Meiklejohn 16
G Henderson 18
Match Information
Attendance: 22,000
Referee: Andrew Allan (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
What if Rangers did enjoy some bits of luck at Easter Road? It wasn’t luck that carried them through, but real, real ability and sound team play. The Ibrox men were a class above their opponents. Having indicated that Dame Fortune played some scurvy tricks on the Hibs, I had better tell you at once what these were. Well, one of the balls that beat Willie Harper went clean between his legs; another was palmed through direct from a corner kick taken by Alan Morton. This may sound like blaming Harper, but I should say the blame attaches rather to the club that plays an unfit goalkeeper. It’s bad enough to see a man hirpling on to the field. What are we to say about a man hirpling on as Harper did in this game? One more bit of Rangers luck has still to be mentioned. Late in the game, McColl raced off and drove hard into goal. Robb saved, but the ball beat him and got between his legs. He had to turn round to get hold of it and effect a clearance. From the stand it seemed a goal, but Referee Allan was well down-field at the time, he didn’t see the ball over, and of course couldn’t yield to Hibs clamour. He did go the length of consulting his linesmen, but they too were badly placed at the time, and so the Rangers escaped. In any event, the game was lost and won long before this. Hibs made a good fight in the second half, but the issue was really beyond reasonable doubt when the game had been less than 20 minutes gone. Two Rangers goals hereabout settled the Hibs’ fate. With wind and ground advantage with them, the Easter Road men had been doing quite nicely up to this stage. Halligan, Walker and McColl came away with a fine bit of play. It let Dunn in with a good shot a trifle off the mark. McColl also got one near the target, so did Miller from a free-lock close in. Meantime the Rangers’ half-backs and forwards were gradually tumbling to a cheat-the-wind game. Keeping the ball low, they made good headway against the troublesome breeze. Craig was responsible for many fine moves. This Ibrox reserve, drafted in to give Cairns a rest, was inclined to roam a bit, but his long passes out to Morton were exceedingly useful. From one of them Alan got over a ball that troubled Harper. Suddenly something went wrong with the Hibernian defence. There was a failure to cover up the men in front of goal, and when Morton put the ball across to the right, Meiklejohn had time to steady and shoot well beyond Harper’s reach. A beautiful bit of bluff on the part of Henderson helped to put the Easter Road defence out of gear. The centre went out for Morton’s cross, but seeing Meiklejohn lying unmarked, he side-stepped nicely let the ball run on to the half-back. Another minute another goal. This time Archibald middled the ball. Harper tried to bar the way to Henderson, but the latter headed down instead of up as Willie seemed to expect, and the ball got home between the goalkeeper’s legs. The rangers’ machine moved sweetly now. Every man knew his place and they got along nicely without doing half as much running about as the Hibs. Henderson tried another shot from 30 yards out, but Harper fielded safely. Morton came away with a lovely run beating half-a dozen opponents, and finally getting hauled up by Kerr at the cost of a free-kick just outside the penalty-box. Craig also broke his way cleverly through the Hibernian defence, but his shot carried past. Robb was seldom tested. Dixon, McCandless and the rest saw that the Hibs forwards were kept at arm’s length. I liked the way the pair mentioned defended against the wind. There was no getting the better of either of them. Muirhead too, came a lot into evidence. Miller made the best attempt to beat Robb. His hard drive from a free-kick proved troublesome. A ball from Walker went across the goal with no one up to get at it, and Dunn did a clever bit of work in bringing down a ball and firing in a shot just a trifle off Robb’s left-hand post. Like their opponents, the Hibs played better when battling against the wind than when driven on with it. The Easter Road men put up a good fight in the second half. The 22,00 spectators might have seen a better fight for the points after all if Manderson hadn’t managed to get a tow nicely to a fine shot sent in by Dunn soon after the resumption. Halligan also had a shot blocked by Manderson, and on another occasion he got the ball to Robb, who made a clever clearance. After the Ibrox keeper had saved several stinging shots, one in particular nearly resulting in a goal when Dunn flashed the ball at him when he wasn’t expecting it, the Rangers’ forwards indulged in a lot of long-range shooting. There were real good tries at that. Cunningham had two fine shots and Muirhead one. Henderson varied the proceedings by working well into test Harper, who did well to save. After 30 minutes a corner came the Rangers way. From the flag-kick Morton sent over a ball which curled beautifully in. Harper might have let the ball go, but he made to clear and only succeeded in palming it into the net. On the heels of this came the incident at Robb’s end when the Hibs claimed a goal and didn’t get it. It may have been a bit of hard luck the Easter Road side, but these things are all in the game. Nobody was to blame. Before the interval, however, a little crumb of comfort came the Hibs way. Miller drove for goal from a free-kick, but the ball was blocked and came to McColl, who sent a shot sailing past Robb from 30 yards out. Rangers were not nearly so good in the second half as the first half, their best was a good bit ahead of their opponents. Method was always there. The Hibs half-backs got too much running about to give their forward line the same backing which the Rangers got. Muirhead was particularly good in this connection, but Dixon was the shinning light in the Rangers middle-line. McCandless was a stumbling block in the way of the Hibs forwards. The little Irishman got a good deal more to do then Manderson, and he did it well. His kicking was always sure. Archibald came more into prominence than Morton, but the men who mattered most were Cunningham and Henderson, with craig a good third. The Hibs fell short of their best standard. The backs failed to get the ball away so readily as I have seen them. McGinnigle was best in this department. The outstanding middleman indeed the best man on the side was Peter Kerr, who strove grimly to hold the opposition and also to give his own forwards backing. Miller and Shaw had for the most a gruelling time. The forwards often found themselves over weighted. Ritchie and Dunn were the better wing. The outside man came away occasionally and put across several excellent crosses. Halligan was clever until he came to close quarters
