J Smith 66
McLennan 75
Match Information
Attendance: 14,000
Referee: W Webb (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
The 14,000 crowd at Ibrox yesterday were put in mind of the Biblical quotation, Charity suffered long and is kind. Thats the sort of match it was, with the long particularly appropriate, seeing that we had to bear the spectacle of extra time. However, the thoughtful among the skailing crowd would be less critical when they got the swirling breeze about their hat-brims and some of the stour in their eyes. Ball control must have been a tantalising ordeal. I took corner kicks to settle it and one must find some excuse for the players in the scoring as well as the playing respect. There were chances enough in the game for the teams to score about five goals apiece, or maybe for Thistle to have a slight winning margin, yet it had to come to corners, with only two goals on the sheet, to decide. Even at that both of these goals were on the snatch rather than the engineered variety. Thistle had more ideas of scoring than losing a goal when Smith got the first counter. This came 21 minutes after the restart, and Donnelly had just left his watch over Smith to go up and solicit his chance of heading through a corner kick Thistle were taking on the left. Instead, the ball was cleared with a thumping kick which reached almost midfield. That almost is important, otherwise Smith might have been given offside. The fact that he was in his own half of the field ruled otherwise, and his uninterrupted run-in to score was quite admissible. When McLennan equalised eight minutes later it was more a matter of taking advantage of the defence than the completion of a designed movement, though it was a bright goal. Miller had lobbed the ball over Simpsons head in a way that found Rangers defence awkward, and before they could sort themselves out, McLennan had brushed past McDonald, found open position, and planted the ball precisely with his foot into the side of the goal well away from Dawson. Late in the game there were escapes at both goals which were far more thrilling than the actual scores. McDonald took a free-kick well out, and Johnstone misjudged the flight of the ball in the wind. The ball struck the post, went to Main, who returned it to Smiths head in a twinkling. The big centre appeared to do the necessary in heading the ball towards the vacant net, but Donnelly came along somehow and kicked away, with an astonished goalkeeper looking on. Rangers life followed when Bain, with the best shot of the game, clean beat Dawson with a terrific low, angular ball. As the goalkeeper vainly dived and the ball passed him closely, there seemed no place for it but the net, yet it got the inside of the post, and instead of rebounding through it came back on to the prostate goalies body. This rebound would surely go through, but no, for Dawson exerted himself sufficiently to grasp the ball just as it was crossing the line. Dawson had several other great saves, one especially from Bain being superlative, but it was not in goalkeeping that Dawson won the tie for Rangers. He won it on another way. I will explain. Midway in the second portion of extra time the teams stood a corner-kick apiece. A boring run by Bain presented McLennan with a chance of shooting, which he promptly accepted, but his shot went at a tangent off Grays body and was crossing the bye-line for a corner midway between the goalpost and the corner flag. Dawson realised the value of that probable corner, and he rushed along the bye-line and got his foot to the ball just as it was rolling over. So, you see how nearly Rangers came to losing, though the score-sheet shows three corners in their favour. The ninety-minute corners would not have counted had Thistle got the odd one here. Rangers would have had little to grumble about had Thistle won. The Ibrox squad opened in championship form and made the opposition look rather cheap with their masterful movements. Thistle had to live that down, and live it down they did, for never afterwards were Rangers other than a struggling team. Thistle appear to have made a capture in Neish. I saw him in his trial game against Queens Park on Tuesday and formed the opinion that he knew the game. Here he confirmed my view, and a continuance of this form will make him a very interesting player. Miller is another fine Firhill asset. He has improved a hundred per cent over the season and should be in the first flight next term. Another promising Thistle recruit is Baigrie, who has great running powers and a fine urge ahead. Wylie missed perhaps the best chance, and Bain was rather in and out, though his shooting was worthy of at least a couple of goals.
