Ogilvie 52
Thornton 87
McInally 75
Match Information
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Mr C Faultless (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
The home fans told the referee his fortune as he came off the field. There were three or four thousand watching the game. But the man who watched it best was Mr Faultless, the man with the whistle. An incident 10 minutes after the interval caused the fuss. Motherwell were leading by a goal at this stage. And Rangers were turning on a scalding heat. Waddell took a corner kick. Venters shot, and Kilmarnock, the Motherwell right back, punched the ball with his hand before it reached missed. When he pointed to the spot, the crowd put him on the spot. A perfect impression of two thousand cows calling to be milked was heard from the North enclosure. Yet what could he do? If the ball hadnt ultimately reached the net, the same crowd would have been yelling for a penalty. The decision was perfectly correct, but I always feel theres something appallingly unsporting about a full-back doing the goalkeeper act. Rangers fully deserved a goal at this stage. But for an opponents deliberate misdemeanour they had actually scored one. Yet here they were, forced to take a penalty-kick, this giving the other side another chance quite unmerited. Surely the rules were made to punish offenders, not to benefit them? From that viewpoint the crowd were entitled to be annoyed. As a neutral I also was annoyed. And more so when Venters shot the ball straight at Johnstone, proving that there are times when crime does pay. It was a terrific send-half, Motherwell had definitely led on play in the first-half, and when Ogilvie smashed a great shot past Dawson at the near upright seven minutes after the interval, the confirmation led to a conflagration. Rangers radioed their wingers. McKillop and Little moved up. Gray and Sahe parked on the midway line and kept thumping the ball back into Motherwells base. Then came the incident twenty minutes after the interval. Fate hit Rangers with a rolling-pin when, in a breakaway, Wood headed against the upright and McInally was there to shove home the rebound. Rangers fans began to think of their tea and wished somebody else would take it from them. But with three minutes to go, Thornton scored with a brilliant diving header from a Waddell cross. The players were shouting to each other now. Every second was precious. But although the Light Blues forced a corner, that was their limit. Over the piece Motherwell quite merited their win. They seemed a lot nipper. Johnstone did quite well in goal, although he seemed to have a chance with Thorntons header. Motherwell have a fine bit of quality in young Kilmarnock, while Cheyne did better against Rangers than I ever saw him do with them. The best half-back afield was Hugh Wales, with Blair and McKillop close up. Blair dropped a bog blot on his sheet with a particularly bad foul on Venters near the end. Bremner had a bright day, so had Ogilvie and McInally. And Smith was continual chink to Warden Gray. Rangers wing-halfs never seemed to get to grips with the game or their opponents. Little floundered a lot. So did Shae. Quite the best forward was Chris McNee. The line as a whole wasnt taut. Maybe that was the chief reason why Motherwell hung their washing on it! Venters missed a 65th minute penalty
