Match ended 0-0
Match Information
Attendance: 19,000
Referee: William Bell (Motherwell)
Matchday: Wednesday
Match Trivia
Something was amiss with the forward play at Tynecastle yesterday in the League match. Both goals had an occasional narrow escape, but shots really worthy of the name were few and far between. Most of the good ones have to be credited to McPhail. The other forwards on both sides lacked punch, and a goalless draw may be taken as a fair enough reflex of the play. Over eighteen thousand spectators looked at a hard rather than a brilliant game. They saw a near thing in the Rangers’ goalmouth in the opening minute. Shaw having driven the ball in, Miller almost counted with a header, but Hamilton made a partial save, and R Hamilton got back in time to complete the work. A few minutes later the Ibrox forwards came just as near scoring. Morton sent the ball across after a clever bit of play, and Fleming’s shot hit the crossbar. Johnston did great spoiling work hereabout. Kerr played well too. So did Herd, but the centre-half was the man who could claim credit for preventing the opposition from getting to close quarters. Gilfillan had a couple of good shots from McPhail and one from Archibald. That was about all in the first half. Meiklejohn was the outstanding man in the Ibrox defence. Holding Devlin as in a vice, he took the sting completely out of the Hearts’ attack. Occasionally Rogers spanked along the touchline in fine style, but finish was lacking at close quarters. The best shot came from McMillan, who got plenty of pith behind his kick, and Hamilton did well to let the ball slip over the bar. Early in the second half Rangers came as near counting as is possible without actually doing it. Gilfillan, conceding a corner-kick, prevented Fleming from scoring when a goal seemed almost certain, and when the ball was sent across from the flag it struck first the under side of the crossbar and then the foot of an upright. On the whole the goalkeepers had a quiet afternoon, although each had a few difficult saved and did the job splendidly. Herd, Johnston and Kerr were the pick of the men in front of Gilfillan, Herd being the most impressive back on view. In a forward line that was handicapped through Devlin’s inability to shake off his opposition, Rogers and McMillan did best work. Gray was the more reliable of the Rangers’ backs, Meiklejohn the pick of the men in the middle. Craig was effective in a quiet way, and Buchanan a worker with not much polish about him. In front, Archibald put in some good runs, but Morton came into the picture much less frequently. While McPhail’s shots made him their most prominent inside man even, he can play better than he did in this game.
