English 20
Match Information
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: unknown - to be confirmed
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Fifty thousand people turned up at Ibrox yesterday confident of being thrilled by the clash of Rangers and Motherwell. It is possible that forty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine went away dissatisfied and disgruntled. They were entitled to be. As a spectacle the game was a big disappointment, and there was seldom, if ever, suppled that type of classic football which both teams have it in their power to purvey. The high wind that blew the length of the pitch was undoubtedly a disturbing factor, but the treachery of the elements does not altogether explain why Motherwell and Rangers, elevens if undoubted talent, should provide such poor stuff. I have seen better and more interesting football at an Alliance game. It seemed to me that both sets of players allowed themselves to be dominated by the importance of the occasion, and the result was that we had ninety minutes of spoiling. No risks were taken, and the game was repeatedly held up for throw-in. I heard one man describe the affair as shyball. He wasnt so very far out. Rangers, however, deserved to win. Of that let us have no doubts. On the day Motherwell were the second-raters. The defence of the Ibrox lot was dominating factor. I am one of those who have a grouse about the centre-half being employed as a third back. I maintain that it destroys a lot of the thrill of Football, and very annoyingly interferes with it as an entertainment, but I must say that yesterday it paid Rangers, and paid them well. In previous critique I have had occasion to say some hard things about Simpson. Let me mow hand him a bouquet. In this game it was obvious that he was the mainspring of the Ibrox machinery. His task was to shadow McFadyen. He did it, and if it in no uncertain manner. The most prolific goalscorer in Scottish football today was tied up, and the string was dead right. He couldnt move. Rangers obviously took the field with a preconceived plan of campaign. For them everything wert according to plan. They played a defensive game, and their defence was good. Goalkeeper, backs and half-backs, every one of them, must be graded top of the class. Motherwells forward line I have seen a thing of beauty. Yesterday it was reduced to a ragged affair which was given the turnabout almost every time it set about the business. The wiles of Stevenson, the dash of his colleagues, were made to look very ordinary. The Ibrox half-back line was a great affair, but I say that the backs were even better. Gray and McAulay rose splendidly to the occasion. They were a classic combination, and I cannot recall seeming they play better. But while the rear lines were masterly in their work, the forward division must be subjected to criticism. I think that if Alan Morton had been on the left touchline the Rangers victory would have been more substantial. Fleming, I have a great admiration for, but he is not a wing man. Certainly, he did some clever things, but he did a lot which demands another description. Time and time he actually ran the ball over the line. It seemed as if the pitch wasnt broad enough for him. Archibald, we all know, is past his best. In this game he was enjoyable good one minute, and tantalisingly weak the nest. He should have made a lot more of the chances that were offered him, especially in the early part of the first half, when his finishing at times was poor. Rangers fielded two wingers who were not Rangers standard. McPhail, as usual, was the big fellow with the raking stride and the strength to carry him past the opposition, but he spoiled a lot of his work by over-eagerness. Mac has been long enough at the game and has played in sufficient big matches not to be disturbed by the occasion. English was just an ordinary centre-forward, and Marshall played no better and no worse than when I have seen him previously. Marshall is too much inclined to deceive himself, and lose himself, as well as the fellows he plays against. And now Motherwell. They have championship aspirations. We are all glad of the fact, but they have weaknesses, on this showing, that definitely marks them down as a team that is not championship class. They have a really food goalkeeper, but they dont have good backs. Gray and McAulay were in an entirely different street from Dowal and Ellis. They say that Dowall can play at centre-forward. I think he will admit that he is not a full-back. Ellis is a whole-hearted sort of fellow, but he has limitations. His sense of recovery was not too dependable. Of the half-backs I licked Craig best. The wing men were not so effective as usual. Indeed, I was surprised at times that a trio who have done so much to put their team in its present prominent position could be so easily beaten. They never settled down to a steady game. There was always that something lacking. The forwards, as I have already indicated, were reduced to below par. The much-boosted wing, Ferrier and Stevenson never got going properly. But then they were up against something that they dont meet every day. I must thank Ferrier, however, for giving me cause for real enjoyment on one occasion. I refer to a cross of his in the first half. Travelling at a fast pace down the line, hampered by the men detailed to keep him in check, he introduced his left foot to the ball and, almost from the corner flag, screwed it into goal. It was a piece of perfect artistry, and the spin on the ball completely deceived Hamilton in regard to flight. The goalkeeper missed it, and he should never have been given a chance, for Moffat was standing at the proper spot to clinch matters. The ex-Academical, however, fluffed it badly, and what looked a certain goal was dissipated into a throw-in, or something equally unimportant. That brings me to Moffat. Willie is a clever player, but I dont think Motherwell will succeed in making him an outside-right. He is essentially an inside-forward, and it is too late in the day now to alter the fact. One could plainly see that the man was bursting to get to the inside of the field, where his skill could have been put to much greater use. McMenemy did not have a good game. Maybe he never got the chance to do his stuff properly. Like his friend Stevenson, he was taped from the beginning. Rangers went on to the field knowing the men from whom most danger would come. These men were carefully watched and as carefully subdued. Rangers, on the balance of play, actually were better winners than the single goal would indicate, and if the Scottish League Championship rests between Rangers and Motherwell, I have more than a sneaking regard for the Light Blues. I would like to see Motherwell do the trick, if for no other reason than to break the dreary monotony of the existing state of affairs, but I do not believe they have the team with which to do it. Rangers have that bit extra, and how a team like Dundee beat them is something that wants explaining. The only goal of the game was scored about twenty minutes from the start. Beforehand the Ibrox faithful cheered themselves hoarse when English netted only to be rightly judges odd-side incidentally, Mr Craigmyle deserves a pat on the back for the manner in which he controlled the game but the disappointment of the business was soon forgotten. McAulay took a free-kick from the centre of the field, a few yards on his own side. He punted it up the left, McPhail got possession and sent a dropping ball towards goal. McClory and English both jumped for it. The wind beat the goalkeeper, and the Rangers centre connected with his head to nod the ball low down into the net. Motherwell had chances to equalise, but they just could not take them, and the champions, the further the game went, became more confident. They found that they had the holding of the opposition and seemed content with that. Perhaps therein lies the explanation of the second half being such a dead affair.
