J Smith 25
Mooney 30
J Smith 84
Match Information
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Peter Craigmyle (Aberdeen)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Please dont imagine that the game was so one-sided as the score. Not a bit of it. With half-an-hour of the second half gone, these plucky Broomfield boys were fighting it out on level terms. No one, I feel certain, would have grumbled if the scoring had stopped when the margin was one, but of course, the Broomfield defence was playing under a strain, and in the last fifteen minutes the effect was apparent. But never mind. Airdrie made a match of it, and we were grateful for that. Rangers did not give the impression of being properly turned up, which was natural enough in an opening game. They finished with a burst of powerful attack, however, and quite clearly, they are going to be right there again. Dawson was not overworked, for the Airdrie forwards did not make the most of their scoring chances. The ball that beat him was unsaveable. Gray was the usual sound back, and Russell improved after being uncertain at the start. There was all the old strength and craft at half-back, and that was just as well, for the Broomfield forwards were difficult to grapple with when they got going. Archibald was swinging them over in something of the old manner, and Smith knew just where to find them. It was in this way that the opening goal arrived after 25 minutes. Five minutes later, Gunn got clear away from a rebound, and shot. Dawson punched out, but Mooney, racing in, returned the ball into the net. That was all the first-half scoring. Stevenson distributed play nicely, and there was a good understanding between McPhail and Nicholson, though it did not produce results until that last fifteen minutes. Rangers second goal was nodded home by Smith, who also got the third his very own, following a peach of a pass by Meiklejohn and then Nicholson drove on the fourth, to be followed with a fifth by Smith, who this bagged four. A pat on the back to Morrison. Some of his saving was wonderful. Nor could he find fault with the assistance rendered him by Calder and Ross. Sharp was not excelled by any half-back. His defence was beyond reproach, and he inspired his colleagues to deeds of derring do. The Airdrie forwards did not possess the driving power of the Ibrox line, but it could raise a flutter in the Rangers rear. Gunn made a creditable shape in his unusual position, and I liked Harrison for the way he could beat his man and place the ball. The line should come on all right
