B McPhail 7
Massie 26
Match Information
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: J.S. Yeaman (Dundee)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
I do not suppose for a moment that the crowd at Ibrox yesterday got half as much thrill as the spectators at Motherwell the previous Saturday. There was not the same pace in the game for one thing and the breathless moments were over before one could fashion a gulp or sigh. The average spectator dearly loves this blood-mingling sensation, and nothing in the world pleases him better than getting ninety minutes of it. He certainly did not get that at Ibrox yesterday, but the critic could gorge himself to the full. It is all too seldom one sees two teams depending primarily on skill and tactics for results. I am going to say that the wing half-back play in this game was the finest the world can produce at present, and Scotland need not look elsewhere than among these four. Never mind what you are told otherwise. It is an axiom of football that half-backs make the game, and therefore Hearts and Rangers are worth watching. There was Massie dribbling with foraging foot, Herd with those eager long passes, Brown the debonair craftsman (though, I thought, playing under a difficulty through injury), and last, but not least, Meiklejohn. If I were a Rangers fan and cherished a photograph of Meiklejohn, I would have itched after this game to have him autograph it, not Davie, but Captain Meiklejohn. Picture Meiklejohn finishing with his sleeves rolled up over the elbow, and you will realise the game was not the easy thing for Rangers the fretful fellows on stand and terracing may have thought. I have been noticing with absorbing interest the new tactics the Rangers team is developing. As players go, Rangers are far from having the youngest in certain key positions. Strategy and tactics are the obvious offset, and it is always interesting to see what brains do on the field. Rangers latest evolution is having Dawson and Simpson the only definite main defenders. This is still in the risky, experimental stage. It succeeded here one way, but not in another. Had Meiklejohn not instinctively come to the rescue od Simpson and played an honest centre-half-back game very often during this game Rangers defence would have tottered to its fall. The moral is that Simpson is getting too much sledge-hammer work to do and cannot stand up to it. I have confirmed this opinion in recent games. On the other hand, the policy of Gray and McDonald lying out on the wings was possibly a winning factor here. Johnstone and Murray are among the most dangerous crosses of a ball in the game, and the free runs and centres they got in here could be counted on one hand. There was no critical turning of the flanks and Rangers defence was set no puzzles. Hearts only goal dropped from the skies. Only Massie knows if he meant his long goalward kick for a shot, yet it glanced softly in off the far post. Battles also got the glad hand for distracting Dawson. No wonder. This was the equalising goal and came in twenty-five minutes. Rangers had been roused from a lethargic start through Hearts attacking menace, and McPhail opened the scoring off Archibalds cross with a cut-and-dried header which sailed beautifully between Harkness and his post in the twelfth minute. The real tussle of the game followed these goals. Battles and McPhail both struck wood, and it was an anti-climax when Rangers regained the lead. There was no question of danger when a penalty was given against Hearts. The ball was far away when Anderson made a swinging trip at Smith, who had just previously downed Harkness. The watching referee was quite within his powers, though usually these things escape notice. Thus, Rangers went ahead again ten minutes from half-time. I was the first to acclaim Smith as a skilful footballer, but I am beginning to lose taste for him if he continues to neglect his football. Twice I saw him awkwardly trying to raise the ball in the air, he who can play it so well on the ground. He gave us glimpses of his real self in that pass from which McPhail had extraordinary bad luck in striking the post and in the scoring of the third goal. There was a grave suspicion of doubt about this goal being offside, but in the quick shuttle Smith-Main-Marshall-Smith move I thought McClure was caught in position. In any case, this goal was doubly unfortunate for Hearts, as it was all against the run of play. Scored twelve minutes after the restart, a Hearts equaliser had been all the more likely. As in the first half, Hearts resumed in spirited fashion that flattered to deceive. They played very good football but could do nothing vital. I put this as much down to Rangers tactical defence as to their own shortcomings, though definitely Hearts revealed no potential punch forward except in the case of Walker. This lad is an artist in general play besides. McClure made more new friends for his clean kicking and cool intervention, and Anderson was most workmanlike. In the direct advance Reid was practically invulnerable, as Smith early learnt. Harkness had some very sine saves and was in no way to blame
