Match ended 0-0
Match Information
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: R Morrison (Falkirk)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Rangers used to have a bogey called the Scottish Cup, and no sooner have they dispelled it than something else comes alone defying conquest. The latest trouble at Ibrox, it would appear, is to know how to get the better of their challengers from Fir Park. Last season Motherwell won three of the four League points at stake, and yesterday they went fifty-fifty at the Rangers enclosure. And Motherwell deserved it too. Unfortunately, the game did not reach the high standard of previous encounters between the two and on occasion play was more rough than scientific. Morrison the referee, had a tough job on hand almost from the start, and had he been a little more severe the game would undoubtedly have improved. The first half was the real stuff. First Rangers and Then Motherwell had the crowd gasping ‘Goal’ and clever play by both forward lines kept the interest going. In the second period, however, play degenerated, and Motherwell seemed quite content to let things go and played for a draw. In that they did not fail, for their defence was right bang in form and made the Rangers do their shooting from safe distances. Motherwell disappointed me here. I was expecting a late salvo from their front rank, but it never came. Instead, they indulged in kicking-out tactics and time-wasting. Their team of last season would not have done that! They would have gone all out for the winner. That is my main criticism against the challengers. I would not say that they are as good as last year. The defence is all right. Willie Frame was the wily tactician, with a very sound partner in Hunter from Hamilton. Craig was as good as Meiklejohn, and that is saying something, for the Rangers skipper was the best man on his side. McClory saved the side in the closing minutes with one of those saves that a first-class keeper alone can bring off. No, there is nothing wrong with Motherwell’s defence. In front young Tom Tennant ought to have had the game settled for Motherwell. In the first quarter of an hour, for he had three glorious opportunities to score. The left wing was as usual the spearhead of attack, and Stevenson was the most accurate forward afield. Several of these long-range bangs of his whizzed perilously near the rigging. Rangers had their good and bad spots. And, like the little girl of the nursery rhyme, they were either very, very good or very, very bad. The good ones were undoubtedly Dougie Gray, Tom Hamilton, who kept a splendid goal, Meiklejohn, and in lesser degree Alan Morton. In the other category come the two reserves, Buchanan and McMillan. They indulged in Second Division methods and upset the even tenor of the game. I agree that it takes two to make a fight, but one must be the aggressor, and this the two undoubtedly were. Andy Cunningham would have made a big difference in front and would have given Archibald his chances. Buchanan played a bottling game, but he didn’t help on the forwards as he should. These were factors that contributed to Rangers’ inefficiency near goal. All over it was a case of the defence mastering the attack, and although Rangers claimed two penalties neither of the offences was sufficiently glaring, and had they been granted the visitors would have been unlucky. Rangers started in dazzling fashion, and hardly a Motherwell player got boot to leather in the first three raids on McClory. Morton and then McMillan sent in shots of the brilliant order. McClory was a busy man, but he didn’t shirk his task, and held a Fleming lob masterly. A minute later, he fell on top of the ball as McPhail was preparing to punt it home. Motherwell had been outclassed in the opening five minutes, but they came into their own when the famous left got moving. Stevenson’s pretty pass seemed a cinch for Tennant, and how he managed to miss will go down as a mystery. Stevenson followed it up with a tricky overhead lob, and Hamilton was in action. Rangers had a wee show after this, before Motherwell staged their next offensive. This caused Rangers a lot of bother, and for the space of 30 seconds the ball was not more than 10 yards from Hamilton’s charge. Tennant did a solo dash, and Hamilton did well to block the shot. The Motherwell front opened out, and McMurtrie and Ferrier put over some rare crosses. Tennant missed his third chance off one of McMurtrie’s best. Rangers had three free-kicks granted near the penalty area, but they were not improved upon, and play again swung to Rangers’ end. Ferrier put in a great shot, and Hamilton saved it cleverly. Frame did heroic work stopping a Rangers’ rush, but Hunter let Morton go, and McClory had a lot of bothers getting the wee fellow’s shot again. Indeed, McMillan and he went bang into the netting after a fruitless charge. Rangers were Rangers after this, for a spell, and McClory knew that better than anyone else. Two corners were forced in quick succession, and McClory saved a Fleming rasper in glorious fashion. Ne less brilliant was a Stevenson shot that skimmed the outside of the bar. With that went the whistle closing a half that had been both even and keen. McFadyen was the first to have a dash at goal in the second half, and his long range effort lacked but little in direction. Rangers paid McClory two complementary calls. Then McPhail was off-side to a Meiklejohn free-kick. A near thing describes Rangers next attempt. McClory left his goal, and ere he could recover Morton centred, and McPhail headed over a tenantless goal. Ferrier put in a tricky one after this, but it was only a spasmodic burst, and Rangers were away again. McMillan was the only Ranger near the mark in the second half spell of pressure, but his effort was easily held by McClory. Rangers unsuccessfully claimed a penalty-kick off Hunter for alleged handling. Fleming looked a scorer with a trappy header, but McClory dropped from the clouds and saved the situation. I have never seen Tom Hamilton to greater advantage. In the first half, when Motherwell were really dangerous, he was as cool as a cucumber, and saved splendidly. Gray was a better back than Bob Hamilton, and his bouts with Stevenson and Ferrier were the tit-bits of the game. Meiklejohn saw to it that Tennant hadn’t too much rope, and craig played soundly. Morton was about the best of the forwards, and McPhail, before a half-time injury, a ready partner. The right wing lacked pep and Fleming found Craig an obstacle not easy to circumvent. McClory was ok; so were the backs. Hunter is a rare bargain for the Fir Parkers. Johnman is as effective at half-back as in the full-back berth, and McFadyen is improving. Craig was the big noise of the line, however, and broke up unnumerable Rangers raids. Stevenson was best in front. Tennat will be a good centre when he becomes less panicky when in front of goal. Cameron did not show up too well, and McMurtrie did not get the best of support. Ferrier tried hard for a goal, but he seemed too anxious to get rid of the ball and did not always draw the defence
