Hendry 20
Gibson 24
A Smith <45
Hogg >45
Match Information
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: J Bell (Dundee)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
When one come to reflect upon the match at Ibrox for the purpose of discovering anything of an outstanding nature, he immediately discovers himself in something of a perplexity. As a matter of fact, there was a lot of bad play in the game, and although the Rangers were comfortable winners by four goals they did very little to justify such a margin in their favour. It is a question, indeed, if the best scoring chances did not come the way of the Academicals forwards, and certainly McLaughlin and McNeil each ought to have found the net before Phil Watson completely missed a ball sent in by Hendry, and allowed Rangers to count first. Scoring became easy then. Gibson simply nodded a ball past Watson from a well-placed free-kick by Hogg, but the best goal of the game was taken by Alex Smith, who caught a high ball before it touched the ground, and drove a beauty into the net. Notwithstanding these scores, there was nothing particularly convincing about the Ibrox attack, with the exception, perhaps, of the display of Alex Smith, who although Gibson was unfortunate with many passes meant for him, got across some beautiful centre. In the second half he taught Hogg a lesson in this respect. The ball was in the vicinity of the Hamilton goal, and twice Hogg drove hard. Fortunately, the ball kept in play as it crossed, and Smith, lying well out, on each occasion caught it. Instead of driving wildly, however, the Darvel veteran simply lobbed it back, and at his third attempt the big Sunderland man got past Watson’s guard. Hogg got across a lot of nice ball, and he was not too well played to by Bowie. The ex-Queen’s Park forward was attentive enough in all conscience to his partner, but he gave him the ball frequently when not too well placed, and when cornered by an opponent, Bowie can vary his passes between the centre and the wing and it would be a pity were he to neglect doing so, Reid was well watched all through, and seldom was allowed to get into a dangerous position; while Gibson, who will yet develop into a good forward, was a little bit unlucky in many things he attempted, but which did not materialise as he had anticipated. What really was wanting in the Hamilton attack was some sort of understanding between the players; Individually they were clever enough, but not one seemed ever to know what his neighbour was likely to do. Young McLaughlin had a very attentive partner in Waugh, and he benefitted thereby, getting across many nice centres in the first half. Sheridan is not yet in condition, and may be excused, while Hastie, like the others, played well enough up to a point, but failed lamentably when it came to finishing. McNeil was disappointing. There was a lack of decisive action on his part, which frequently meant the loss of the ball and opportunity to improve his team’s position. For a time the visitors half backs did all right, but with the exception of Black, they seemed to fall away towards the finish. All through Black was the artist of the line, his placing being delightfully judged. W McLaughlin apparently had a mission to watch Reid, and he was fairly successful in that respect, while Eglinton was a hard worker all the time. The best half back of the six, however, was Hendry, who not only kept a good control over the strongest Hamilton wing, but acted in harmony with the men in front of him, who were invariably well placed when they received the ball. Galt got through a power of telling work, and Gordon was active and effective throughout. The impression most of the back play gave was that it could not have stood up to strong attacking work . That is speaking generally, of course, for Campbell and Davie were both good. The former, in the second half particularly, cleared very skilfully from awkward positions. No fault could be found with either goalkeeper.
