Fleming (4)
Match Information
Attendance: 20000
Referee:
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Again, our fellows gave a brilliant display of clever combined football. They did not win by as many goals as at Philadelphia, but all the same, they were masters of the situation throughout. On a hard flinty ground, they settled quickly and delighted the 20,000 spectators present. Andrew Cunningham was specially brilliant. He did not score, but otherwise his play was reminiscent of his very best. Jamie Fleming was dead on the mark. He preformed the hit-trick; Bob McPhail got a single, and Brooklyn were beaten by four goals to nothing. Our opponents fought hard but could not break through the stubborn Ibrox defence. So far, our fellows have not been severely tested, but that, I suppose will come in time. The two matches played show that it anybody was any the worse for the crossing, he has got over his trouble now. They are all as fit as fiddles. The all-along-the-front work of out forwards and the understanding between the various divisions was something of a revelation to the Americans
The much-discussed Glasgow Rangers, holders of both the Scottish Cup and league soccer championships, yesterday justified all the fine things said of them, and did not take long about it either, In fact exactly eight minutes after they had made their initial bow to metropolitan fandom at Ebbets Field yesterday afternoon, they walked through the Brooklyn Wanderers defence for an easy goal. Thereafter they treated the Brooklyn eleven to a severe lacing, displaying one of the greatest exhibitions of scientific, hard, clen cut soccer ever seen on this side of the Atlantic. The score, 4 to 0, fails indicate their vast superiority and keener knowledge of the game. The contest was watched by some 20,000 fans, and this crowd, a tremendous one for a soccer contest, saw something worthwhile. It saw one of the greatest soccer matches in all the world move about with such precision, force and effectiveness as to cause even the mildest of fans to wax enthusiastic. The wanderers never stood a chance once Referee Cunningham sent the players on their way. The homesters were outmatched in every department of the game. The players were late in appearing on the field, but once the Rangers clad in royal blue jerseys, were seen approaching from the dugout the entire crowd of 20,000 stood up and gave them an ovation that must have echoed far down Bedford Ave. After the usual procedure of marching to the flagpole, the boys went through their preliminary workout and the game was on. Tom Heeney, the boxer, kicking off the first. It didn’t take the Wanderers long to scent the style of play their visitors employed. Four of the Rangers’ forward line would rush the ball down to the Brooklyn net, drawing in their opponents’ defence. Without warning, the ball would shoot far out to the left where Alan Morton waited all alone. Once having achieved this, the rest was easy. With the Brooklyn backfield already bewildered, the ball would sail right back to where it came from, Fleming, Ranger centre forward, getting the ball invariably. Though used extensively, this play could not be solved by the Wanderers and resulted in at least half of the Scotch champions’ tallies. Fleming, incidentally, scored all of his team’s goals and was so much in evidence that after the game the Wanderers to a man agreed that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have him shipped back to the British Isles on the next boat if the American teams are to offer the Rangers any sort of competition. Eight minutes after the start, Fleming took Archibald’s corner and headed it past Stevie Smith for the first goal. There was no further scoring in the first period, but the Rangers forced the issue continually. The score in corners for this period was two for the foreigners and one for Nat Agar’s contingent. In the second period the Wanderers played harder and more determinedly, but all to no avail. It was the old story of a master teacher giving am ambitious pupil a fine lesson in how to do a thing right. Every time the Wanderers started an attack the Rangers backs took the ball away in the most amazing manner, passed it down to the forward wall, and then this forward wall showed the Wanderers team the way to score a goal, and the only way. After 23 minutes of play in the closing chapter Fleming, whose first name is James, sent a wicked shot, low and fast into a corner of the net and the Rangers were 2-up. A minute later he repeated his goal scoring shunt, only this time the shot was high, hitting the bar and dropping into the net for a score. Several moments later Morton broke through for a goal, but the shot was ruled offside. To make matters sure, Fleming took a cross from Morton with ten minutes of the game remaining and drove the ball far out of Smith’s reach for the fourth Rangers goal. Brooklyn gained a corner, its second of the half, shortly after, but nothing came of it. The game ended with the ball in midfield and with the crowd convinced that it had seen one of the world’s greatest teams in action, an eleven even superior to the famous Hakoah Club of 1925 or Uruguay eleven of a year later
