W Reid <45
T Cairns >45
Match Information
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Sergeant-Major Vick (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Last Tuesday at Celtic Park Willie Kivlichan, the Bradford Park Avenue forward, remarked to me:- ‘This is something like the English game’. He was referring to the strenuous nature of the cup contest between Celtic and Clyde. Had Willie been at Airdrie on Saturday he would have got his full of hefty stick-at-nothing football. The man who could not rough it was no use at Broomfield. At the close of the match Director Willie Orr told me that his boys had instructions to reserve themselves; to take no risks in view of next Saturday’s cup-tie with Queen’s Park. I do not doubt the veracity of the old Celt, but this I will say, the order to be cautious was forgotten almost immediately the ball was set a-rolling. I heard the Rangers roundly abused and accused of playing an unduly rough game. They did not stick at trifles I grant you, but, except on a very odd occasion, their play did not warrant this opprobrious designation – it was strong, it was strenuous, it was clever, it was useful, that was all. It was a new Rangers. And I like football with just a little bit of a bone in it. So also did the 15,000 crowd – they seemed to enjoy it. It was evidently also to the liking of the Airdrie players. There is no question as to which side set the pattern for the match. Literally, the wonderfully virile Rangers had their sleeves rolled up at the start, but Airdrie were not long in following suit. Almost before you could wink every inch of ground was being furiously contested. There were a few lulls, and these were of short duration. Hard knocks there were in galore, but these were not confined to one side. Invariably it was a case of ‘A Roland for an Oliver’. To me the one regrettable feature of the match was the fact that Galt was more than a trifle severe on J Reid at the beginning. He brought down on his head the wrath of the crowd, and incidentally that of the referee. He deserved it, but often afterwards he was ‘goosed’ without cause. You know Galt. You would not describe his style of action as the poetry of motion. What I mean is that a trifling offence committed by a sweeter-moving player might seem almost a dastardly action if the big Stevenson fellow was the culprit. Yes, Galt was almost cruel to begin with. But he tones down, and emerged from the contest one of the greatest successes in a most successful Rangers team. He simply bottles up James Reid. I have yet to see Airdrie play the game they must be capable of. Their 36 League points out of a possible 56 tells more eloquently than words that they are a good team. But I must have been particularly unfortunate in my connection with them. I have still to see them win, as I have yet to see Rangers lose – indeed, I am something of an Ibrox mascot. This last was the best game I have watched Airdrie play, still their greatest friends will agree with me, I know, when I say they were beaten by a side better in every direction. That indescribable something was lacking in the Airdrie combination – the something that denotes class. In appraising the value of their play it must not be forgotten, however, that they were severely handicapped by the absence of Williams. The rabid Ranger may retort that – ‘We were without Logan, Bowie, and Bennett’. Right! But the Ibrox people had capable substitutes; Airdrie were most indifferently serves at centre half-back. George Cane, I trust, will yet do much good work for Mr Chapman’s club, but he will not look back with pleasure on his Broomfield debut. George, who, in build, facial appearance and style, is not unlike Bernard Crossan, once of Celtic, suffered from a shoulder injury and from the fact that the position was new to him. Gane’s fatal weakness was brought into bold relief when W Reid rounded him and left him a knotless thread ere going on to crash the ball into the back of the net. The game was then thirty-five minutes old. It was a right-down Willie Reid Effort. The Rangers’ opportunistic centre, less Micawber-like and less individualistic than usual, took advantage of the occasion to press on the International Selectors present – I sat between Messrs. AM Robertson and Hugh McLaughlin – his claims for preferment. He gave Brown one or two teasers to clutch, almost uprooted an upright with one, missed the woodwork with a few others, and sent out to Brown the ball with which his namesake was beaten midway through the second half. Prior to this Cairns had headed through from a corner, nicely placed by Paterson. I have already indicated that James Reid got little chance to shine. He was not played too as he should have been, yet he did get away nicely now and then, let go a fine shot or two, but oftener than not he either hung too long to the ball or finished poorly. On the day he was eclipsed by his namesake and rival. Airdrie had two glorious chances - one in the first half when Fulton stumbled, and another in the closing portion when Templeman flashed across a beautiful ball which came to earth off the cross-bar, I think. Lock saved the first situation by diving out in the old sweet way. Paterson put the other harmlessly past. I liked this lad better than Templeman, but he had the same fault as the other Airdrie forwards – and Donaldson and Thomson particularly – he was just that fraction of a second too long in getting rid of the ball. This was their besetting sin throughout the piece. RG Campbell and Fulton are rather ponderous backs, but they seemed nippy by comparison with these halting, hesitating Airdrie forwards. Campbell was very safe, as he always is on a small pitch. Fulton I have never seen do better. Gordon, even if he wandered a little in his quest for goal, had no equal among the half-backs. Galt I have already referred to Raffery, Hendry, and Tom Paton I place on the same mark – all good. Had Paton – he is a wonderful chap, is Tom – finished as he started, I might have ranked him with Gordon. For half-an-hour his placing and general aggressive work were very fine. Neither Airdrie back was too reliable, Mackie started very well, but tapered off badly towards the close. The match showed how rich the Rangers are in reserve talent. Brown chipped in with one of those fine games he used to oblige with occasionally, and Cairns, who is a right good sticker, if I am not very much mistaken, will ere long be a serious candidate for a regular place in the Ibrox team. Stewart most disappointing. His footwork was as brainy as he was neat; Paterson most disappointing. His footwork at times was pretty, his centring just about as bad as it could be. Brown was deceived by that curling ball from the left. He made his effort too late. Otherwise his goalkeeping, like that of Lock’s was first-class. Neither custodian knows the meaning of the word fear
