T Cairns
S Duncan
R Archibald
Match Information
Attendance: 10,500
Referee: H Dickie (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
On the way back from Edinburgh to Glasgow, James Blair, the Rangers’ back, told me that the sprung muscle which put him out of action at Tynecastle before the game had well started was the result of the purest accident. It happened thus. Willie Wilson, the Hearts’ centre forward, was in the act of playing the ball to a comrade. Blair turned quickly with the object of intercepting the pass, and the damage was done. Nobody was in contact with the Ibrox man, who left the field without having kicked a ball. In the circumstance the Rangers’ ten are due a pat on the back for their plucky 3 to 1 victory, their third in succession against the Hearts in Edinburgh. On the surface it looks the great triumph it has already been described, but the less superficial Ibrox observer will not, I know, allow himself to be carried away by it. Rangers were certainly the better team – or ten, should I say? – but it should be remembered that a side is just as good as its opponents will allow it to be. And the ‘Light Blues’ were up against nothing special in the Capital. We have been told that the Hearts played quite a respectable game in Greenock. They failed to produce it before their own people; indeed it was just as ragged a Tynecastle representation as I have ever seen. In Black they have a clever custodian, Kiernan is a fair back, and if Wilson is a shade slower than he was last back-end, the soldier is still a difficult customer to get round. Military training seems to have tied him up somewhat – his action isn’t so free as it was. This over-wrought rear trio would easily have passed muster, however, had the intermediate line been anything like Tynecastle class, Smith, the Barnsley recruit, started fairly well, but tapered away to nothingness; Ross throughout the piece was a ‘sticker’ with little finish – simply that and nothing more – and Mercer was but a shadow of his real self. The big fellow did oblige with a number of really clever things, but there was a don’t-care sort of look about him – his heart didn’t seem in his work. With no support to speak of, a great deal could not be expected from the forwards, among whom Sergeant Miller was an easy first. I liked also his partner, Sapper Whyte. The Loanhead boy can pick up a ball and go ahead with it ‘slick’, but as yet he is too fond of shooting. Willie Wilson wasn’t at home in the centre, and the left wing was weak. On the Rangers’ side the honours were carried away by Scott Duncan and Manderson. The right-winger, who has been holidaying at St Andrews, was in splendid fettle. Nicely fed by Dick Bell, he sped along the line like a deer and middle the ball beautifully, besides delivering several fine shots. From one of these drives, which glanced from Black’s arm to the cross-bar and then into the net, the Rangers regained the lead, previously gained by Cairns and wrested from them by Sergeant Miller. The Hearts’ goal was the result of a pretty bit of individualism finished with an unexpected 30 yards’ low ball which beat Lock all the way ere squeezing through just inside his right-hand upright. C Duncan mattered most at the beginning, when he got out a good pass or two to either wing, but on the whole, he didn’t impress me. Cairns, whose goal was very smartly slashed past Black sixteen minutes after the start, was a right half-back during the last hour – and a good one too, even if he was a trifle selfish. ‘Tommy’ stepped behind when Pursell got that’ wireless’ from the directors’ box to take up his position alongside Manderson. Without a partner little Archibald ploughed his lonely furrow in his own sweet way, and twelve minutes from the close had the satisfaction of finishing the scoring with a shot which flashed past Black like greased lightning. The Tynecastle and Ibrox directors alike were unanimous in declaring the ex-Aberdeen forward off-side. But whether he was or not matters little – the goal had no bearing on the result. Logan was the strong man in the Ibrox middle line, where McKenna’s worst fault was lack of pace. Manderson was splendid. The speedy and virile young Irishman never did better or was of more value to his side, Pursell also played a commendable game. I am more convinced than ever that left back is Peter’s best position. Lock, although deceived by Sergeant Miller’s scoring ball kept a good goal. He gor rid of a few ticklish shots, particularly a late teaser from Wilson
