Ross
B McPhail
Match Information
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: J Hudson (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
You cannot possibly get any idea how near Rangers were to losing a point by looking at the score. Seven minutes before the finish I would not have given a docken for their chances of victory. But you know how little thing soften affect the result in football. We saw it happen here. Following a throw-in in Rangers half of the field, McAllister found himself in possession about midfield. Airdrie had been attacking, and the obvious movement by the erstwhile Partick thistle half-back was to whip the ball towards Dawson. Instead, he turned on his tracks and kicked it back to Hawthorn. With Calder and Shaw out of touch, Roberts sped across the field met the ball a fraction of a second before the keeper on the eighteen yards line, calmly jabbed it between his legs, slipped round him, and shot it onto a tenantless goal. At that juncture the score stood 1-1 Ross scored five minutes after the turn and McPhail headed the equaliser in twenty-three with those gallant Broomfield lads carrying menace in their every thrust. That dramatic goal, however, killed their hopes, and a little later Main laid the foundation of Rangers third. Outwitting three Airdrie defenders on the run, he cut the ball over for McPhail, who had changed placed with Smith, to crash it home. And so, a match ended in favour of Rangers which they might easily have lost and been unable to explain away. They won the toss and took a gale of wind behind them. Attack after attack was launched on Hawthorns charge until we accepted is as being merely a matter of time before they put the issue beyond doubt. But not only were they defied, but should have been in arrears at the interval. Surely Connor has never dissipated so many golden opportunities. Three times was he through and three times did he cast the chances to the wind. He could hardly have missed eluding Dawson had he revealed the coolness and accuracy which characterised much of his leading-out manoeuvring. I have nothing but praise for Airdrie. They faced a task which, on paper was beyond them with fortitude and not a little skill. Some of their incursions were engineered with commendable intelligence and confidence, quite as cleverly executed, indeed, as by the champion, who made a tactical blunder in persisting in crossing and re-crossing the ball with call of Hawthorn. In Thomson, Airdrie had a scheming half-back who could share the honours with Meiklejohn, unquestionably Ibroxs most purposeful middleman. Crosbie too must be eulogised, even though he did not reveal the craft of his mate at the other end of the line. Behind them stood unflinching backs in Calder and Shaw, and a brilliant custodian in Hawthorn. The keepers cat-like agility in saving a fierce McPhail shot early on was one of the features in an encounter which held many.
