Muirhead 15
Morgan 35
A Morton 79
Match Information
Attendance: 69,272
Referee: William Bell (Motherwell)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
Rangers yesterday definitely proved that they have lost their traditional Cup-tie nervousness, for St Mirren put up just the fight that in the past has been responsible for their cup undoing. However, instead of cracking up when the Saints scored their two sensational goals just before the interval, they strove on for nearly half an hour of the second period is a heroic endeavour to pull their forces together – and succeeded. It was a test that proved their mettle. Once they got on level terms, they played better football than ever, and in the end ran out good winners. While Rangers must get great praise for their gallant fight, plucky St Mirren must not be forgotten. They rose above themselves in a memorable clash and were perhaps just a shade unlucky not to force a replay. The Paisley defence has rarely done better. The half-back line as a whole, and Fotheringham in goal, stood out as stars. But the others were good too, and there was not a man in the elven who did not pull his weight. In the first half, when Rangers had to fight against the wind, St Mirren had much the better of the exchanges. The goal scored by Muirhead should have been avoided. Findlay was too late with his clearance. From then on until the half-time whistle the Black and White were busy, and when Morgan and then Rankine scored, they were deserved on play. Both were beautifully-taken goals, and both were inspired by Morgan, a Cup-fighting expect if ever there was one. With a quarter-of-an-hour gone, I started to look for signs of panic in the Rangers’ ranks, but they never appeared. Instead, the Rangers’ machine gradually warmed up and in twenty-two minutes Archibald dispelled for all time the thought of anything worse than a replay. St Mirren were again a shade unlucky here. Lilley’s foot just turned Archibald’s shot sufficiently to beat Fotheringham. Then we saw the rampant Rangers. Morton made sure of victory, and there were other occasions when they should have scored more. For the winners, who played a great Cup-tie, without giving anything like their best display of football, Archibald, Buchanan, Bob Hamilton, Fleming and Muirhead were the brightest sparks. Tom Hamilton in goal was not always at home with the St Mirren sharp-shooters and might have avoided the first goal scored against him. Gray and his partner were not too sound when up against the breeze but improved in the second half. Meiklejohn was hardly up to form in the pivotal position, but he was too busy watching McCrae to become a force in the game. The wing supports were good. Morton did not relish his task against the tearing Findlay, and his play suffered in consequence. McPhail was less in the limelight than usual, and the brunt of the attack fell to the right wing, where Archibald was in dandy fettle. He received good support from Fleming and Muirhead. The half-backs were the backbone of the Saints. I have never seen Walker to better advantage. But the other two were hot stuff. Walker’s passes to his forwards rarely went missing. In the front rank, Morgan and McCrae stood out. The winger for craft, and the centre for dash. Miller on the other wing was not so successful, but both Rankine and Gebbie pulled their weight. Findlay and Lilley both played sound hard games at back. I am giving the palm to Lilley, because he held Archibald, the star Ranger so successfully. The hero of the side, however, was Fotheringham, who never once put a wrong foot forward. He had no chance with the goals scored against him and saved many more that looked very like ‘certs’. St Mirren won the toss, and taking full advantage of the westerly breeze, bore down upon the Rangers’ defence. Meiklejohn yielded an early corner, which caused some bother, but a foul against Fleming caused temporary relief. But it was not for long. McCrae dashed down the left, with Meiklejohn in close attendance, and with a grand shot hit the outside of one of the uprights. Findlay and Fleming were implicated in a fierce tackle, in which the Ranger was injured. The crowd resented the Paisley player’s action, although it must be said that Findlay attempted to play the ball and missed. Rangers’ first real burst of sustained play came after ten minutes. Archibald and Morton swung two perfect crosses into the middle, and the later Saints were unable to get away, after three unsuccessful attempts to clear, Muirhead came up and skelped it into the back of the net from close range. This goal did Rangers an immensity of good and steadied their forces. St Mirren, however, kept up their attack, and except for two quick raids by Fleming, little was seen of Rangers’ attack. McCrae had another grand attempt with his head from a Morgan cross, the effort being just inches wide. More temperature amongst crowd and players again developed when Findlay brought down Morton, but it quickly died down, and we were treated to a rare duel on the other side of the field between Lilley and Archibald. The Paisley back showed great tenacity in checking the Rangers’ right winger. Saints had been having an off spell during these happenings, but a corner given away by Meiklejohn in a pass back to the keeper set them going again, and Gebbie turned in a likely shot that the wind carried over the bar. St Mirren’s pressure deserved some reward. The policy of Walker and his half-backs in giving McCrae as much of the ball as possible paid in the end. With seven minutes of the half to go, the centre broke away, transferred to Miller, and in turn received the ball back. Without hesitation he slipped it into the goalmouth and Morgan dashing in beat T Hamilton for the ball and slammed it into the net. And in the space of four minutes St Mirren’s Cup stock went up with a bang. Just before the interval, Morgan sent the right wing off, and Gebbie swung the ball into the goalmouth, where Rankin was up to head it home. One down, Rangers put in a valiant finish to the half, and Fotheringham brought off a grand save from McPhail. Thus finished a pulsating first half, in which Saints just merited their narrow lead. The second half saw Rangers put in a might effort to get again on level terms. I thought Referee Bell made a mistake in penalising McCrae and then sending him to fetch the ball he had kicked away. St Mirren stood up to Rangers’ onslaughts nobly, and at length raised the siege, and Morgan tried hard to turn a difficult chance into a goal. McPhail next had a pop, and then McCrae went off on another of his solo runs. The backs gave him no rope, however, and his shot went high over. Rangers’ best attempts came from Archibald. His right foot was in deadly form, and Fotheringham was fully stretched in getting down to one and putting it away for a corner. This and another corner were successfully negotiated by the Saints before they got relief. This came in the shape of another run by McCrae. The centre slammed it into the goalmouth, but Hamilton saved cleverly. Rankine then gave Morgan an open goal to fire at, and the winger’s shot was right on the mark, but Hamilton was there to bring off a five save. Rangers retaliated strongly and in a concerted raid upon Fotheringham Morton hooked in a left-footer which Fotheringham saved in grand style. With twenty-two minutes gone Rangers equalised. Archibald received possession beat off Lilley and shot. The ball touched Lilley’s toe on its wat in and this deceived Fotheringham, who just failed to grip the leather. Immediately after the score Rangers were attacking again. Fotheringham got a mighty cheer for stopping a Muirhead pile-driver. St Mirren’s defence was, however, doing heroically, but they should have been beaten again a few minutes later, when Muirhead hit the upright and then headed over when he had not even the keeper to beat. With twelve minutes to go more clever play by Archibald put Rangers on the lead. The winger did a mazy run-down field, and his centre went to the unmarked Morton, who beat Fotheringham all the way with a rocket shot. Muirhead just missed a further score when all, but three minutes remained. Fleming engineered a glorious opening, but Tommy’s shot went just wide of the mark.
