T Cairns 22
G Henderson 44
A Cunningham
Black
Hardie
Match Information
Attendance: 18,000
Referee: William Bell (Motherwell)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
I gave you Rangers opinion when I say that scarcely a First League team has shaped better at Ibrox this season than Arbroath did. Their play was marked by intelligence in all departments, they were strong, and they were plucky. With fifteen minutes or so to go, Rangers led by 5-1, but I think the two additional goals which Arbroath scored in the last 10 minutes made the register more like the play. Yes, the ‘Red Lichties’ went down with colours flying and deserved all the lusty cheers they received. On top, the pitch was soft, and it cut up badly, which no doubt, accounted for many of the Rangers’ forward schemes going wrong in the first half. But, also, the tackling and anticipation of the Arbroath half-backs were factors in foiling the Ibrox attack. It took Rangers 22 minutes of hard plugging to open the scoring, and then Cairns did it, although the way was made easy by Cunningham, with a powerful drive, compelling Stewart to drop the ball. Arbroath forward put in a vast amount of clever play and were frequently able to test Robb severely before Henderson got Rangers’ second goal a minute from the interval, following a nice Cairns-Morton movement. With only a minute of the second half gone, Hamilton scored for Arbroath. For ten minutes afterwards Rangers forced the play, and Henderson then scored from close in. After other ten minutes Henderson scored a fourth, following a Morton corner kick, and Cunningham came along with a fifth with a great left-foot shot. All the time Arbroath had been playing with real cleverness, and getting no return, but in the last few minutes Black and Hardie got past Robb’s defence, and everybody felt satisfied – at least they should have. There was not a weakling in the defeated side, but outstanding were Robertson, Wilson, Hamilton, McFarlane and Farquhar. Wilson was as good as any half-back playing. Rangers tried a lot of neat stuff and were often beaten by the mud. McCandless was grand, and Cunningham made his presence felt in the forward line. Archibald was strong in his running, and Henderson always on the spot for scoring chances. Cairns and Morton put in some typical wing play, but they never were allowed any liberties. Muirhead combined well with them.
