A Morton
G Henderson
Match Information
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: H Humphrey (Greenock)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
When Alloa get a scoring forward they will have no worries about being in the First League. A goal yesterday and they had the Rangers beaten. And the goal was there for the taking. Nobody was there to put the ball through. In these sentences you have the whole game at the Recreation Ground summed up. It was very hard lines on the Alloa club to lose two goals one of them at least taken from an off-side position. With all due respect to the referee, who was not in quite as good as position as I was, Alan Morton was off-side when he got the ball which led to the first goal. To make matters worse, Bowie let the simple ball beat him. Some say that Alan’s delivery had swerve. No Morton ball, such as that was, should have beaten any goalkeeper. And that was the turning point in the game. Even the second goal, which the persistent George Henderson got, might have been disputed on the same ground. It was hard on Alloa, but there you are. They had their chances and didn’t take them. Just to find the lie of the land, I went through Alloa on Friday evening, and found those directors who weren’t barn dancing worrying themselves about Bobby Orrock. The right back was suffering from influenza. On Saturday morning Bobby had decided to play. He played well, too and if I say that Tommy McGregor played better, it is no disparagement to the invalid. The Alloa backs – am I right in calling them discards? – were a better pair than Reid and McCandless. The name of McInally seems to crop up these days. There wasn’t a better Half-back on the field than Arthur of that ilk. In defence and attack he had no peer. Dunn was clever, Woods persevering, Dixon persistent. If all that Muirhead indicated by his voice had come to fruition, there wouldn’t have been any necessity for Johnston to play at all. But the latter just played his own game and was successful. We come to the forwards now. Their particular duty is to score. Had the Alloa forwards realised their duty they would have had the match won in the first half. Hendrick, Craig and Connaboy all had chances. They tried, but they must get there. They all tried too much, and Cochrane must be brought back to an inside position. We Alan was the sparkling man in the Rangers’ attack. Cunningham gave the best passes of any, but Archibald I wonder if he was worried by his local association – has played better many a time. Still, he was dangerous. Rangers from the kick-off were first to attack, and bearing down – or up, I think it is – on Bowie they gave the goalkeeper something to do. He fisted away, and well he did so, for the eager Rangers were crowding round him. Relief came when Alan Morton sent a ball harmlessly past. Alloa’s chance came when Hendrick manoeuvred into position. He had the goal at his mercy, but his hot was weak, and Robb had no difficultly in picking up a ball which ought to have been beyond his reach. But worse luck, was to follow for Alloa. Brilliant play on their right wing gave Connaboy his chance. He made all that could be made of it, but Robb was in the way when the shot was delivered, and Rangers had a lucky let off. Grand play by the locals, and determined attack was worthy of a goal, Craig hesitated, when he might have scored. Then came Alloa’s turn to defend. Cunningham gave Brown a teaser, and the goalkeeper had to have a second attempt at saving a ground shot. The Rangers were being held and with fifteen minutes gone had been their masters. Muirhead foolishly gave away a corner after Morton had taken a couple at the other end. But what a great save Arthur McInally had. Goalkeeper everybody was beaten after one of Morton’s deceptive centres, and just when all seemed over up popped Arthur to clear from under the crossbar. After another bit of Alloa pressure, from which nothing seemed likely to accrue, Archibald at the other end, headed the ball into Bowie’s hands. Morton raised the enthusiasm with a wonderful corkscrew run. He seemed to be going right through to score, when his intended centre dropped into Bowie’s hands, who cleared nicely. Five minutes from the interval the home team had their worst experience, Cairns sent a peach of a pass through to Henderson, who travelled a couple of yards and shot with terrific force. The ball hit a post, rebounded to Archibald, who drove again, and the ball went to Morton, Eventually the Alloa defence prevailed. McInally came into great prominence with a great run in which he beat several opponents then parted to Forrest, the outside-right centred, and Hendrick, with no one but Robb to beat skied the ball. When the interval arrived Alloa were in the position of having had most of the game with noting to show for it. The resumption found Alloa again attacking, and Hendrick had a chance. He shot past. Rangers began to get anxious, but they had all their anxiety relieved when, after minutes, they were gifted a goal – gifted in two ways. To begin with Morton was offside when he received the ball, and when he lobbed a soft one over, Bowie seemed mesmerised and allowed the ball to drop calmly into the net. With that goal we saw the real Rangers – first time in the game. Another goal came, and again, I though an offside one. Henderson got the ball nicely placed to him, and he made the most of it. Interest in the game seemed to fade afterwards, Aimless kicking most of it, and Rangers were undoubtedly superior. Cunningham had the best shot of the game late, and Bowie his best save.
