McConnell 3
Parker
J Bowie >45
Gordon pen 89
Match Information
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: A McGregor (Kilmarnock)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
It was a three penny thriller of a game, a high-pitched melodrama of a game, a swords, pistols and daggers game, and you might have been excused for swearing that it was the best stage-managed play that ever was. Thrills, sensations, surprises crowded in on each other until the brain reeled. And the cause of this was – Only Dumbarton. But if they came Only Dumbarton, they went away a highly respected company, so highly respected that when Rangers go down to Boghead next March they will take all their regulars with them. There is nothing more certain than that. Of course, the better team won in the end – a minute from the end, and from a penalty – but I take my hat off to Dumbarton for the valorous stand they made. To twice lead in the scoring, and defy the Rangers to win for eighty-nine minutes of the ninety was a feat of which they ought to be proud. It was a bitter climax, perhaps, to lose as they did, but they must allow that during that hurricane second half Rangers were almost constantly going for the winning goal. Had Rangers failed to drive home a winner, then they had been entitled to believe that all the fates were leagued against them in charming the defence of visiting teams – Dundee, Celtic and then Dumbarton – it looked like being a story in chapters, and the same tale being told in each. Bet let me tell you of the play. In a good old Clyde fog, Dumbarton set off in exactly the style that used to be described as the Renton Charge, when Renton were a world-famous team. You could hear the crowd hum with their first surprise as the Dumbarton forwards swung into the Rangers’ defence, and you could have heard the roar a long way off when after exactly three minutes, McConnell waited on a centre from Ferguson, and jumping a little bit higher than Muir, headed the ball – as it seemed somewhat softly – past the guard of Hempsey and into the net. Rangers raided the Dumbarton defence by means of fast, wing play, some of it marked by delightful footwork. Corner after corner was conceded them, and once they had a sequence of four, while twice the post was in the way of shots from Paterson and Duncan. But the Light Blues were not the sole foragers. Dumbarton’s forwards could make ground faster than their rivals. They did not play such pretty football, but there was methods in their swinging passes, which quickly spread the Rangers’ defence and exposed the goal for the marksmen. Hempsey had to save from Pender, then Rowan (a left-foot shot this was), and again from McConnell, who came nearest of all for Hempsey nearly let the ball out of his hands. Duncan made two glorious runs nearing the interval, but his centres went amiss. He, however, paved the way for the equalising goal, for, forcing still another corner, he placed it so nicely that Parker had only to nod it through. There were only seven minutes to go, but plenty of time for another thrill. Stewart had just completed an artistic run and pass to Parker, who was found offside, when the ball was fastened upon by Rowan. The Dumbarton centre ran up to Muir, rounded him, and then headed for goal. McConnell was at his elbow, and seeing him better placed for a shot. Rowan side-passed the ball to him, and McConnell let go at an angle, and once more Dumbarton led. It appeared as if either Logan or Brown had deflected the ball into the net, but I was told after the game that that was not the case. Even yet, before the interval, Duncan made another brilliant run and centre, but both Paterson and Stewart missed taking it. In exactly the same way as Dumbarton had begun the first half, Rangers commenced the second. Rapid action was the keynote of the play. In four minutes after the restart it had its climax in a beautiful goal scored by Bowie, who took a square, foot-high pass from Duncan on the swing and swept the ball into the net. Another minute and the Dumbarton forwards were down on Hempsey, and I am still wondering what Pender said when he missed a chance in a hundred. This second half was worth going round the world to see. What between the magical foot-work of Paterson, who was shamefully treated at times by the Dumbarton defence, the straighter, menacing dashes of Duncan, the clever backing up by Stewart and Bowie – what between these things on the Rangers’ side, and the periodic dashes by the Dumbarton forwards (who had always to be reckoned with), and the almost superhuman defence of Miller, the game pulsated right up to the last minute. The game was a draw surely, but –well, Duncan went away for a final gallop and centred. The ball reached the penalty area, and to Dumbarton’s dismay, Riddell, in full view of everybody, fisted it. I did not envy Gordon taking the penalty kick, but, as coolly as you like, he walked up to the ball, and crashed it past Miller to win a match that will be long remembered. The ball was centred and scarcely more before the whistle went. I had not seen Dumbarton previously, and my estimate of them id this – a clever, resolute, daredevil defence, with Miller a gem of a goalkeeper, keen tackling half-backs, and forwards who strictly adhere to the Redmondite doctrine of ‘full steam ahead’. In this match Miller must have played the game of his life, and Kerr and McAlpine also. Speedie tired, but he was always a problem for Parker. Their inside forwards played their own game with complete success, and I fancy Logan will know Rowan when he sees him again. Had they enjoyed the scoring chances the Rangers’ forwards had, there would have been a tale to tell. McConnell impressed me as able to suit himself to a finer style of play. Ferguson and Pender took a lot of holding, but McDade, as already said, at times kept the ball too long. Rangers’ play was a mixture of the brilliant and the commonplace. Their defence under pressure was not sound, and it is perfectly obvious that, as last season and the one before, the attack is not matched by the rear-guard. I would not blame Hempsey, who might have saved the second goal had he been left alone to do it. Gordon was not always comfortable at right back, but of course, it is unfair to expect that he should give a perfect display in a position that he occupies only once in a while. Muir was serviceable all through and in the second half put a bite into his tackling that surprise some. The half-backs were often beaten in the first half, but in improved. Brown played well to Bowie and Duncan, but Logan’s scampers in among his forwards too often, left Rowan a free hand when the ball was returned. Duncan found a game that will interest the gentleman who dispose of caps. The picture of young athleticism himself, his play has a freshness that delights the eye. And his vitality is inexhaustible, as witness the crispness of that last run and centre which brought the penalty and goal. He had a partner of his choice in Bowie, while on the other wing Stewart and Paterson, particularly in the second half, gave us some delightful football. Parker did not find the game go to suit him, but he was closely watched. And despite all the brilliance of Miller in the Dumbarton goal, the shooting of the Rangers’ forwards and half-backs (who tried often enough to be sure) was not the real thing. I shall leave it at that.
