Meiklejohn
Match Information
Attendance: 76,828
Referee: J.B. Stevenson (Motherwell)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
The first important Cup final of the season has been won by the Rangers. The marked superiority of the Light Blues is not reflected by a goal victory over their traditional opponents, the Celts. The Parkhead men won the Glasgow trophy a year ago and were believed to possess more than an outside chance of retaining the Cup after a convincing victory over Partick Thistle at Firhill on Wednesday night. The Celts never touched the standard of play at Hampden Park yesterday that they demonstrated at Firhill. The goal scored so brilliantly by Meiklejohn after six minutes did not reflect the marked difference in the quality of the football served up by the two clubs who have monopolised the honours of a competition that has been always popular with the Glasgow public. There were about 60,000 spectators, and the gross ‘gate’ amounted to £2700. The attendance did not constitute a record for the event, but considering the industrial depression, the muster reflected the hold the teams have on the people of the West of Scotland. The Rangers were without Alan Morton, who was injured recently at Cathkin Park against Third Lanark, while the Celts had McStay at back instead of Joe Dodds, and McAtee’s place on the right was again filled by the left winger, McLean. With John McMaster at left half, the back division of the Clyde was presumed to be a shade stronger. The run of the play did not justify the hopes of the Parkhead following. Alike at half-back and back, the Celts were weak. McStay had not the pace to cope with Archibald and Cunningham. And, with Gilchrist unable to reproduce his form of recent games, the Celtic defence was unequal to the task of coping with a forward line comprised of bigger and heavier men than their own. On comparative form the winner overshadowed their opponents in every division except goal. The Ibrox men were quicker on the ball, more accurate in their passing, and they appeared to be the fresher side. In the closing fifteen minutes, when it was not impossible for the Celts to have drawn the game off a chance raid or shot. Tom Cairns and Andrew Cunningham fell to back to strengthen the defence of the winning team. With victory in sight and always apparent, the Rangers players took no risks. They followed up a throw-in or a chance to prevent the ball going into touch with much more eagerness and perseverance than did their opponents. I have seen the majority of the Cup contests between the greatest rivals in Scottish football, but seldom one when the beaten side was so much the inferior lot. While Shaw had a fair amount of goalkeeping to do, Robb on the other side was only tested on two or three occasions. Shaw could not have held Meiklejohn’s shot. The ball came to him hard and fast. He met it high up with both hands clenched for a punch out, but it rose over his hands into the top of the net. The crowd hummed with excitement for a time. The good play, for the most part, was on the side of the victors. The Rangers half-backs took such a grip of the Celtic inside forwards that neither Gallagher nor Cassidy ever got time enough to steady the line. Deprived to this support, McInally could make no substantial headway. When he looked like going through. When he looked like going through, there was always more than Dixon to bar his way. If he cleared the centre half, you could see Muirhead and even Cairns now and again dropping back to give Manderson and McCandless a helping hand. The conditions were almost ideal for a good game. The turf was excellent, with sufficient spring in it to help the player, and there was no wind. The one handicap was bright sunshine, and as the Celts had to face it in the first half, the Rangers had what luck was going. Still, their latest performance was obtained without fortune. They played to win, and form was justified by the triumph. There was not a lot of ‘fouling’ in the game, and the generosity of the referee was taken advantage of by certain players to introduce tactics that you do not expect from clubs so highly placed in football. There was one ugly-looking incident when the game was thirty-five minutes gone, when Gallagher, Muirhead and Cairns were at loggerheads, and Billy McCandless threw oil on the troubled waters by patting Muirhead on the back and leading him from the conflict of temper. The event seemed too big for the gentleman who handled the game, and his latitude in ignoring a claim for a penalty kick when there was justification for it on at least two occasions revealed his inexperience. The run of the play favoured the Rangers. The Celts never played to justify even the hope that they could succeed. While it took Andrew Cunningham eighteen minutes to get in his first shot at Shaw, the Ibrox captain was a live wire in an attack that was superior man for man. The Rangers’ wing play was effective in both sections. Cunningham and Archibald were very much alive on the right, and they gave McMaster and McStay a grueling hour and a half and were nearly always tops dogs. To me, the pleasing surprise of the Rangers’ forward line was the skillful play of young McDiarmid on the extreme left. He showed no hesitation or fear in going in to McNair, who was the strongest link in the Celtic defence except the goalkeeper. I question if McDiarmid ever showed such confidence or was so successful in any match for either Dumbarton or the Light Blues. He revealed a nice turn of speed, but the outstanding point in his game was when he doubled back with the ball to elude a tackle, and then swung it into the centre. Alan Morton’s understudy flattered also by his shooting, and the Ibrox officials must have been gratified by his convincing display. The Rangers delighted by their quick passing on. Cunningham’s accurate heading was even more marked than usual, and, after Meiklejohn, he had the most dangerous shot of a game that only produced two corner-kicks – one to each side. Of the rival centres, Henderson was of more use to his team than McInally, whose tendency to play the man first instead of the ball was a blemish that contributed to the failure of more than one player of his own team. The Forfar centre was most dangerous in his finely headed passing to the right, but he was a constant menace to McNair and McStay by his continuous runs in on goal when the Rangers attacked. Once again Cunningham was the ablest and the most active forward on the field in a final tie where there was no outstanding forward on the losing side. McLean developed lameness on the Celtic left, and during the last half-hour he was of little account. McCandless, like Manderson, played sound football, and the Rangers’ half-backs overshadowed the Celtic trio in all-round play. Cringan, who was best of the Celtic trio, was but the shadow of the Cringan one saw at Firhill. As a team heading for the League championship, the Rangers gave a convincing exhibition of their pre-eminence in Scottish football. In the Recreation Room at Hampden Park a representative company assembled at the close of the match, when Baillie Hamilton Brown, the president of the Glasgow FA, presided. All the speaker, including Sir John Ure Primrose, Bart, who accepted custody of the trophy after three years; and Mr Tom White, the SFA president and Celtic chairman, paid well-merited tributes to the high quality of the football shown by the winning team.
