Match ended 0-0
Match Information
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: T Robertson (Glasgow)
Matchday: Monday
Match Trivia
At one stage of the game at Ibrox Park it seemed as if it would be difficult to keep count of the goals that Rangers threatened to score. At the finish the Light blues were pleased enough to get off with a draw. It was a peculiar game. Beginning with the wind and a snowstorm at their backs, Rangers for half an hour or so peppered the Thistle goal with shots from every direction. All the forwards except Smith, and also Gordon and Logan of the half-backs, sent along shot that might have scored, but didn’t. More than one shot rapped the post, other brought corners, but the principal factor in the denial of a goal to Rangers was the goalkeeping of Campbell, and the able defence of Adams and Bulloch, who often compelled the Rangers’ forwards to shoot before they would have liked to. But the curious feature was this, that on each of the four or five occasions on which the Thistle forwards went near the Rangers goal, they might have scored had Marshall shown reasonable ability to accept a chance. No man ever had a better opportunity - a dozen of them, in fact – to win the match than had Marshall. The second half was altogether different. Although not getting the same help from the elements that Rangers had enjoyed, the Thistle had a big share of the game, and several times all but got through for a winning goal. From a Thistle point of view, the real merit of the draw lay in the fact that they were compelled, through injuries, to make six changes in the team that drew with Celtic. The result is as good as an illuminated address to the young men who came in, and particularly to the three half-backs. It was the keen tackling of Morrison, Stevenson and Joe Harris that, in the course of time, took the sting out of the Rangers’ attack. Had Rangers scored once during their good time in the first half, I firmly believe they would have scored again, but the longer the teams were in grips the more apparent became the Thistle’s ability to hold their own. Often in the second half they were doing more than that, but I assure you they were satisfied with the point as representing an advance on the usual League result at Ibrox. The Ibrox Park has a pitch that defied the weather better, perhaps than any ground in Glasgow, yet the conditions were too bad for one to expect the players to play true. The man who attempted to play the best, and the most, football was always likely to be defeated by the opponent who set his mind upon getting the ball from him by quick tackling, and by getting rid of it as quickly. But all things considered, it was a hard, keen game, that tested the endurance of the players, and found them fit. To convey to you how the game was going for the first half-hour or so would be to give a monotonous recital of Rangers shooting. Gordon had the first real trimmer that went flying past the post, Reid followed with one that Campbell saved at the expense of a corner, following which the centre took a pass from Logan and rapped in a ball that hit the post a terrible whack. Then Bennett had his turn, and Campbell only partially clearing, Paterson got hold and shot in for Campbell to save again. Rangers kept pressing in, and Smith got a good chance, but took his right foot to it, and missed. Then came Marshall into the role of forager, but after going past the backs with the look of a whole-hogger, he shot weakly with only Glenn to beat. The Thistle centre had his second chance, and a third one soon after, but though doing everything right up to the point of shooting he could not prove himself a marksman. A long pass back by Gordon to Glenn almost turned badly, for the ball was slowed by the snow, and with Glenn in two minds about going out for it, McIntyre ran in and got hold, only to show himself as a poor shot as his centre colleague. Before the interval Reid dashed down the centre and whizzed one over the bar. All this time the Thistle defence had remained sound, and indeed nothing but the soundest defence could have saved the Thistle from a drubbing. As indicated, the second half was different for the Rangers began it in forcing style. The Thistle soon asserted themselves, and became just as like winners as losing. The Thistle forwards were always keeping winder apart than the Rangers’ lot, and by swinging the ball in a freer manner they several times caught the home defence poorly guarded. Once Glenn failed to get the ball properly away, and running out to it failed again, but Gordon nipped in to save the situation. Before the finish Marshall bustled in on the Rangers’ goal four or five times, but always with the same result – or you might say no result. Reid made his best run late in the game, and was almost through the Thistle defence when numbers compelled him to let Paterson have a try, and the winger sent the ball flying over the bar. I was disappointed with the display of the Rangers, yet we must allow a lot for the conditions. Campbell had treble the amount of saving to do that Glenn had, and he did it all well, even if he sometimes dropped the ball, and at other times deemed discretion the better part of valour and put it round the post. Glenn seemed to be not too sure of himself, but I cannot say he received the best support from his backs, though Ormonde improved considerably in his kicking. He and Fulton were a little weak in tackling, and too easily bustled. Adams and Bulloch did splendidly, and all the Thistle half-backs shared in wearing down the Rangers’ attack. Morrison held to Alex Smith tenaciously, and, he found it difficult to get on. Rangers’ half-backs were often so close on the heels of their forwards that the Thistle front-liners had a lot of open ground to race over when the ball was sent up to them, and that accounted for many of the easy runs in on the home goal. A goal lost and those half-backs would probably have been saddled with the blame. Bennett was the cleverest of the Rangers forwards, who suffered by the partial eclipse of the extreme wingers, Paterson and Smith. Reid made many bold endeavours to bore through, but having generally to dribble a bit to create the shooting chance, he found the lumpy ground a severe handicap. Paterson’s centre so often went amiss that I could scarcely believe him the same accurate player who lately could plunk them so beautifully into the penalty area. Thistle’s forwards played less football but got quickly ahead, though Hynd and McTavish did some clever leading in work that let Marshall away on his fruitless runs
