HLI Chronicle 1907 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

FOOTBALL.
BERWICK ~ANGERS v. 2ND H.L.I.
Three o'clock on Saturday, the 20th October,
saw the above teams facing each other in a
friendly match at Tweedmout~. T·he Rangers
is an old constituted team, and are general
favourites in the south of Scotland, as was
evidenced by the 700 or 800 enthusiastic.
Bupporters who passed the stiles on Saturday
to witness what proved to be a very fast and
intereating game. .
"'~.. In less than fifteen minutes from the start
t1liI:soldiers had piled on a couple of goals,
wli'J64 ,lIlade matters look rather blue for the
Rangers, and shortly afterwards (unfortunately
for the visitors) Neil got his leg so severely
damaged that he had to leave the field.
Notwithstanding this accident, which was
little 'short of a calamity, the" Jocks " played
up pluckily-playing more of a defensive
.than an attacking game.
The Rangers, however, had now slightly
the best of the play, and by. the time the
half-time whistle sounded had scored a goaL
The game now stood-H.L.I., 2; Rangers, 1.
On resuming play the home team at once
assumed the aggressive, and had it not been
for the splendid defence of Logan and Reilly,
not to mention some really difficult shots
saved by Rae, we might have suffered ~ defeat
by a larger margin than we did. As it was,
the Rangers managed another couple of goals .
in ·the second half, and so the game finished­
Berwick Rangers, 3; H.L.I., 2.
To sum up the game briefly, I think the
unanimous opinion of the spectators was that
a different score would have resulted had we
not been so unfortunate as to loose Piper Neil
so early in the game. His absence from his
place in the half-back line was undoubtedly a
big handicap, and one which somewhat marred
the excellence of the combination of our team.
. In Spencer the Rangers have a ripping good
custodian. He saved the situation on Saturday
in successfully defending his goal (except
on two occasions) against a perfect bombardment
in the first half of the game. Young,
alert, and skilful alike in the use of his head,
hands, or feet, he has a bright football future
before him. .
Our front line worked well together, although
their shooting was a bit faulty during the
second half, there was just that amount of
dash in Baillie and Blaikie's play as made
them perhaps a little more conspicuous than
the remainder of the forwards. Thehalf-back
line also played well; but the most of the
work fell to the backs and the goalkeeper, who
responded to the extra pressure splendidly,
occasioned by Neil's accident. The teams
were represented as follows :­
BERWICK RANGERS-Spencer (goal); Hope
and Paterson (backs); Bruce, Roughead, and
Howe (half-backs); Moncrieff, Jones, Drys.
dale, Weatherhead, and Scroggie (forwards).
H.L.I.-Rae (goal); Logan and Reilly
(backs); Roberts, Neil, and Johnstone
(half-backs) ; M'Donald, Lambert, Blaikie,
M'Menemy, and Baillie (forwards).
H.L.I. "A" TEAM V. NORTHERN SWIFTS.
TEAMS.-H.L.I. " A" TEAM-Evans (goal) ;
Morrison and Elder (backs); Campbell, Collins,
and Jamieson (half-backs); Kirkland,
M'Kechnie, Doherty, Patterson, and Eddison
(forwards). NORTHERN SWIFTS Buchanan
(goal); Murray and Lister (backs); Steel,
Mason, and Freeman (half-backs); Notman,
Munro, Byars, Little, and Meikle (forwards).
The above teams met at Powderhall on
Tuesday, 23rd October, to contest a friendly
match. From start to finish the soldiers did
all the pressing, the ball seldom travelling into
their territory. So unevenly matched were
the teams that the game lacked all interest.
The Swifts were outplayed at every turn.
After an hour-and-a-haH's play the game
ended with the scores standing-H.L.I., 8
goals; Northern Swifts, 2 goals.
1ST ROUND OF THE ARMY CUP.
2ND H.L.L v. R.G.A., LEITH FORT.
Played at Powderhall on Friday, 2nd
November, 1906, in anything but ideal football
weather. The rain scarcely ceased-even for
a brief spell-during the entire day. '
This rendered scientific football almost an
impossibility, and yet the two or three hundred
who braved the elements to witness this
match were rewarded by seeing some really
clever work. The Gunners were the hot
favourites at the start, 3 to 1 being freely
offered in their favour, while some (to their
sorrow) even offered as large odds as 20 to L
The R.G.A. had been running strong from
. the start of the season, meeting and defeating
some of the best junior teams in the East of
Scotland. Their record for the season is
really a good one, and therefore it is small
wonder that their supporters had such strong
Jaith in them. This faith,· however, has received
such a shock that it will take some