Walker 15
Red Cards
Stevenson sent off 85
Match Information
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: A McMahon (Motherwell)
Matchday: Saturday
Match Trivia
They make bobbins and thread in Paisley. Yesterday they made sair he’rts in Govan – where they used to make ships. The rangers went to Love Street, did their best and lost. The game was worth watching. From start to finish it was interesting. At times it was tousy, and when I say tousy it was just that tousiness which is permissible in our sport. Unfortunately, according to the referee, there was an indiscretion. The referee was the judge – Stevenson, the Saint and the victim. In a way the game reminded me of the Scottish Cup Final of last season. Rangers had a goal scored against them; they could never recover from that. When they were down yesterday, they never seemed able to rise above their adversity. The Rangers will be asked – Where did they fail? That can be answered. Once the Rangers players – those of them who think they can win anywhere – learn that there is something to fight for then they will win. Rangers were beaten by themselves. Robb lost a goal which might have been saved, and the same fellow has saved goals which might have been lost many a time. On the other side we had brilliant saving by John Bradford. He defied the Rangers. Even Arthur Dixon, that daring goal-getter, gave him ‘shivers.’ The St Mirren backs were inspired. They did all that was asked of them. That boy Findlay seems to know Alan Morton. Hamilton did his part well. What a wonderful pair of 20-year-olds these are! And that’s saying nothing against Manderson and McCandless, who are playing at their best just now. For once in a while, Rangers were weak at half-back. No one equalled Summers in generalship. The cleverest of the lot – might I say the most promising – was Clunas. The Rangers’ lot tried – that was all. When I come to the attacking forces little can be said commendatory. The forwards seemed to be tied by their half-backs, and the half-backs were not clever. Archibald sent sufficient balls over to win a game. Cunningham supported him very well. The other trio were not happy. St Mirren’s best forwards were Gillies and Stevenson. The others didn’t do badly. Right off Rangers attacked, and just as Cunningham was going through, he was brought down by Summers – quite an accidental tackle – but the referee gave a ick against the St Mirren man. Cunningham sent the ball in fast, but Bradford gathered it at a second attempt and cleared. The St Mirren goal was in danger for a moment or two, and Findlay twice came to the rescue with resolute tackles when Morton endeavoured to get through. Another foul on the penalty line placed the Saint’s goal in danger again, but once more the defence stood up manfully. St Mirren came into the game, and it must have been annoying to the Paisley people to see Summers and Duff place free kicks so badly as they did. Summers, playing grand aggressive football, overdid the business a little, and having beaten two opponents he fell at the third. Fifteen minutes from the start St Mirren opened the scoring. The ball was sent out to Thomson from Duff. It came awkwardly to the outside left, who did all he could do by lofting the ball into the middle. Robb came out to get it, let it fall from his hands, and Walker chipped in to score. Then we saw the desperate Rangers. The Light Blue were playing badly at the time, and now nothing was going right for them it was their own fault. Henderson got a pass from Alan Morton which was knee high. He drove first time and the ball just grazed the bar. A very good try indeed. Magnificent play by Archibald, in which he carried the ball along past all the opponents on his side of the field, led to him laying the ball at Cunningham’s feet. The inside right made no mistake with his shot, but up popped Bradford, who finished a movement which was decidedly creditable to attackers and defenders alike. Hamilton had the Rangers’ right wing well measured, but he had no need to do a little trick on the ground when he and Archibald fell together. Cunningham had another great try, and then Stevenson was injured in a tackle by Muirhead. Muirhead and Walker came to loggerheads; then Findlay and Morton were at one another. Worse than all, Cairns got into Bradford, and the goalkeeper retaliated. The referee was having a busy time. The resuming period saw the Saints attacking, but not for long. Rangers, with the losing of the points in view, went hammer and tongs to get the equaliser. They came near it. Bradford beat them. His saving was marvellous. He handled a shot from Archibald, that seemed to be beating him, with ease. On one occasion he went out to anticipate a Morton drive and got there. Stevenson was sent off. St Mirren played better than ever afterwards. Robb was not his usual self. He fumbled again, and Rangers were not comfortable as the game proceeded. The bogey of defeat seemed to hang over them – they could do nothing right.
