Elliot 10
Morton 30, 75
Fleming 32
Craig 39
Match Information
Attendance: 14,130
Referee: A Leishman (Falkirk)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
You would hardly suspect it from the score, but over the game at Powerhall Leith Athletic had some little advantage on play. The main reason for their failure was the inability of their forwards to draw the opposing defence. The Ibrox men knew the art. Class told in the long run. The display of the home side fairly surprised their opponents. Some of the Rangers’ officials confessed to me after it was all over that they had a most anxious time during the first thirty minutes. Leith made the pace right away and kept Rangers fairly well to their own end. Hamilton saved a high shot at the expense of a corner, and Leith made a confident claim for a penalty-kick when Shaw’s arm came in the way of a shot from McNeill. It was a touch-and-go affair, but the referee held that the infringement was unintentional. After ten minutes Leith got their reward. When Hamilton palmed out a ball from Young, Elliot fastened on and scored. The Ibrox men were obviously worried at the way things were going. Cunningham opened out the game a bit, and on two occasions the Leith keeper sent a shiver down the backs of the home supporters by indulging in fly kicking. Two corners resulted, but neither of them came to anything. Meantime, Leith kept pegging away, taking risks and keeping the ball on the move. At the end of half-hour, however, Cunningham sent Fleming away. Morton was lying open. The ball was slipped across to him, and a lovely shot put Rangers on level terms. Another minute or so went. Then Archibald made off and put the ball into the centre. Lying practically unmarked, Fleming scored. About this stage the Ibrox men looked more like settling to their game. Six minutes from the interval, McMillan and Archibald carried the ball down nicely. The ball came across to Craig, who scored with a lovely shot from twenty yards. Leith fought gamely all through the second-half, but the touch of class necessary to enable them to finish their efforts was lacking. The Leith keeper was less reliable – the one man on the side, I thought, who failed to come out of the game with credit. He left his goal too readily. Fifteen minutes from the end Walker failed to get away a ball driven in by Fleming. Morton seized the chance and put his side further ahead. While Rangers won on their merits, they found it quite impossible to reproduce their usual form. The bustling tactics of the Leith men, and a certain ‘bone’ in the pitch, were the disconcerting factors. A good many mistakes were made by the backs. Shaw’s headwork came in useful very often, but to my mind Cunningham was the one man on his side who rode above the difficulties. The Leith backs and half-backs came out of the game with great credit. Bernard held Morton on a tight rein, and McNeill, Reid and Anderson did great spoiling wor
