibbon. From a breakaway on the left by Dundee, Troup sent the ball right across the goal, and Reid, meeting it first time, almost opened the scoring, his shot, from a difficult angle, just going over the bar. The Rangers’ pressure was bound to tell, and Cunningham, getting the ball at mid-field, slipped it forward to Henderson, who raced between the backs and shot a great goal with a fast-rising shot. This finished the scoring of the first half. The second half was a repetition of the first – Rangers a good first, Dundee a poor second. In the first ten minutes Archibald wet away on the right, and beating man after man, he got into the centre, right in front of goal, and with a left-foot drive he crowned one of the most spectacular runs I have ever seen by a grand goal. Henderson kept his place much better this half, with the result that a forward pass saw him outpace the backs and score his second. Shortly afterwards he completed the hat-trick by converting a cross from Archibald. Except on the Dundee left, there was never any danger. McLean and Troup kept pegging away, but they had very little support, and any of Troup’s centres were easily got rid of by the Rangers defence. Archibald was again the man to brook danger. Once a cross from him was too hot for Gibbon to hold. The goalkeeper dropped the ball, and before he could get hold of it the eager Henderson had hustled man and ball over the line. This completed the scoring, Rangers winning easily by 5 goals to nothing. Criticism of the players must be confined to a very few lines. One felt sorry for the Dundee backs. Right through the game Raitt and Thomson tackled and kicked exceptionally well, the left back particularly so. He was never at a loss to go and meet the strong-going Archibald, and it was only through his keen tackling in the first half that he kept the Rangers’ flier subdued. In the Second half the honours were rather with the Light Blue. The Dundee half’s were run off their feet defending, and consequently they had no tine to spare on their own forwards. The Dundee left was strong, and Troup put across many fine centres. The Light Blues all played well, but the opposition was so week that one must not build too much on the result of this match. McCandless left a very fine impression. His appearance on the top rather resembles Croal of Chelsea. The very ‘high’ forehead is not a matter of age, as the Irishman is quite young. By his play one is forced to believe his scanty locks are due to brains. At all events, he impressed me as being a very brainy player and one who will in due course become the ‘Ibrox Icicle’. The Irish back division gives every promise of being a great success. With the opposition so weak one could not say much about his tackling powers. His kicking with either foot was everything that one could look for. The Rangers half’s were all good, and particularly dies this apply to Meiklejohn. This young player is the best half the Rangers have, and on no account should be left out of the team, and except, of course, to give him a rest now and again. This player has a great future and is a worthy successor to James Gordon. Archibald was the strong man forward. The Fifer is this year playing far ahead of any previous years. If I have a fault to find with him, it is that he does not centre quite as well as he ought. A forward pass along the ground to his centre would vary matters occasionally. These were the ‘Hogg’ centres that gave Willie Reid all his goal. The man of the day, however, as far as the Light Blues were concerned, was Henderson. It is no secret that the Rangers have been hunting everywhere for a first-class man. Given a decent trial, I am willing to stake my reputation that they have him in Henderson. This young man has the necessary physical qualifications, and if the Rangers were to preserve with him for six weeks, I am quite certain he will make the position his own. What I would suggest is that for the next three Saturday’s Bowie and Cunningham be played on either side of him, and these old hands could give him the necessary tuition, particularly as to where to lie. Then, during the week, he is needing some shooting practice with his left foot. Apart from his four goals, Henderson, by yesterday’s play, promises well
