Hogg 55
A Bennett 65
Match Information
Attendance: 18,000
Referee: G.W. Hamilton (Motherwell)
Matchday: Wednesday
Match Trivia
Celtic and Rangers have each won the Glasgow Cup on nine occasions. By their victory over Partick Thistle at Firhill yesterday, the Rangers have made it possible for those two great rivals to meet again. Whichever come out victorious this time will take the lead. That in itself is something to fight for, and a Titanic struggle is assured for Hampden at the week-end. Yesterday’s game was typical of cup tie football. Of studied methodical play, there was practically none. But the absence of that was compensated for by the keenness of the fight – the determination and grit showed by players who much have felt the strain of recent hard work. For an hour there was little to choose between the two. In the first half, certainly, the ultimate winners did the major share of the attacking, but in their raids upon the other goal the Partick team had better scoring chances. The best the Rangers did was Reid rattle the crossbar, while at the other end, Branscombe twice missed when well placed, not to speak of other opportunities which were allowed to slip. The same condition of affairs prevailed for the first twelve minutes of the second portion. Then Reid got another opportunity, and a fast low drive brought out the alertness and skill of Houston. Throwing himself across the goal he brought off a wonderful save. Hand one of his backs been watchful they might have got the ball and cleared, but Hogg got there first, and had no difficulty in scoring. Then came the transformation. The Partick team, in a manner, collapsed. Instead of going out to take all risks, they became a less vigorous side than had been, and when Bennett, five minutes later, after skilfully manoeuvring by Montgomery, put the Ibrox them two ahead the tie was lost and won. Five minutes from the finish, the best shot of the day from the Firhill side was delivered at Hempsey. Murray drove hard from the penalty line, and the Rangers goalkeeper, with an effort very similar to that of Houston’s at the other end, caught the ball on the line. He justified the testimonial which the Greenock people gave him the previous evening that ‘Hempsey would not let them down’. Hard Partick got a goal then, we might have seen a fighting finish. That denied them, the Firhill players accepted the inevitable. To their credit they put up a splendid opposition in this tie. If they did not win they did the next best thing for the club. Where the greatest difference between the two teams lay was in attack, I should say. The forward play of the Rangers did not strike me as being particularly brilliant – in fact, it was not – bit it was a bit ahead of that on the other side. That superiority meant harder work for the Firhill half-backs, with the result then when the pinch came they were unable to stand up to the opposition. In a defensive sense Raisbeck was a great player, but I would like to have seen him force the game a bit more after Rangers scored. Logan’s game was more varied. In defence his play resembled that of Raisbeck very much, but where he excelled was in coming through with the ball by himself on occasions and thereby keeping his forwards up against the opposing defence. Altogether Logan played a most useful game. Gordon relied more upon big kicking than he usually does, and Hendry, I thought played better in the latter stages – even with an injured leg – than he did earlier on, but as with others the goal lead gave him confidence and encouragement. Wilson and Bulloch both did well, and had the response for the forward been better their game would have been improved. Only on a few occasion, and then very briefly, did the Firhill forwards approach anything in the way of combination. Murray was cumbersome, and less successful in his passing to the wings than he was on Monday, when that was the best part of his play. Stevenson and Branscombe never struck up an understanding, and on the other extreme Callaghan was often at fault, although he did het across a few nice centres. King was again the cleverest of the attack, and even he faded out of the game towards the finish. There was a lamentable lack of finishing power in the whole attack, the shooting as a rule coming from too long distance, and most of it ill-directed at that. Reid was too closely watched by Raisbeck to get as many tries for goal as he would have liked, but always took looking after, and never remained idle. The reward for his perseverance came when he saw Hogg score form Houston’s save. Montgomery took some time to settle and indeed, he and Hogg never really seemed to understand one another. But the inside man did some clever individual things, and was mainly responsible for giving Bennett his opportunity to score. The latter played far too closely at the start, and was frequently beaten. Later on he improved, and at the finish was best of the five. Smith made the most of all his chances, and was certainly not equalled by any other extreme player. Hogg failed to get in his cross as well as he might have. While not by any means brilliant the back play all over was fairly steady. The Partick pair were certainly more severely taxed than Campbell and Robertson, and on that account I would say that McKenzie was the best of the four. Dunsmuir continues to improve, and little fault could be found with the Ibrox couple, who had most of their work over by half-time. The goalkeeping was splendid. Hempsey and Houston were clever in everything they did, and each had a brilliant save, for no blame attaches to the Partick custodian for the first goal.
