W Waddell 10
J Smith 12
Christie 71
Match Information
Attendance: 17,000
Referee: H Watson (Glasgow)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Probably the most uncharitable of the long series of Charity Cup matches. I mean from the spectators point of view. End of season was written over the whole proceedings. On this showing, I could bot but help ask myself, How did Rangers finish league champions with a lead of eleven points? And as for the Queens well, the Hampden stock will need to improve considerably if the Second League hurdle has to be cleared at anything like the first jump. Individually, mark you, these Amateurs were all right, but as a team oh, dear! Bad covering-up and faulty passing were the major faults. The latter cost them many a chance of scoring, and the former cost them a couple of goals. And thats how games are thrown away. Take Rangers goal. Waddell smacked in the first one from about twelve yards, where he was standing all on his lonesome. The movement leading up to the score saw a Fiddes lob drop in the goalmouth. Hamilton and Smith rose for the squirming ball together. The keeper found it too hot to handle, and the ball sclaffed out to the waiting Waddell. Less Than a couple of minutes elapsed before Rangers again exposed the covering-up weakness. This goal was almost a carbon copy of the first. Fiddes again it was who crossed. The ball dropped at the feet of Smith, who taking it on the turn, coolly piloted it into the net. Not a Queens man was within ten yards of him, yet it was so obvious this was where Fiddess cross was bound to land. Now I blame these two goals, coming so quickly and so closely and so easily for knocking the bottom out of the game. Rangers definitely slackened off, Queens didnt merely because their play could not have been any slacker. In Rangers case I had netter make an exception. I refer to Venters. Little Alec kept working away, probably because he doesnt know what it means to take it easy. Frankly, he was in a class by himself. His go-ahead tactics must have been a rare lesson to those Queens forwards who were trying to but goals on the never-never system. In bearing his man and trying to force things, Browning was the nearest approach to Venters. Yet here was the big difference. When the Ranger made a pass you could bet your life Waddell, Smith or Whoever it was meant for had to go for it. When Browning or any other of the Queens forwards made their pass, it always turned out that the colleague had to double back to get it. A little point perhaps yet maybe containing the secret of the difference between champions and relegationists. The second half saw a Queens revival. Rangers had lulled themselves into such easy-oasy tactics that they simply could not stir themselves to life again. Only themselves to blame that the Amateurs were now on top. And while Rangers were thus struggling, Queens scored. Wright dropped over a peach of a corner, Christie lying out on the right got his head to the ball and placed it into goal. It certainly looked a goalkeepers ball, but Jenkins stood firm and Browning judged the flight perfectly and his header glided gracefully into the air the far corner of the net. Only one goal in it now. I looked for fireworks from the Queens. All the gland treatment in the world are chickenfeed to the enthusiasm which a goal can give you. And Queens might have given us a sensation if only their finishing had been on a par with the way they now made openings. For instance, here was Browning shooting from 15 yards and actually smacking the corner flag. (Did I hear a Queens voice mutter, It was a goal!) In response to cries from the terracing to waken up. Rangers did come to a little. Smith got a ball in the net but used an arm in helping it over the line. When men get sleepy there ate never in the best of spirits, and thats probably what accounted for a display of temper at the close which could just as well have been done without. When the infirmaries call for more, its money they mean, not patients! I was seeing Queens new keeper for the first time and rather liked him. Full backs Shaw and Dickson were stout defenders. Herbert refused to lie down, and even in the closing minutes I could hear him trying to rally his mates. Woodburn and Cross were about on a par in the middle. Little I thought the most polished wing half, although he was not so very far ahead of Buchanan. As I have already said there was no one to compare with Venters. His partnership with Waddell, especially in the first half, was first class. Smith was his usual self. Fiddes and Thornton, while not so good as the left pair, were still ahead of anything Hampden could show. Browning and Cross were the workers. Kyle found a stumbling block in Woodburn. Wright was too dainty, and christie well, it just wasnt Davids day. Encouraged by the crowd, Shaw saw to that
