Blair pen
Match Information
Attendance: 18,000
Referee: H Humphrey (Greenock)
Matchday: Wednesday
Match Trivia
By a penalty-kick goal Rangers defeated Partick Thistle at Ibrox. It was a hotly-debated point because, owing partly to the bad light and, also to the manner in which the award was brought about, few people were able to follow what exactly occurred. Everybody saw Brown go down inside the ‘box.’ So far, so good. I cannot pretend to say from personal observation what was the cause of his downfall, but I can give the referee’s explanation. It was this. As the Rangers centre ran in with the ball, Joe Harris impeded him. Harris fell, and in doing so diverted the ball slightly with his hand. Brown, stumbled, but as he recovered and went on again the referee let Harris’ infringement pass. Again, however, Brown was wrongfully dealt with by a Thistle defender, and this time Mr Humphreys had no hesitation in awarding the penalty, a ruling with which, I may say, both linesmen agreed. I think this explanation is due to the referee, particularly seeing that in every other detail the game was handled by him to the satisfaction of both sides. The penalty incident occurred some fifteen minutes after the restart, and Blair, who took the kick, converted. Otherwise, the game was a keen, hard, plugging match with the defence on either side in control of the rival forward divisions. But there was a difference – the Rangers forwards, while not brilliant as a whole, usually seemed the more likely to find an opening, simply because they carried some striking force – not much, but some – up to close quarters with the splendid Thistle defence, whereas the Thistle attack had lost most of its vim before Hempsey was within range. There was one real exception to this in the second half when Marshall got in a slanting shot, which Hempsey was just able to reach and clear on the instant that McEwan was on the top of him. But Ferguson had much more to do than the Rangers’ custodian, and no man could have done it better. At high and low balls he was equally good, and there was nothing finer in the game than his save near the end from Brown, who had dribbled swiftly in with a pass from Bowie and whipped the ball at Ferguson breast high. Rangers’ forwards towards the close were showing something like a settled game, and it was then that the worth of the Firhill defence was most manifest. If the Thistle defence was good so also, was that of Rangers. Both Manderson and Blair made Hempsey’s charge fairly light, Dixon played another powerfully effective game. McGrory, of Dumbarton, made a capital partner for Adams, who, with Bulloch indisposed played left back. As a line, the Thistle half-backs were the better lot; it was largely owing to them that the visiting forwards were so much in Rangers’ ground and that the Rangers; forwards were prevented from working up to settled methods. But, even at that, the home front line was the more dangerous, for Archibald put over many fine centres, and Brown, although closely watched, was always likely to break through. McDiarmid, I thought, held the ball too much, but it was difficult getting it away to advantage with Joe Harris hanging on to him like a leach. It would have paid the Thistle forwards to ply Whittle more with the ball. McEwan was too slow in parting, and was repeatedly tackled before he had translated intention into action. King and Bowie did some clever things, but they lacked driving force near goal
