Gillick 3
McIntosh 22
Finnigan pen 40, 60
Baxter 88
Match Information
Attendance: 37200
Referee: William Webb (Glasgow)
Match Trivia
The longest season on record is over, and I have been witness to it all. But if I had missed the whole lot until yesterday, I could still smack my lips with satisfaction, for I saw, without doubt, the greatest game that has been played at Hampden or any other field since last August. Yes, thats what the Summer Cup final has done to me. I was probably even more blasé, more sceptical than most of you when I took a tram out to Mount Florida. Football on such a day just couldnt be very hot. Moreover, who were Hibs to think they could stand up to Rangers, let alone give them the works. Whee! Am I mortified . . . are we all mortified. I never met so many neutrals in all my life. None of them cared a hoot what player won the game for Hibs It was in the air. It was in, or rather out of the mouths of three out of every four spectators that the thing that would please them most was a Rangers defeat. Lets try to take the great event calmly. Lets get the proper perspective. It started as we all expected, Rangers doing this, Rangers doing that. Hibs not unduly upset but sort of feeling their way trying to get their Hampden legs. They couldnt do things quite quickly enough. They would give the ball that extra pat and then find it wasnt there anymore. It was something like that, that brought about the first goal. Kean was trying to get the ball under control near the touchline when McIntosh darted in and took it off his toe. Off he went like an express train, cut the ball into to Thornton, and without waiting to see if it found the mark, went careering down the wing. The return so well anticipated duly arrived. The winger swept it up in his stride, dashed another fifteen yards or so, and then lashed it into the centre for Gillick to head it into the net. You never saw anything slicker. I dont believe Hibs defenders saw anything at all. The speed and incisiveness of the movement left then practically rooted to the spot. Uhuh! We said to ourselves, the same old usual. How many do you think itll be today? Four? Five ? Ay, most likely four or five. Oh yes, we were so optimistic as to Hibs chances! It was a stunning start, but the wee lads from Easter Road werent due to fold up just yet. Once they forgot they were playing a cup final they started to play real football. Arthur Milne and his merry midgets feinted and side-stepped and patted the ball about this way and that with engaging subtlety. But one always had the feeling that they didnt carry enough of the heavy stuff to charge down the resistance of the Ibrox defence. They were like sparrows, pecking away, while when the other birds got busy, they were bigger and sharper-beaked. Not peckers, but stabbers. Twenty-two minutes played and one more in Hibs breadbasket. This time Venters and Johnstone between them left the right side of the Easter Road defence without an answer. Johnstone eventually swept the ball low across goal and the energetic Mr McIntosh came barging in to glide it into the net. And still the Hibs fought. Finnegan gave Dawson his first real call shortly after wards. Then someone though it might be an idea for Caskie and Nutley to change places. Whoever had the idea in the first place of putting them outside-left and outside-right respectively, had I may say, the wrong one. Just when the change took place Gillick had almost knocked Kerrs block off with a blazing drive. And then came the real change. Arthur Milne went swerving past a couple of Rangers defenders and was ready to draw just on the six-yard line when Shaw came up from behind and floored him. Penalty kick! Finnigan rammed home the spot kick as if it were the easiest thing in the world which it is and isnt if you know what I mean. Rangers went all out to restore that two goals lead, and in less than a minute Gillick had the ball in the net from an offside position, as referee Willie Webb rightly rules. And so, to the second half; Attack and counter-attack; Hairbreadth escapes at both ends; Thrilling soccer; Clever soccer. A hint now and again that Rangers half backs were going to fade out as in the semi-final last week. Then in sixteen minutes the Edinburgh contingent went daft. Intercepting a clearance, Hall switched the ball inside to Combe. The wee inside man sent it over to Finnigan, and our penalty-kick expert promptly hit it hard and low for the corner. Dawson got down and across to it, and seemed to smother the ball, but he hadnt. It had passed under his arms and finished up in the side of the net. Two all now and Hibs playing like champions. Rangers as if they had corns on their toes, particularly the wing halfs and the inside men. Yes, the winger was always coming though it should have arrived a bit before it did. There was that amazing no decision of Willie Webb when Milne was clean through. A Ranger came up from behind and tripped him well within the penalty area. Unbelievable it was. But to get right to it; Caskie forced a corner and swung over a lovely ball. Over lots of heads it travelled and fell at Nutleys feet. The airman winger promptly returned it and up popped a head centre half Bobby Baxters head and the ball was in the net. The players heroes all! Football on such a day might have been a pleasure to watch, but it was quite the opposite to play, Im certain. After the Caskie-Nutley switch Hibs forwards moved like a machine. Even the 17-year-old kid, Combe a trifle out of his depth it appeared in the first half was holding the ball like a veteran and knowing where to send it. Milne was a star turn. Made Woodburn see a few, Ill bet. And Finnigan, probably the grandest little players of them all, Caskie maybe was not as showy as Ive seen him, but terrible, terribly shrewd. Baxter was the master mind of the team. Baxter the immaculate! Kean must have run many miles. Busby couldnt keep up-sides with him at that sort of thing, but when he had the ball at his foot it was beautiful to watch. Rangers gave us all they had in the first half, and frankly it was devastating stuff at times. In the second they just couldnt muster the energy. Jimmy Smiths value would have been properly appreciated on such a day. Gray, Woodburn, Venters and McIntosh came best out of it, I think.
