Benyon 76
Match Information
Attendance: 34,500
Referee: unknown - to be confirmed
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Before a record Pittodrie League crowd of 35,000, Aberdeen yesterday fully earned their victory over Rangers. Had they taken all their chances, the score would have been more emphatic. Aberdeen put in easily three-fourths of the attacking, and for long periods Rangers goal was under constant siege. That is one side of it, and here is the other. Deprived of the services of Smith through injury, Rangers had the added misfortune of McPhail breaking down before twenty minutes had gone and being a comparative passenger at outside-left for the rest of the game. As Smith and McPhail are key men, it was no wonder Rangers team work was disorganised, and too much was asked of the defence. That the Ibrox rearguard rose so magnificently to the occasion, and kept out Aberdeen for 80 minutes, was the epic of the game. The strategic covering up of Brown and Meiklejohn was superb, and even the disappointed Dons could not but admire their foilers. True, Simpson and his colleagues often had the rub of luck, shots being unwittingly diverted and half-clearances usually finding a friendly foot. Yet Aberdeen had only themselves to blame for not being at least two goals ahead at half-time. Armstrong and Beynon were left with nothing to do but tap the ball through an open goal. On the first occasion, after McDonald had mistimed his jump, Beynon returned the ball into the goal goalmouth, where Armstrong and Lang lay unmarked. Unfortunately for Aberdeen, both went for the gift together, and the ball was lofted over the bar from three yards range. Beynon had not even the excuse of missing a quick chance. When the ball came across, it was all his own, and an open goal confronted him. He acted as if stricken with temporary paralysis, pawing at the ball two or three times until Brown arrived on the scene. Rangers rearranged their attack after the interval following a field confab by Manager Struth with skipper Meiklejohn. They played in this order: Main, Drysdale, Gillick, Venters and McPhail. The immediate effect was more enterprise forward, but it was not sustained, and their work soon became very fitful again. Yet occasionally they looked like snapping the leading goal by adroit movements which developed quickly. Venters was the chief schemer in this respect. The off-chance of a Rangers goal heightened the excitement among the already wrought-up spectators, who were waiting every other minute to acclaim Aberdeens expected winner. So, play surged on towards a tense climax. Beynon made amends for his previous miss by sending the crowd into ecstasies ten minutes from time. It was a perfect goal. Some forty yards out, McKenzie pounced on a semi-clearance from Brown, and dribbled quickly through an open defence. Meantime, Beynon was running into position infield, and at the precise moment McKenzie consigned the ball to him. Rangers realised the danger too late, for already Beynon was between Simpson and McDonald with a clear view of goal, and a flashing, low shot had Dawson beaten from ten yards before the goalkeeper could run out far enough to narrow the target. The closing phase was the most exciting of all. Rangers threw everything into attack in a desperate effort to save the game. Aberdeen were penned in defence, and a series of free and corner kicks put their goal in recurring danger. But the end came with the Aberdeen colour still flying. It was a hard sporting rather than a brilliant game and the outstanding feature was the brilliant display of half-back strategy by Rangers. Simpson got through tremendous work, and the practical touches of Brown and Meiklejohn often disguised the fact that Rangers were so overrun by lively opponents, who undid much of their own good work by bunching on the penalty line. Congratulation to clever Aberdeen, and sympathies to Rangers in their magnificent failure.
