B McPhail 15
Match Information
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: WG Holborn (Glasgow)
Matchday: Wednesday
Match Trivia
Strategy by Davie Meiklejohn gave Rangers two valuable points at Dundee which might well have gone the other way. Thirteen minutes after the start in a melee near the Dundee goal three or four players got bunched together on the ground. The referee awarded the Scottish Cupholders a free kick about a yard out from the penalty line. All the Dundee defenders lined up in front of the ball expecting Meiklejohn to take a pot shot. But Davie coolly passes to McHail, who standing unmarked, shot well away from Marsh – this the only goal of the match. It was not a game to watch. There was an absence of thrills, and to some extent the proceedings were marred by a lot of rough and tumble work which could have been done without. Mr Holburn had no easy task, yet some on his decisions were puzzling to the onlookers. A minute before the interval he gave a free-kick against Marsh for something not apparent to anybody. Had this been taken there might have been trouble, but half-time arrived and saved the situation. Dundee are to be congratulated on their show. In the opening stages they played good football and were constantly hovering near Hamilton. One shot from McNab was cleverly saved by the Ibrox keeper, and a Cassidy ‘header’ deserved a better fate than a miss by a yard. Fleming was well held by Ross, and generally the Dens defence was sound. They were troubled by a strong sun in the first half, in which the ‘Light Blues’ ought to have made better use of their chances. Alan Morton delivered two curly balls, but nothing came if them. A goal down only at the interval looked good enough for Dundee. But Rangers changed Meiklejohn from the left to the centre, and the Ibrox lot were content now to keep the lead. All this half McPhail and Cunningham acted on the defensive, and it was left to Fleming, Archibald and Morton to make fugitive raids. Once Fleming nearly did the trick. He flicked a pass from Archibald, but Marsh brought off a grand save. Two Cook ‘corners’ were cleared finely by Hamilton, and one drive by Cassidy was stopped by Smith on its flight to goal. Layer the Dundee attack was at sixes and sevens. Yet two or three shots Lawley sent across might have been taken advantage of. But – Gray and Hamilton were grand. Twelve thousand people were present.
