Divers 39, 73
MacDonald pen 51
Match Information
Attendance: 83,500
Referee: M.C. Hutton (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Rangers got a proper dusting yesterday. Brilliant goalkeeping, desperate clearances, and barrowloads of luck, prevented the game from being all over before the interval. Celtic went daft. Rangers played daft. It has taken Celtic ten years to manage a win over Rangers in a Neerday game. It will take Rangers ten years to live it down! I have never seen a Rangers team so easily hood-winked, out manoeuvring, and even kidded, as in this first half. Rangers can have no excuse. They were whacked in the arts of the game. When they did start to get on the lines again, the number was engaged. I lost count of the breathless escapes and thumping fine saves by Jenkins. There were times when the ball spun and cavorted about the Ibrox goalmouth with Simpson, Gray and Winning spraying their legs around to connect. Out the ball would come to yet another Celt, who would bang it back again. Frankly, I cant remember seeing a Rangers defence which saved so many goals with its hindquarters. The ball kept smacking back off a Rangers pants. Jenkins had an amazing save from a Crum header a save which made us wonder if Jerry Dawson could possibly get back! Then McDonald, clean through, found his foot goa all filleted as he shot from the penalty spot. The ball hit the hay at the side of the goal. At this point, most of the Rangers players looked as if they were hitting the hay. A sleepy, drowsy, heavy-footed bunch. Kinnear had obviously decided that the only way to beat Hogg on the outside would be via a motor-bike, so he refused to exhaust himself. Working on the principle that a ball in the middle is worth two on the wing, he kept running every pass to the middle with panicky speed. Smith and McPhail did their best with these high dropping balls which should belong to the defenders nine times out of ten. On the other side, Fiddles was definitely uncomfortable. The Morrison sliding tackle was coming off too often. Still, it was Fiddes who, all against the run of play, almost opened the scoring. He flew in from the wing to a forward pass which out-stripped the Celtic defenders and thumped a terrific ball against the near upright. That was a shock that shook Celtic to their wisdom teeth. They decided to waste no more time. They started a barrage of the Ibrox goal which ended in Divers scoring from a Carruth corner-kick. The big fellow showed real craft here. The ball dropped at his feet on the 18 yards line. He was in a cluster of players. A shimmy-shake threw off two opponents and gave him room to let it fly into the net. Jenkins had my sympathy. He couldnt see the ball for players! Rangers showed up a little better after this. McPhail and Smith used their height and strength to some advantage. But the Celtic defenders had had loads of time to establish themselves and werent to be easily upset. Frankly, a three-goal lead for Celtic at half-time would have been on the side of justice. I expected Rangers to come out with the traditional battle-cry on their lips, and some re-discovered ping in their boots. I wasnt near enough to hear the battle-cry. But I was certainly near enough to note the continued absence of ping. It was certainly a slightly more lively Ibrox team, but Venters, McPhail, Smith and the others were still being beaten to the ball most times. And in a Celtic-Rangers game, the fellow in possession id pulling an opponent out of position. Just when it looked like the Light Blues might manage to veer the trend of the game in their favour, late struck them whack right in the waistcoat. Simpson, beaten by a ball that was passing over his head to an unmarked Celt, shot up his hands and diverted the ball. The referee had nae bother in making up his mind. McDonald scored from the spot. Maybe Celtic lay back for an easy. Anyhow, Rangers came more into the game then at any previous time. McPhail had the greatest shot of the game when he wheeled round to smite a fierce ball towards the Celtic net. But it merely brought out the greatest save of the match when Kennaway stuck up his hand and knuckled the ball the height of a three-storey building! Aye, footballs a funny game. Just when rangers looked their best, Celtic did their worst. Crum collected a clearance and lobbed the ball ahead to Divers who had streaked upfield. The Rangers defence was as wide as granmas nightie, and the big fellow toed the ball home a split second before Jenkins could reach him in the run out. Later, Kennaway smothered a great flying header from Smith, but really it was all over. Rangers had given Celtic their Neerday and in return, got their first fit for ten years! Despite Celtics superiority over most of the game, it was always worth watching. Loads of clever interpassing, slick lobbing and thrilling runs. It was Celtics day all right. They played on their toes, and in doing so, put Rangers on their backs. Heaven only knows what might have been the score if regulars, Delaney and Geatons had been playing! Carruth was rather awkward and slow at times, but always game, while young Lynch grows on one more in each successive match. The tall, long-striding Divers will be the hero of course. But actually, there wasnt a below par Celt on the field. The Divers fellow is almost a sensation now. You couldnt but him now if you threw in the Empire Exhibition as part payment! The best thing Rangers cand do is to try to forget about this game as quickly as possible that is, if their friends will allow them. The defence was splendid at the start, and Jenkins positively brilliant all through. But they cracked under the fury of a Celtic attack which kept coming back at them just when they were aching for a breather. There wasnt a solitary success in the front line. It was a line that spluttered and coughed. Celtics line barked and its bite was worse than its bark.
