A Morton xx, pen xx
Lindsay 43
Match Information
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: P Craigmyle (Aberdeen)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Two goals down, with 36 minutes gone, and being, most of the time, put through a gruelling test, was enough to have out the idea of recovery out of the heads of most teams. But Cowdenbeath were of sterner stuff. If ever a team refused to see defeat coming to them, it was this same Cowdenbeath. They had the worst of the game, sure enough, and no doubt the ball ran badly for the Angers forwards on several occasions, yet no one could withhold praise for the way the Fifers fought it out, and not only forced a replay but might have snatched a winner. It was a match of exciting periods, from which none emerged with greater credit than Middleton and his backs, with the half-backs for their tenacity and grit, also claiming applause. The Cowden forwards had often to wait long for their chances, but they played the right game when the ball came their way, swinging it here and there and leaving Lindsay to go for a dash and a shot, any one of which might have got home. There was a bad weakness in the Rangers middle line, where Meiklejohn quite failed to realise what was required on the holding ground. He held the ball too long and courted danger thereby, and his passes were often short. More, he went out when he should have been staying behind. This was not Meiklejohn’s good day – his tactics were badly conceived. Buchanan held on best of the three, for Craig weakened near the end, but Gray and R Hamilton remained firm, and Tom Hamilton saved all that could be saved. The Ibrox attack began in fine style, but Brown’s early ankle injury impaired his strength, although he never relaxed. Archibald was in romping form. No one forced the play more, but his centres were not turned to account. Marshall could beat his man but had not the shooting power nor the finishing click. He was too often searching for the ball when it would have been better to be waiting for the wings to give it to him. McPhail and Morton looked like winning the tie in the first half-hour, but they could not get their work to bear fruit, although the opening goal scored after 15 minutes was the result of a terrific drive by McPhail. Middleton stopped the ball, which went off his hands on to the post and then to the bar, whence it fell on the line for Morton to dash in and make certain. Rangers got their second goal after 36 minutes from a glaring penalty, Marshall being tripped when clear of the backs. Morton converted. Even then, there was a fight in Cowdenbeath, and when Lindsay headed through, close on the interval, after Tom Hamilton had palmed a shot from Pullar into the air, there were prospects of a rousing second half. Which materialised with a vengeance, Rangers were going strong when the Fife forwards came through, and Meiklejohn gave away a foolish free kick, from which Devlin, in a good position, got his chance to shoot an unsaveable equaliser. Then a thrilling last half-hour – Rangers opening the throttle and storming Middleton’s goal, which had some marvellous escapes, while all the time the Fife forwards were grasping their chances to raid the Ibrox defence and snatch a winner.
