T Miller 42, pen 84
Match Information
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: T McMillan (Hamilton)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
If the Hearts had beaten the Rangers at Tynecastle the public would not have experienced the shock, they had yesterday at Ibrox Park. The unexpected happened. The Hearts rose to the occasion, big of heart, and pulled off the greatest football sensation of the season by 2 goals to 0, in a game where the run of the play favoured the League champions more than it did the winning side. Tom Miller steadied the Hearts a week ago when he proved a conspicuous centre against the men of Falkirk. There were 38,000 spectators. The Rangers fielded the side that won the Glasgow trophy, while the Hearts had McRoberts at left half for Sharp, and Birrell was able to resume his place at left back. The changes stiffened the defence sufficiently to turn the scale. The first goal was scored three minutes from the interval. A nice pass from Meikle was cleverly picked up by Tom Miller. The old ‘head’ was revealed in the taking of the goal. Miller raised his head, took deliberate aim from an open position, and the ball went into the corner of the net. You could see it beating Robb all the way. The second disaster that befell the Rangers occurred seven minutes from time. Manderson and the Hearts’ left winger, Wilson, were racing for the ball, with the Hearts’ man in possession of it. Manderson is perhaps the fastest man in the Rangers’ team. Wilson revealed at various parts of the game that he could equal his dashing opponent for speed. The pair were clear. Manderson saw he could not stop the Tynecastle winger, so he brought him down. It was not a glaring foul, but it meant a penalty kick, and Tom Miller made sure of the goal. The rangers had chances in plenty to gain the advantage the Hearts secured. In the first run, before the players had time to settle down, Henderson almost brought off a flying goal, and the same player had two of the best shots of a first half, singularly devoid of direct shooting. On both occasions the ball just went wide off a post on the ground. If the luck of the game fell to the Hearts, the Rangers gave you the impression in the first fifteen minutes of the second half that the winning of the game was possible for them to accomplish. After five minutes of pressure Henderson headed the ball against the far post, and later on the ball bobbed up from a scrimmage and struck the bar. Before the penalty kick took place the most exciting incident of the game occurred at the Hearts’ goal, when Kane held to the ball on the ground, with half-a-dozen opponents on the top of him or waiting for the ball to emerge from his grasp. The spectators yelled in their frenzy, but the goalkeeper held to what he had, and a free kick from the six yards line saved the situation. There is no need to make excuses for the beaten side. The Rangers were the better team in the first half. Their defence was seldom beaten in a struggle where the back play was towered above the footwork of the forwards. They were nipper at half-back, and a yard or two quicker than the Tynecastle forwards in getting to the ball. How, then, came they to be beaten? The question is easy to answer. While the Hearts were content to stop their opponents and to sling the ball forward, irrespective of placing, the Rangers persisted in leading out their attack mainly from the right wing. Archibald and Cunningham were earnest triers, but the swing of the play gave Archibald most of the running. He hails from the Crossgates district of Fife. So does the back who was up against him. Birrell laid himself out to stop Archibald. He blocked the flying winger, took the ball with his body, and never cared whether he put the ball into touch or kicked it ahead, so long as he brought Archibald to book. I am safe in saying that no man on the Hearts’ side played a bigger part in encompassing the downfall of the Rangers than Birrell. Crossan was more spectacular in his movements, but the was a sound back, and when the half-backs were overworked in the second half the combination in front of Kane could not be overcome. A contributory cause to the non-success of the Rangers was the comparative failure of the centre forward. Henderson has the pace and dash. He is not afraid of a rushing defender, but he does not think quick enough. He was often found stopping the ball and turning on it or passing it out to the right when he should have gone straight ahead. The Hearts’ half-backs crowded the Rangers’ forwards off the ball in the last half-an-hour, and in the last twenty minutes they opened up the game more than they did in any other part. The rangers lost confidence by their failure to score. The inside forwards repeated the tactics of lying back to stop George Miller and Smillie oftener than was necessary. These tactics were mainly responsible of the eclipse of the Celtic, but the latest game was of a different description. The defence of both sides was more in evidence than attack, and Cameron and Preston played a conspicuous in ‘spiking’ the attack of the other side. Archibald had generally two men to beat, so well did McRoberts and Birrell play on to the Rangers’ right pair. The best of the Edinburgh forwards were Wilson and George Miller, but late in the game Meikle, who swung the ball freely Miller showed that he was not without speed. There was not a weak spot in the Rangers’ defence, but the attack failed in the last half-hour for want of a leader. McDiarmid was not so clever as on the previous week. Cairns was eager, but not thrustful enough. One could not overlook a show of childish temper on his part, when he ran forward and butted Birrell on the forehead when both players were clear of each other. The Hearts played their hardest game of the season and are deserving of congratulations on such a signal victory.
