Dr Marshall 15
Missed Penalties
A Massie pen miss <45
Match Information
Attendance: 53,396
Referee: W Bell (Motherwell)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Referee Bell had a difficult game to referee at Tynecastle yesterday. He did his job well. He early on showed a firm hand, but still was forced to exercise a considerable measure of patience. That patience was exhausted in the final minutes when, following an incident between King, of Hearts and English of Rangers, Mr Bell ordered the Tynecastle back to the pavilion. It is not my province to discuss whether or not King deserves the fate that he met. That is a question that will be discussed at Carton Place after the hearing of evidence. I must say, however, that the happening was a most unfortunate one, proving as it did once again that our so-called first-class teams should be the means of bringing the game into disrepute. But let us, if we can, forget the unsavouriness of the happening and get on to the game. I do not say Rangers were lucky to win, but I do declare that Hearts were unlucky to lose, and my reading of the days play is that if the Edinburgh team had succeeded in getting an equaliser the remainder of their interest in the Scottish Cup would have been a share of a big gate at Ibrox. If a replay had been called for Rangers would have won, it. But while saying that I cannot compliment the Light Blues on the manner of play by which they achieved success. This tactical warfare stuff, this securing of a lead and holding on to it by concentrating on defence, I do not like. It spoils football as an entertainment, although it may deceive the opposition into thinking that goals are bound to come by dint of pressure. Rangers, after their score fifteen minutes from the commencement, adopted the safety-first tactics, and in so doing they revealed themselves once again as the Rangers I do not like, and find it not a little distasteful to watch. Certainly yesterday, as on previous occasions, when something really vital was at stake it proved a paying business, but I would rather see them taking a chance. (What id the enjoyment of sport if there is nor risk attached to it?) If actual pressure meant winning a game, then Hearts should have romped into the next round three bags full. But the things that really matter in competitive football are goals. Edinaa darlings did not get even one, and thus so far as they are concerned, the silver plate is adorned with wings. In the good old days of long ago, when territorial advantage impressed the on-looker and the critic, it would have been recorded that Hearts were about the unluckiest team in the world to lose this game. But now territorial advantage, so long as a team with Rangers ability to play defensively are concerned, matters as much as the future of the proverbial celluloid cat in the flames of Hades, and we must desert out old-fashioned notions. Rangers defence beat Hearts attack, and the actual result being all that the Light Blues worried about they are entitled to victory, I suppose. But I repeat I dont like the tactics, and if I am any prophet at all the time will come when this negative policy will spoil the game sicken its patrons, and reduce football to only a shadow of its former glory. I prefer taking-a-chance losers to safety-first winners. The game was exciting enough, I presume, so far as the partisans were concerned. To the person preserving strict neutrality it was a disappointment so far as actual football skill went. Rangers forwards line seldom, if ever, tried combined movements, and with the exception of English, none of them tried to hold the ball. English was easily the superior of his colleagues in the van. In point of fact, he played just about the best game I have seen him play. He was fast, full of fire and dash, unimpaired by severe dealing, confident enough to try something on his own, and with a left foot shot that in the second half thrice made Harkness hop to it. Neither Archibald nor Fleming got over crosses as we know they can; McPhail seemed at sea very frequently in a robust type of game that one would have thought would have suited his strong physique. The first-time tackling of the Hearts men did not permit Marshall to tie the ball to his boot laces, and as a purveyor of the ball he was safely lacking in the necessary guile. Behind the front five I have sweeter thing to say. I do not see how either Meiklejohn or Brown can be left out of our team for Wembley. The more I see of them and the more I see of others occupying these same positions, the more I fancy the Rangers wing half-backs. Meiklejohn played all through according to his idea of how the game ran or should be made to run. What more can I say than that? Brown was the man who held the ball and made effort after effort to force a combined attack. He took knocks and gave em, but always he was the footballer, always the wing half-back that we look for in Scottish football. Simpson played his more or less usual role of third back, and his height was a valuable asset considering that the balls sent up to Battles were sky-balls. As an attacking force he was never in the game, as a defensive one he played, I suppose, according to prior arrangement. Somehow or other, Simpson strikes me in the same way as an actor forced to stick to his lines. He works according to book, or if you prefer it, according to instructions. Gray and McAulay were two splendid backs. They may not have been spectacular in their duties, but they were as safe as the Bank of England. Their tackling was superbly brainy, and they stopped the man whom they were down to mark by the simple expedient of permitting Johnstone and Murray to stop themselves. I pick out McAulay as the better of the pair for no other reason than that he showed a bigger variety of kicks in his clearances. He can turn a ball beautifully, and his right foot, if not possessing the pith of his left, is encased in a boot of cunning. Hamilton, after the game, I heard referred to as a probable for Scotlands team against England. Certainly, he played very well, and if the ten in front of him did not take any risks, he did. Battles will not head this ball today. That was the inspiration behind his performance, and time after time he rushed from his goal to punt clear balls that seemed destined for the head of Barney. Hamilton never once shied his duty, and frequently in the course of the game he was fifteen yards or so away from his goal, his yellow jersey in the midst of maroon. But each time he knew that two or more blue clad mates were on the goal line behind him. Another phase of Rangers tactics! Assuming that Hearts almost incessant pressure meant outfield superiority, the fact that they did not get goals was a testimony to the Rangers defence. But it was also a blur on the play of the three inside forwards. Smith always seemed to be in line with his half-backs seldom ahead of them. John White, who played withal with a considerable measure of vigour, was far too prone to slap the ball goalwards from too far out, and at too great a height. Battles one might excuse by saying that he seldom got the ball coming his way to his liking, but even when he did, he was brushed aside, dispossessed or he himself fumbled. Bennie was first rate in the first half; nit so good in the second. Massie was mediocre in the initial half, a master in the second. Massie has been capped; he will be capped again. I place him next to Meiklejohn as Scotlands best right half, and if the Rangers man is played as pivot Massie will walk into the wing berth. Johnstone was solid all through, but there was too much of the obvious, too much of the stereotyped about his play, and too little of the element of surprise. Anderson and King were two quite good backs. Anderson was the more spectacular, and just as effective, in his particular way, as McAulay and Gray. But he got more room to work in. His clearances were of the open type, plenty of space in which to operate. Harkness played to par. He had no chance with the goal that beat him. That goal came after about fifteen minutes play. English was going through but was brought down in a very rough manner by King just outside the penalty area. Archibald took the kick. He shot for goal low and straight. The ball was blocked and rebounded to the winger, who flashed it over to the left. Fleming met it with his head and nodded towards goal. It went flashing across the goalmouth and Marshall, rushing in, guided it in the proper manner into the net. Hearts defence was at fault, their marking was bad. Not long afterwards, Heart, doing the pressing, were awarded a penalty for hands. Massie took the kick. He tried to place it in the net, but there was not sufficient sting about the ball, and Hamilton had time to get down and save it at his right-hand side. But he could not hols the squirming sphere. Smith and R Johnstone rushed forward. The inside man got there first, only to shoot wildly past. If the winger had got the chance, he could not have but helped but score. He was running in straight at the ball, while Smith approached it at an awkward angle. The second half was nearly all Hearts so far as attacks went, but they could not break down the Rangers defence. In the last quarter they sailed into it, and I must say they were most unfortunate not to score, particularly when, with Hamilton out of his goal, the ball bounced under the bar, only to be headed out by Gray. Then came the ordering-off of King, and frankly, the wonder is that marching orders for one or more of the contestants did not come sooner. All through there was far toom much ankle-tapping and foul tackling. But lets forget about that. There were far too many distasteful happenings for ones recollection to be happy. Massie missed a 30th minute penalty and King was sent-off in the second half
