A Venters 11
Thornton 25
Wilson 27
Main 52
Match Information
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: M.C. Hutton (Glasgow)
Matchday: Tuesday
Match Trivia
This was Venters, The Venturesome, rip-snorting through the game, with slips of all sizes and a shot for every one of his many dazzling moods. Rangers front line hung well in this first round Glasgow Cup tie at Shawfield, and my idea is that Venters put it back into position. Rangers won rather comfortably, yet Clyde had their bit of play. But that inside forward trouble is still in occupancy at Shawfield. When Clyde get an inside forward with a dig on a par with right-winger Robertsons, the Shawfield male voice choir may do other than merely rehearse. Winning was a good Ranger at left back and this was Gray, the great. McPhail was the man who could switch the game with a single move. Main was lively, Kinnear a brighter second-half performer, and young Thornton always ready for the chance. Brown hadnt a good night in Clydes goal. He was nervy at the start and never looked comfortable. The Clyde backs did well, and Stewart was a most likeable half-back. Gillies had a diddle too, but Clydes only bit of forward hope was Tom Robertson. Rangers eleventh-hour selection had Winning at left back up-and-coming youngster Ross at right half, McPhail, with plaster over his eye, at inside right. Terracings were packing nicely when Clyde gave us thrill No 1. Gillies plugged along on the left and got the ball sweetly into goal. Hope came in with a burst and Dawson had to be at his peak to clear a jumpy ball on the goal-line. But Mr Hutton blew a foul against Hope and this particular thrill ended. Frist corner to rangers in nine minutes, and a minute later Venters got a mad and marvellous goal. A Dougie Gray clearance found the wee Fifer some 30 yards out. Venters caught the ball, gave it enough drag to beat Beaton, and shot a lightning drive from the left boot. A battery of goalkeepers couldnt have stopped this. The kind of goal that does its best to leave you bankrupt of expression. Not a game, at this point, with many red corpuscles, but Tom Robertson, Clyde galloping wing man, kept the Shawfield hand in with a bending shot from the wing that had Dawson the dandy on his knees. Venters, playing away happily in the no-mans-land sector between forwards and half-backs, was a real Ranger, and another of his capers gave Rangers a second goal in 25 minutes. Venters started it with a slip to Main. The ball came in to Thornton, who steadied and shot crisply to the net. Two minutes later we saw what Shawfield can do in the way of roars when big Jimmy Simpson missed a ball that had been flung into the middle, and George Wilson, sizing up and moving on, shot a good Clyde goal. Brown, in Clydes goal, appeared to be in a buttery mood, and there was a thrill up the Shawfield spine as he fidgeted with a ball or two. Towards the interval it was a rollicking contest, with Clyde having a say, though Rangers looked in the mood. McPhail, with his patched eye, was doing well, and this was the real Happy Feet Venters. There was an amazing moment just at the interval when McPhail whanged a hearty one. Brown looked on, apparently in the belief that the ball was going past, but it got the junction of the post and the bar and shrieked back into play. A let off! Rangers got a third goal eight minutes after the restart a simple thing that keeper Brown should have prevented. A bit of Rangers buzzing in front of goal was capped by a low switch across goal by Kinnear. Brown should have cut one this cross, but alarmingly allowed it to run to the ever-up Main, who smacked the ball home. The game had cooled, though Venters, a little dynamo, was still an entertainer and a threat. Clyde had some rich football but Hope and Noble had not the shotting snap or boring-in power of the Ibrox inside forwards. A Venters header, following on a McPhail shot that banged the crossbar, was caught on the line by Kirk. Winning had settled at left back, putting powerfully and tackling with razor-edge keenness, but Tom Robertson slipped round him once and made Dawson get off his toes to catch a real Robertson stinger.
