Reid
McDiarmid 43
Match Information
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: P Craigmyle (Aberdeen)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
I was well pleased with the fearless, dashing play of the Motherwell team. They were quite as good as the Rangers. I thought they should have escaped defeat. There was very little in it. The speaker was John Cowan, who played for Aston Villam in the days of John Campbell, of Celtic fame, and also the Rangers when Hugh McCreadie, David Mitchell, Nicol Smith, Jock Drummond and Andrew McCreadie were shining lights at Ibrox Park. Up to a point I concurred with the verdict. The game realised expectations as a strenuous encounter between well-matched sides, but there was that difference in the play of the Rangers forwards in the second half that just entitled them to the honours of an exceptional grueling struggle. The holiday crowd mustered 43,000, and the majority of the spectators were particularly well pleased with the closing exhibition of strength on the part of the winners. A section of them had their happiness completed when the drawn result came through from Kirkcaldy, where the Celtic had dropped a point. You could not wish to see a harder game. Motherwell were at their best in the first half, and they got no more than their deserts when Reid scored a fine goal for them in twenty minutes. The intensity of the struggle reached a climax in the period proceeding the heading of the equalising goal by McDiarmid after fully half an hour. McDiarmid, who was with Dumbarton last season, got his place in the Rangers team owing to the inability of Henderson to turn out. The young Forfar centre forward was suffering from a foot injury sustained during the week. Had he been able to play. The big, fair-haired inside right was confined to the house, suffering from the effects of a chill. He had to receive medical attention and was disinclined to take the field. It was just as well that Cunningham was in the Rangers’ attack, as the Motherwell half-backs, and especially Craig Brown, played so remorselessly on to the Ibrox forwards that they got little rope to settle for a shot. Cunningham was not exactly in his usual form, for sciatica troubled him, but the winning of the match rested with him when there remained about twenty minutes to go. He took the ball from a long-left pass and drove it low and hard from seven yards range beyond the reach of Rundell, who kept goal most effectively. The Motherwell keeper was more enterprising in running out to meet his opponents and picking up the ball than Robb, who trusted more to his backs. Even when the Rangers forwards got better into the swing of things, the Steel men plugged into the encounter in a bold attempt to draw level. There was not the sting in their shooting to look for success, and Ferguson shot wide from twenty-five yards range on the few occasions that they got a chance to close in. Still, they played hard, and with manly courage, in spite of a knock to the stomach which impaired the usefulness of Craig Brown, who had one of the great shots of the match saved as brilliantly by Robb, who dealt with the ball high up. The half-back bore the brunt of the encounter, and they were largely responsible for the inequalities of the forward play. The Rangers attack developed mostly on the wings. McDiarmid did not get many chances to show his mettle, but from the one real chance he got towards the end he almost secured another goal. Considering that McCandless travelled across from Belfast today, after attending the funeral of his mother, the nippy left back maintained a very sound partnership with Manderson. The Rangers backs excelled the opposite pair in speed, and their dashing work was invaluable, as the wing half-backs were more easily beaten than usual. Arthur Dixon was the life of the middle line. He kept to the right side of Ferguson all through and was chiefly responsible for forcing the scoring centre from Fir Park either to part with the ball or in knocking him off it. The Rangers wingers put in a tremendous lot of running. Archibald did excellent service in drawing Jackson so often Aout to the line, and the shots he put across were always draught with danger. The one blemish in the Rangers’ forward play was their failure to play the inside game. The Motherwell players did well to maintain their traditional game in this particular match. Except for a tendency to expose the defence too much, McDougall and Jackson were strong backs. The side derived its real strength at half-back, where Paterson, Brown and Stewart proved of immense help. The forwards played in Cup-tie fashion. Rankin did his utmost to spread the play, and he was as useful as any of the five all through the game. Reid and Ferrier were a fairly active wing, and Ferguson did as well as any centre could have done in playing on to the backs. It was a game where checkmating made the task of the forwards exceptionally difficult, and all of them were delighted when the end came. The referee from Aberdeen was smart in his decision
