THE SCOTSMAN - Monday 25 October, 1954

First Major Trophy Win for 48 Years

Hearts’ Great Victory

BY OUR FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT

The long wait is over for Heart of Midlothian.

For 48 years they have striven to emulate the occasion of 1906, when the Scottish Cup was won at Ibrox .Now their name goes on the Scottish League Cup, their first major trophy win since then.

They defeated Motherwell by 4 goals to 2 at Hampden Stadium.

Glasgow, on Saturday, and let it be said right away that victory was merited.

The Lanarkshire side fought to the final whistle—they got their second goal in the dying seconds of the game but despite their great spirit, they never matched the constructive efforts of their opponents.

Not that Hearts were the perfect combine They had their sticky spells and for a period in the second had were hard pressed to retain their advantage Fortunately for them the defence held out.

It was then that we saw Duff make some spectacular saves when the eager Motherwell forwards swarmed in on goal.

Parker, too, played a heroic part ably aided by Mackenzie who had been pronounced fit to play just before the kick off.

That was the testing period.

Hearts did not fail.

But it was a team victory.

Glidden, after a few early mistakes, settled down to a fame of steady endeavour, and his policing of Bain did much to blunt the spearhead of the Motherwell attack.

Mackay, I reckoned, took the half-back honours.

That view was shared by many; but Cumming, if in quieter vein, lost nothing in effectiveness.

The three goals scored by Bauld made him the star of the day.

Though sustaining a thigh injury early in the second half, the centre was never subdued, and his third goal, a header, was as good an effort as any produced in the game.

WING MEN ON FORM

The Hearts wing men had a fine day and it was from the service of Souness on the right that two of the goals came.

Urquhart and Wardhaugh demonstrated again that their left wing partnership is as good as anything in the country at the moment, a fact no doubt noted by the S.F.A.

selectors present.

To complete a good forward line was the tireless work put in by Conn.

The losers also had their personalities.

Weir had little chance with the goals, but the absence of Shaw was a big handicap. McSeveney, who deputised, never seemed to get on top of his job.

Redpath did his best to cover up and thereby sacrificed much of his attacking ability, though the left-half was by no means a failure.

Cox, the former Hearts player, was Motherwell’s best half-back.

Paton was too casual, an attitude which on occasion caused trouble to the defence.

Humphries and Aitken, the inside forwards with Bain an alert centre, tried hard to swing the game in their favour, but did not get the proper backing from the wing men.

Hearts were two goals up in 16 minutes, both of them scored by Bauld.

Paton slipped in going to intercept Souness, and the winger’s cross was headed home by the centre.

His second score, from a pass by Conn, was a model of quick thinking.

The ball was switched from one foot to the other, two defenders were beaten, and the final shot was beautifully placed in the net.

Redpath reduce the deficit by scoring from a penalty, given when Conn upended Humphries, but just on the interval Wardhaugh had restored the advantage.

His goal, a header, came from another Souness cross into the middle.

A storming finish brought two more goals in the last three minutes.

Bauld got his third of the game by heading home a pass from Wardhaugh, with Bain scoring for Motherwell just before the whistle.

The crowd of 55,640 was bigger than anticipated.

At the start, the estimate was about 30,000.

The earlier kick-off, to allow for extra time if necessary, had apparently not been noted by many.

When the game began spectators were still streaming into the ground.

While their townsmen were winning the League Cup, Hibernians, also playing in Glasgow, were being well beaten by Clyde at Shawfield.

Large Crowds Greet Hearts in Edinburgh

Heart of Midlothian received a great welcome on their return to Edinburgh on Saturday night.

Outside the North British Hotel, where a celebration dinner had been arranged, several thousand people jammed the pavements, and when the buses carrying the team and officials arrived the crowd surged forward, completely blocking Princes Street.

The police had difficulty in clearing a way for the buses, and there was little more than a foot-wide corridor into the hotel, through which the players had to pass.

Some women and children, frightened as the crowd surged forward, had to take refuge on the hotel steps, and one woman who had fainted was carried inside.

On alighting from their bus the players, led by Parker, the captain, carrying the cup above his head, had to fight their way into the hotel.

They seemed to be overwhelmed at the magnitude of their reception, and some were alomst overcome with emotion.

Over an hour after the team had entered the hotel, several hundred supporters still lined the pavement on the north side of the street, chanting appeals for the players to make an appearance.

Shortly before midnight, a small band were patiently waiting in the hope of seeing members of the team.

Throughout the evening many telegrams of congratulations arrived at the hotel for players and officials.

At Hampden, too, there were unprecedented scenes of enthusiasm.

When the referee blew the whistle for full time, three or four thousand Hearts supporters invaded the pitch and surrounded the Tynecastle players.

It took some of the players five minutes to get off the field.

The official Hearts party, in four buses, was escorted from Hampden to the Glasgow boundary by police motor cyclists.

At Corstorphine, two police cars met the convoy and escorted it through Edinburgh.

About an hour before the players were due to arrive groups of people were congregating along the route.

As they waited the good humoured crowd cheered every vehicle that passed, There was no discrimination.

Double-decked Corporation buses, which had been no nearer Hampden than the city boundary and private cars were all given a rousing cheer.

When the bus carrying the team arrived, flags, bunting and scarves were waved, fireworks set off and bugles and rattles sounded.

People left bars and restaurants to cheer the team, and hundreds watched from open windows.

Only on Royal visits to the city have similar scenes been witnessed.