A Cunningham 15
McKay 43
Match Information
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: T Dougray (Bellshill)
Matchday: Monday
Match Trivia
One marvels not so much that Rangers came out on top at Easter Road as that they failed to win by a more substantial margin. Hibs were morally beaten before the game began. They took the field with a reserve half-back pitchforked into McGinnigle’s place at back, and with a goalkeeper who hand only one sound leg to stand on. Yet far from letting his side down, Harper made some magnificent saves, worthy of Scotland’s keeper at his best. His chief handicap lay in his inability to get the ball away under the circumstances, the game was not a fair test. Rangers were good winners. They didn’t need the goals which McKay might have scored for them if he had been the ideal centre-forward. The games wasn’t well begun before the flaw in the Hibernian armour betrayed itself. Right away, Mellon gave away a ‘corner’ needlessly. A few minutes later he had to resort to an ’anyhow’ tackle to stop McGregor. Fortunately for Hibs, Rangers were inclined to direct their attack from the right rather than the left. Cunningham and Archibald generally led out the forwards. ‘Andy’ was always ready for a shot; he had one or two good tried before he ultimately managed to get one past Haper. Time – 13 minutes. I fancy Harper would have got at that ball had he not been in a crippled state. Still, he made some wonderful saves – a real beauty from Archibald, and another of the best from a great shot by Cunningham. Meantime the Hibs were doing not at all badly. Shaw and Miller doing especially good work. Miller struck the crossbar from a free-kick. Dunn, too sent in a tricky shot that trouble Robb. But although Hibs had a fairly decent share of the play there was always the danger of their defence cracking. Three minutes before the interval something of the kind happened. Harper completely missed a high ball sent across by Archibald and McKay had nothing to do but push the ball home. Some improvement was shown by the Hibs’ forwards at the start of the second half. Ritchie got in a magnificent shot which Robb stopped safety; Halligan had one that grazed the crossbar. Then Rangers took a turn, and Harper did fine work in stopping shots from McGregor and McKay. He was hopelessly beaten by one from Meiklejohn, but the ball came hard back off the crossbar. Meiklejohn, who got a bad knock 15 minutes before the finish, had to be assisted off. Twice after that the Hibs made close calls on Robb. On the first occasion Dixon tried to pass back, Dunn nipped in, and the goalkeeper stopped the ball at the expense of a knock on the face. Then he made a really fine save from a header by McColl. Robb was thoroughly sound. The Ibrox attack did fairly well, but not quite so well as the middlemen. Dixon was ever useful with his head, but I would place Meiklejohn as the best of the company. Cunningham and Archibald were the pick of the men in front. Cairns also played well, and McGregor passed muster. Hibs can ne complimented on their pluck. This applies especially to Haper. Shaw, who towered well above his fellows was the best half-back on view. Dunn and Halligan worked hard and worked well, but Ritchie found it difficult to get a move on.
