Grove 18
Hair
Hair
Hair >90, xx, xx
Match Information
Attendance: 18,529
Referee: JP Rowe (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Partick Thistle have won the Glasgow Charity Cup for the first time, and yet that was not the remarkable thing about their final tie with Rangers at Hampden; it was the fact that their centre-forward scored five goals against the ‘Light Blues’. Brayo, Alex Hair! Mr Rowe, in presenting the ball to the centre at the close of the game only did what everyone at the Park would have liked hi to do. It was a great effort, well deserving such an honour. Six goals against the Rangers! Few teams ever dream of such an eventually, and yet minute for minute, period for period, I would not like to say that Rangers did not deserve to lose each and everyone they did. There was it is true, necessity for an extra half-hour’s play, but long before that, the writing was on the wall. A Rangers’ victory seemed a remote possibility from the moment Hair scored Thistle’s third, shortly after half-time. Rangers’ reserves did not cover themselves with glory. There was not a single one who could be compared with the five that have left for Canada! That was where the trouble started, but it was the half-back line primarily that was the weak link. Not one of the trio forced the game as did the Thistle middlemen, and their marking was very frequently at fault. Add to this the fact that Moyes was rocky in goal, and you have a Rangers team all at sixes and sevens. How different from the lot that put out the Celtic last week! Even McPhail was unable to get down to his game. But due credit must go to Thistle for a great fight. Their two early goals gave them a fine start, and I fancy they got just a little too sure of themselves, for they lost three goals on end after this. Then a little campaigning in the dressing room at half-time, and a new Thistle appeared. Hair rattled on the equaliser, and for the amount of pressing they did in this second period they should have settled the issue on the spot. As it was, they came preciously near to losing. In the final minutes Rangers made their big effort – it was clearly do or die – and had Jackson not nosedive for a scorcher from McPhail and cleared it for a corner they would have received an unlucky defeat. Hair was a great man up till then. He was greater in the extra time, when he scored the three very fine goals that cracked up the Rangers. Partick kicked off, but it was the Rangers who attacked first. Hair passed in to McMillan and Jackson managed only to scrape the ball out for @lambie to clear. Rangers had a spell of defending after this. After a fruitless corner Grove from beyond twenty yards tested Moyes with a high ball that he was just able to hold. Back at the other end a Meiklejohn free would have been in had Jackson not anticipated perfectly McMillan’s effort to find the net. Thistle came away with some pretty play after this. More than one of their raids had the Rangers’ defence on tenterhooks, but Ireland’s fair head saved the situation. McPhail notched a corner for the Rangers, and a minute later Hair was brought down near the area, and although the resultant foul kick was cleared, Thistle were soon on the lead. Ness lobbed into the goalmouth, and Moyes and Grove jumped for it, but the Thistle man got there first, and the ball bounded into the net; seventeen minutes had gone. Morton was preciously close to the equaliser when set off by McPhail, but the shot was wide. Thistle came back and Hair and Ness carried out a nice move, which ended in another goal. Hair passed out to the winger, and taking up position for the return nodded it home before the defence had time to straighten itself. Two goals in five minutes may have been an excellent tonic for Thistle, but it edged Rangers on. McMillan dashed up the middle, giving Fleming a clear shot, which Jackson parried, and McPhail did the rest. Salisbury with a well-placed free-kick had Moyes in difficulties, and Ness nearly had the recumbent keeper over the line, but the ball was scraped away for a corner. Then following an equally dangerous assault on Jackson, McPhail with a deft flick sent the ball speeding to the toe of Morton, and the winger steadying up had a great shot, which gave Jackson no chance. Deprived of their lead, Thistle went into it hammer and tongs and Moyes had no little difficulty in shaking off Hair. It was close on half-time when a further disaster befell Thistle. McPhail opened the way once more for Morton, and although the winger did not score first time, as he did before, his shot came out to his feet a second time, and Alan didn’t make another mistake. That was the closing incident of note in an eventful half. Rangers opened with another corner, and following a free kick Fleming had a shot which went wide. Thistle came much nearer to scoring when Boardman tested Moyes with a high shot which went for a corner. Ten minutes had gone, and the scores were lever again. Hair was the scorer. Receiving from the right he crashed the ball past the helpless Moyes. Rangers’ defence was hard pressed in the minutes that followed. Moyes nearly missed the bounce of a long lob into goal, and he was fouled before he cleared the situations. Thistle had on the screw properly, and if they did not get the leading goal out of these hectic first twenty minutes of the second half, they at least squared the corners – six each. And then Rangers made a change – Shaw took Ireland’s place at centre-half. Even this, however, did not stem the Thistle tide. Moyes had to deal with an accurate cross from Ness. Then came a Rangers revival, and what a revival it was! Five minutes remained. Hair swept down the field, and three corners came in quick succession. McPhail had two efforts that went wide, and Morton shot wildly across the field when left in a good position. Then the Partick Hair dashed away and had only Moyes to beat, but the goalkeeper anticipated well, and the danger was averted. Thistle, however, were not far away when the final whistle went. Extra time now. Rangers opened on the attack. Morton lobbed in and Jackson was called upon twice. McPhail had only Jackson to best in the next Rangers attack, but the keeper stopped the ball brilliantly on the line. Hair dashed down the centre and his parting shot was wide. Rangers got the first corner in this extra period, but this was quickly nullified by Hair, who with another of his quick incisive moves down the centre timed the ball perfectly. The shot travelled away from Moyes. Just on the half-time whistle Hair profited by a slip by Shaw, and Moyes in two minds, came out of his goal and Hair notched his fourth. Turned about it was a case of Thistle holding on to their lead, but Hair wasn’t done yet by any means. He broke away once more and his parting shot went in off the far post. That was the end Rangers prospects of a cup had vanished. The winners carried no passengers. Each and every man stove hard, and for the most part they were successful. Hair was the ‘star’ by reason of his goals, but there were others who deserve special mention. The Ness-Grove wing was always a sore thorn in the Rangers’ defence, and the half-back line as a whole was superior to the Rangers. Lambie played a very sterling if unobtrusive game in the centre, and McLeod was perhaps the best wing half on the field. But a word of praise must be said for Jackson. He alone saved the Thistle from extinction when he saved McPhail’s shot at the close of the second half. He started shakily, but improved perceptibly, and was dealing with Rangers’ best shot in the most confident manner, before the finish. O’Hare and Calderwood were not without their anxious moments, but they both emerged successfully from the fray. I like the way O’Hare managed Morton. His bouts with the winger came off about 50/50, which means not bad going. He was the steadier of the two. Rangers frankly disappointed. Moyes never really recovered from a shaky beginning and, worse still, he lost the confidence of his backs. McCandless and Gray were not to blame for the debacle. They had far too much to do, and at one time in the second half were nearly run off their feet. The half-back line was mainly to blame, as I have said. Meiklejohn alone played to form. Shaw, at first on the wing, seemed out of position, and when shifted to the centre was not a great improvement on Ireland. This young player opened promisingly enough but faded out of the picture when Hair got on the warpath. Forward, Rangers would not have been a bad company had they received more support from behind. McPhail and Morton were a better wing than McMillan, and Hair, and Fleming in centre strove hard for a ball that never ran nicely for him.
