Marshall
King
Match Information
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: unknown - to be confirmed
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
I saw quite a different Partick Thistle at Firhill on Saturday from the insipid lot that left a point at Paisley the previous week. The play of the left something to be desired, I grant you, but that life and fire which have been associated with the previous visits of the Rangers to the Queen’s Cross ground were there again. We had thrilling moments even, and the 20,000 crowd waxed enthusiastic at times. It was good to be there. I do not wish to belittle the performance of the less-fancied Thistle, when I say that they were just a trifle fortunate to bear away the laurels of victory. Indeed, for a quarter of an hour before Marshall, little more than midway through the second half, startled the Ibrox people by beating Hempsey, I had the feeling that the result would go the other way. The none too convincing Rangers, while putting their backs into their work as their opponents did, were not masters of combination by a jug-full, so well were Bowie and Cairns comporting themselves that it looked as if they would surely snatch the goal that would win the match. Some of the best efforts of the forwards mentioned were lost on their comrades, however; other were spoiled by the bustling Partick middle line or by cool and collected Adams and Bulloch – grand backs both; and once Cairn’s very cleverness proved his own undoing. The Larkhall man’s sinuous moving through the opposition was really beautifully – up to a point. But it was over done, and, to crown all. ‘Tommy’ finished by playing the ball in the direction of the touch line instead of tipping it to the waiting McDiarmid, who was in fine position. Cairns, from a shove by McDiarmid, missed the mark by a foot or so – a very near thing; Archibald failed to accept a fine pass by Bowie, but the ex-Raith Rovers rose to the occasion the nest time his partner sent along a perfect ball. It was centred just as it should have been for McDiarmid to be found wanting, and with the next few minutes Lawson was twice a finishing defaulter. Again Bowie gave McDiarmid an opportunity which the centre-forward might have placed inside instead of outside an upright had he not been ‘rumbled’; then the startled to which I have alluded. We were within twenty minutes of the finish, when Whittle, who had been getting far too little of the ball, put across another of his useful and dangerous centres and Marshall was ‘on it like a bird.’ The big Bo’ness boy crashed into Blair and came out smiling – with the ball and the whole goal to himself. His shot was taken nicely, and Hempsey was beaten, of course. The Ibrox custodian had no chance, nor had he three minutes later. What time his backs were appealing for a foul, Marshall, over on the right at the moment, whipped the ball across the front of the goal, and King sent it home, This was a turn up with a vengeance. Rangers, who little more than three minutes before looked very like winners, were now two goals down and beaten. They had paid dearly for their failures in front of Ferguson. There was little between the teams in the first half, during which the forward play on either side, while keenness itself, was jergy and uneven. If anything the pressure was often on the Partick goal, but although McDiarmid, Lawson and Archibald were all given fine opportunities, and Ferguson got hold of a rasper from Cairns seven minutes before the interval, that improving young man’s charge, did not have the narrow escapes Hempsey’s had. A long, low-down shot from Hamilton, which Marshall got a heel to, would have scraped through just inside an upright had the Greenock man not thrown himself full length at it; he had barely regained his feet when the other upright stopped a smart try by young Bowie. While the Thistle had no forward to compare with brainy James Bowie or Cairns, credit must be given to Marshall for his whole-hearted efforts. His highly energetic display was nothing to go raptures about - in true football sense – but he paid his way. He had a big hand in both goals, and another try of his when the game was 30 minutes’ old might have found its billet but for Hempsey’s cleverness. This was the best shot of the match, I thought King was clever on occasion, and if John Bowie was the most polished of the outside wing men engaged the old St Anthony’s boy has done better often. This was his first game of the season, it should be remembered. Whittle, when given the chance made good use of the ball – he centred it; but neither of the Rangers’ line pair impressed me. McDiarmid was only a moderate centre-forward. He lacked trustfulness. A little of Marshall’ snap would have help him. Individually and as a line McMullan, Hamilton and Brough pleased me better than Martin, Dixon and Pursell, but the six might have placed much better. Indeed, this failing on the part of the middlemen had much to do with the raggedness of either attack. All the backs were first class even although Manderson was a bit too impetuous at times.
