Johnston
Unknown
Match Information
Attendance: 30000
Referee:
Matchday: Thursday
Match Trivia
Glasgow Rangers have not come out of their two matches in Lancashire perhaps as well as might have been expected considering their undoubted quality. They lost at Burnley by three goals on Tuesday afternoon, and last evening they had to be content with a draw with North End before another gate of over 20,000. This was their first visit to Deepdale for many years, and after what happened to them at Turf Moor they were perhaps naturally not inclined to indulge in what may be described as holiday football. They took the game seriously enough after an easy opening, indeed at times the vigour of the play smacked of the keenness of a League match. For a long time, they held on to a lead that came from a tremendous, unexpected drive by Johnston from almost the half-way line, the pace of which took Branston and everybody else by surprise. But when the second half had run just half its course a strong pertinacious, single-handed effort by Roberts enabled him to beat the Rangers defence a little to the tight of goal, and finely judged centre brought the equaliser. It was Sansford’s gently applied foot that turned the ball into the net, but it was Roberts’ goal in every real particular. For a long time, indeed throughout the first half, North End were clearly out-manoeuvred by a side of great skill and perfected strategy, even though Alan Morton, Cunningham and McCandless were all out of the Rangers forward line, and a Deepdale crowd was given the opportunity of studying how ready ball control, artifice, understanding, and positional play can transform a game. During this period North End once more owed a great deal to Branston’s gifts of divination and activity. One save, much like that against the Albion on Monday, was a triumph of judgment and decision. They naturally suffered seriously from the fact that both McCall and Mercer were absent from the half-back line, and that not only did Irving fill a position he has not attempted before, that of McCall’s understudy, but Ferris had to be pressed into service in an unfamiliar role. Weak in a vital spot, the whole side could develop no semblance of the arts that made the football of their opponents a delight to the student of craftsmanship, and the contrast put their talents in a very poor light. In the second half, however, the Deepdale side wakened up into not only a much brighter but more effective side, and in the end, they fully deserved to share the honours of a game that they came very near winning. The football presented a very interesting picture by the characteristic styles of Scottish and English football. The Rangers worked the ball on the floor and were full of subtle moves and schemes. But it rather lacked punch in the goalmouth. North End’s methods had the dash and penetrative power. But they were lacking in their opponents’ polish. And one found oneself hoping that some genius would achieve a blend of the qualities of both. The Scots’ foot craft offered a fine object lesson to those who are ready to profit by it, and it was a pity that Nicholson should have spoilt the impression left by it all by tactics of a rather provocative nature. They were like smudges in a fair canvas. North End once more came to their best at a time when they had worn down their opponents – their capacity for endurance is one of their greatest endowments – and only Robb’s reach and brilliance prevented them from springing what would have been an unpleasant surprise on his side. North End’s strong finish disarmed many of the conclusions that were freely and properly drawn from the first half’s football. But in any case, it would be a mistake for anybody to labour the contest between the two sides, for the reason that neither Irving nor Ferris settled gown to play the type of game that is essential to the building up od successful team blend. Strangely enough although able to hold and manipulate the ball when in their own positions, they were loth to do so last evening, and the haphazard distribution naturally crippled the men in front, although both Roberts and Woodhouse were always working hard to bring system to the attacks. With a little ore room to work in, Rawlings, if apt to hug the ball too much at times, found a lot of his old touch, and the forwards would have got on a lot better had they had McCall’s drawing power and placing as the groundwork of many of their advances. The fixture was greatly enjoyed, and it could be wished that such an interchange of visits should become an annual one
