P Gallacher 30
A Morton 31
Match Information
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: H Humphreys (Greenock)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Rangers lost the Charity Cup through the weakness of their defence. Robb made one fatal mistake in the second half – the sort of blunder that every keeper makes now and again. He came out when he should have waited in. That error cost Rangers the Cup. But the Rangers’ attack were not altogether blameless in this game. In my opinion they should have had the Cup well won in the first half. In that period, they sparkled. Their play was accomplished with a confidence they seldom display against those tantalising old rivals from Parkhead. With ease, they worked up repeatedly towards Shaw. But the wings hesitated, when decisiveness was necessary. The inside men held back, leaving Henderson to apply the thrust. George failed to do that. He appeared to be unable to barge through as he has so often done. From far out he shot, sometimes on the mark, more often past the post. The shots that did sail goalwards Shaw stopped without trouble. All the outfield play, or nearly all of it, was Rangers. But outfield play, without the finishing punch never yet won a game. Celtic, despite the fact that they seldom got over midfield in the first half, were very often dangerous. It was interesting to observe the enterprise of Connolly and McGrory, on right wing and left, boys who have yet to win their spurs in the famous Parkhead confederacy. Connelly was particularly dangerous. He was full of cute moves. And his lightning dashes along the touchline worried McCandless into apparent bewilderment. It was from a free kick in Connelly’s area that Celtic’s first goal came. Cairn’s boot and Gallagher’s face had come in contact – a purely accidental bit of play – and the referee awarded a free kick – for ‘dangerous play,’ presumably. Into the centre the ball was lobbed, very neatly. Gallager just swayed his body to the left, touched the ball with the side of his head, and sent it rolling slowly past the desperately outstretched arm of Willie Robb. This was a shock to Rangers; but Alan Morton avenged the blow a minute later. He got possession from a glancing header by George Henderson. He was well placed for a shot, but the fraction of a second necessary to enable him to bring the ball down also enabled James McStay to intervene. Morton switched the ball back with his left. Then, when it seemed that a lop into the goalmouth was the only hope he lofted the ball with his right towards the net. Shaw jumped but missed by an inch. Across the goal the ball sped and landed in the rigging at the far side. It was a brilliantly-taken goal, a typical Morton effort. In the second half Celtic scintillated. Gallagher seemed to find his second wind. Often, very often, in the first half he had been robbed in simple fashion by the quick tackling Muirhead. But later he commenced his wandering, his carpet-weaving, his unexpected darting. And the effect on his colleagues was obvious. The wingers in particular benefited. Gallagher drew Rangers’ defence. Then out to the unmarked Connolly or McGrory the ball would go. Manderson and McCandless had a bust time – too busy for their liking, I fancy. Robb found little time in which to cool down. Half a dozen crosses, beautifully placed, he had to fist out. All the time one felt that the winning goal would come – and not at Shaw’s end. Come it did, but a disappointing goal it was. The kind that satisfies none but the scoring team, who realise what a powerful advantage it gives. Robb dashed out to clear a corner kick. There was really no need on this occasion for such a dash. Three of his colleagues were immediately under the ball as it dropped, and no opponent was in their immediate vicinity. Either could have headed the ball into safety. Robb, as it happened, was hampered by these colleagues when he jumped. He fisted weakly. The ball dropped towards Willie McStay, who headed it, with an upward thrust, towards the goal. Robb was not there. But he dashed back desperately. Manderson, I think, could have saved – he was standing on the goal line – if Robb had not been so near. Bert, however, stopped just as he was on the point of jumping to head clear, and Robb failed by the fraction of a second to get the ball before it crosses the line. Rangers after that were almost impotent as they had been from the start of the second half. Celtic were top-dogs, and showed that they realised their superiority by serving up some of the characteristic Celtic inside play. Late in the game, however, Cairns made one or two incursions – dogged affairs – that kept McNair and his colleagues on tenterhooks, but the Celtic men clung tenaciously to the lead they had established. The game was interesting mainly on account of the presence of several ‘colts’ on each side. Celtic had Connolly, Thomson and McGrory out. Of these Thomson alone failed to touch Celtic standard. He was no failure, but he did not rise to the occasion as did the other lads. Connolly, with his swift sprints and his neat side-stepping of McCandless, took the eye more often than his colleagues on the other wing, but McGrory’s delightful when ‘up against it,’ must have established him in the good graces of those who like to see the old Celtic ‘spirit’. Rangers had Kirkwood and Craig in place of Sixon and Cunningham. Kirkwood went about just a little too confidently, I thought. He was very good with his head, but he did not ‘get there’ as Dixon does. He did not realise the value of getting the ball before an opponent gets it. Craig was not far below the standard of Carins. His foraging was useful. He slipped many nice balls to Archibald and Henderson. And if he had shot ‘first time’ once or twice victory would have rested with Rangers. But Tommy always seemed to want the ball dead at the point of his toe before he shot. The delay was fatal. Of the ‘old’ hands on Celtic side, Shaw, W McStay, McFarlane and Gallagher impressed most. I though McFarlane the best half on the field. He had Archibald guessing most of the time. His recovery work was splendid. Alex McNair improved as the game went on. But in the first half he was more than a bit shaky. We looked in vain for those well-timed kicks and that crafty clearing which we have been accustomed to. Later we got both, but by that time Celtic were in the ascendency. Of the Rangers, Robb, McCandless, Meiklejohn, Muirhead and Cairns stood out. Robb, I include despite his mistake. Some of his saving bore the hall-mark of class. One glorious drive to a Cassidy hook, just before half-time, stamped him as tip-top. His one-handed flicking of dangerous crosses cleared the danger repeatedly. McCandless was too easily outwitted by Connolly. Muirhead cracked up in the second half after Gallagher had, in an attempt to dispossess him, injured the Rangers’ half-back’s ankle. Morton scored a brilliant goal, but J McStay, as a rule, had Alan taped off. Henderson never got going. Archibald’s fault was hesitation.
