Lawrie (2)
Unknown
Match Information
Manager: No Permanent Manager
Attendance: unknown - to be confirmed
Referee: unknown - to be confirmed
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
This tie in the second round of the National Challenge Cup took place at Kinning Park in presence of about 4,000 spectators, and after a very close game ended in favour of the Rangers by two goals to one. The strangers showed great speed, and nearly ever one of them completely outpaced the best sprinter on the Scotch side; but they wanted combination, and lacked following up when something like success seemed assured. Their style was long kicking and crossing the ball from one side to the other. The Rangers on the other hand, made several fine runs, and repeatedly got the ball up to their opponents goal; but their shooting was wild in the extreme, and when a good shy now and then was given by the forwards the Church goalkeeper had lots of time to clear his lines, and did so very smartly. The home team won the toss, and the strangers kicked off against the wind, but Kinning Park is so well sheltered that it takes a good breeze to be much felt, and all the wind that was did not interfere much with the play. The Englishmen made a bold dash after the ball left midfield, and by long kicking and hard following up the left wing forwards were fairly in front of Chalmers, who had to throw out. McIntyre came to the rescuer with a fine return, and for sometime afterwards some of the play was confined to the centre of the field, where a lot of scrimmaging occurred. The English forwards, led by Smith, Holden and Walker, had a smart raid on the Rangers goal, and were rewarded a corner-kick for Cameron putting the ball behind. It came to nothing however as a fine piece of play by Muir sent the ball spinning down the field. The Rangers in a little, however improved very much in their play, and after carrying the ball clear of the visitors backs, neat passing at the left post enabled Heggie to get possession, and a goal was scored by him for the local men by a splendid shot, which proved too much for the smart hands of the Church goalkeeper. The ball had no sooner been restarted than a well-planned attack was again on the Englishmen’s lines, and a short from Fraser caused Robinson to head out. Some scrimmaging then occurred near the Rangers lines and Chalmers had to punt the ball away with his hands. Some good returns were then done by the opposing backs – McIntyre and Cameron on the side of the Rangers, and Robinson and W Wood for the visitors doing splendid work. The Rangers however, were showing up best and getting the most of the play, but they were slack at goal. Halftime was approaching, and it looked as if the Rangers core would be the only one, till a fast run was made by the Church forwards division and kept up with such regularity that a miss by one of the Rangers ball allowed Walker to get clean through and score a pretty goal for the Church. Ends were accordingly changed with the game equal at one goal all. After a short interval the play was resumed, and rain coming on caused the ground to be slippery, and the players had considerable difficulty in keeping their feet. That the Rangers meant business a few minutes after the start soon became apparent, for they had no sooner taken the kick-off than they completely invested the Church lines, and after several fierce attacks on the backs and halfbacks cleared the ball away in fine style, and after a fast run by Lawrie and his companion the former scored a second goal for the Scotch club. The Rangers again attacked the Church lines as soon as the ball was returned after being kicked off by the Englishmen, and for a few minutes all the play took place quite near the strangers sticks till a fine piece of hard kicking by Wood cleared the lines, but not before the home team had a couple of corner-flag kicks. After one of these it should be mentioned, the ball was fouled at the mouth of the goal, and a shy by Peacock just grazed the right posts. After the kick out in front the Church team made a fast rundown on the Rangers lines, and after passing the ball cleverly in long crossing and hard following up Fielding made a splendid shy at the Rangers goal. The ball hit the bar, and bounding into play was scrimmaged about amid great excitement, and eventually thrown out by Chalmers. The strangers after this were not easily driven off from the Glasgow clubs lines, and for several minutes it was thought that scoring on their part was certain. The Rangers, however fell back upon their goal, and the defence of the backs was excellent, and the siege was raised after a deal of hard labour. Before the close both teams seemed pretty well done up, and when time was called the score stood at two goals to one in favour of the Kinning Park men. The play on the whole was somewhat disappointing, and the Rangers with one or two brilliant exceptions, did not work nearly so well together as we have seen them when the occasion was much less urgent. Their weak point, in fact consisted in carelessness in following up an advantage, and slackness in front of their opponent’s goal after the ball had been smartly taken up. The Church tear are much the same kind of men in point of weight as their opponents, with superior speed, but they seem to know nothing of close dribbling, and never attempted such a thing through the contest, which was a most agreeable and gentlemanly played one throughout. It is worthy of note that the Church team met the Preston North End twice last season, and a draw with no goals scored, was the result of both matches. The visitors colours - red knickerbockers and jerseys to match – showed a fine contrast to their opponents blue, and there was no confusion as is sometimes seen in matches with teams wearing colours very much alike, when opponents is sometimes mistaken for club companion.
