Hibs 2, Rangers 1: April 9, 1958

'Hibs gave an exhibition over the 90 minutes of cool football which fully earned them their place in the final'

The result took Hibs through to another encounter at Hampden, this time against Clyde.

It was a case of fortune favouring the brave was no discredit to Hibs, for, although they were sorely up against it in the closing stages in the face of some concerted pressure from Rangers, the Edinburgh outfit gave an exhibition over the 90 minutes of cool and determined football which fully earned them their place in the final.

The Light Blues got off to a rousing start, settling down almost at once to a most effective understanding between half-backs and forwards, which made one feel that Hibs would not have a real interest in the game for long.

Wing-halfs Ian McColl and Sammy Baird were spraying out perfect passes; inside trio Max Millar, Jimmy Murray and Ralph Brand were chasing everything, and Davie Wilson was slipping down the wing and popping ball after ball into the middle.

The Edinburgh defence certainly had their anxious moments, but they settled down grimly to the task of taking the sting out of the rampant Ibrox forward five and giving their own front line a chance to get goals.

When the Rangers rear division got their first real taste of trouble, Billy Ritchie, as the result of a mistimed header by Telfer, was flustered into a foul on Joe Baker.

Skipper Eddie Turnbull, pictured above, must have had no illusions as to the weight of responsibility on his shoulders as he elected to take the spot-kick, placing the ball very coolly indeed into the back of the net and sparking scenes of joy among the Edinburgh contingent who had travelled to the national stadium.

Coolness indeed from the man who would go on to manage Hibs in their glory era of Turnbull's Tornadoes in the 1970s.

The men from the Capital seemed to take their cue from this and they kept the emphasis on football as Rangers pulled out every trick in the book to try and get the better of Lawrie Leslie.

Just after the interval, Aitken powered his way through for a shot after a poor clearance by Shearer, and John Fraser was on hand to put Hibs two ahead as the ball glanced to him off Ritchie's leg.

But Rangers pulled one back when Baird emulated Turnbull by slamming a morale-restoring penalty into the net after John Paterson and John Grant had become involved with Brand.

This saw Rangers force themselves right back into the game.

The Edinburgh defence got a real roasting in the closing stages, but although there were near things galore, they never faltered, apart from once when Paterson very nearly gifted the Ibrox men an equaliser with a bad pass-back.

The end came for Rangers when Murray had a goal disallowed less than two minutes from time, with Brand adjudged by a linesman to have handled while challenging Leslie.

Hibs would go on to falter in the final, as they lost 1-0 to the Bully Wee, but nothing would detract from this memorable semi-final victory over Rangers.

Taken from the Scotsman