Scottish Cup Match Reports

This page  will eventually chronicle every Scottish Cup tie played by Rothes FC and is also intended to be a record of those players who have represented Rothes in Scotland's most prestigious cup tournament.

"Although down 4-1 at half-time, the visitors never gave up, and when the Caley centre half, Macfadyen, sustained an injury and moved to the left wing, Rothes staged a comeback, and had Caley's reshuffled defence worried for a time."

Caley were three up after half an hour, Mackenzie, Main and Macfarlane being the scorers, and when Mackay reduced the leeway, Macfarlane added another goal for Caley before the interval. Forrest and Mackenzie put Caley further ahead in the second half, but Rothes replied with goals from Eric Cormack and Gordon Geddes. Before the end, Geddes got Caley's seventh goal when a fierce drive from Baillie rebounded from the crossbar. 

Defensive dominance
"Much of the game's lack of colour arose from the dominating influence  the respective defences exercised on the play, although it would be idle to deny that frequently their work appeared better than it was, due to weaknesses among the opposing forwards.  As far as the homesters were concerned, the defence was again much the stronger department of the side."

Players
"Home goalkeeper Norman Cook had a considerably busier time than has been his lot of late, but he was found equal to all occasions and could not be faulted for the loss of that second half goal which did so much to raise Rothes morale. Veteran Jim Leask at right back, centre half John Dutch and right half Jimmy Thain were all in the four-star category, while Bobby Jeffrey at left half  after a lengthy absence on the injury list, again showed his old power and strength, although he was obviously not yet tuned p to full fighting pitch.

"The same complimentary reports cannot be made of the attack, however. Most glaring weakness was at outside right where Danny Fearns had a game he will want to forget in a hurry. Many promising moves, especially in the second half, petered out through the winger's atrocious finishing, even when given a clear field, and his apparent inability to cross a ball. 

Readers of the Bannfshire Advertiser were advised that the extensive injury list had dictated the playing of Alex. Stewart at centre forward and Jimmy McIntyre at inside left and "although both tried very hard indeed" they did not have the effectiveness they have as left winger and centre forward respectively. Buchan was the best of the quintette, while left winger Allan, whose style is more suited to the role of defender, did all that was asked of him."

"The main strength of the Rothes team lay in their mid-line of Allan, McFadyen and McCluskey, who worked throughout like trojans. defending with great tenacity and still finding time to engineer raids. Eric Cormack, a former Buckie player, was the more consistent of the two backs while McGillivray in goal was a most competent last line of defence. Of the forwards, the brightest performance was given by another former Buckie player, centre forward Alex. Mackay, who constituted the only real threat to the Buckie goal. 

"Wingers Willie Forsyth (another ex-Buckie Thistle man) and Johnny Logie occasionally flashed into prominence but for the most part they were well held by Leask and Reid. McLeod was the more conspicuous of the two Rothes inside men.

Match report
Rothes made all the running in the opening exchanges and it was much against the run of play when Buckie took the lead in the ninth meeting. Rothes' Eric Cormack nudged Stewart off the ball as the Buckie Thistle centre was boring through in a breakaway and from the penalty spot Martin Buchan gave McGillivray no chance. Still the visitors forced the pace but for all their activity they were not nearly so dangerous at close quarters as the home forwards were in their much less numerous appearances at the other end.

After the Rothes goal experienced two narrow escapes at the hands of Fearns and Allan, Buckie's Alex. Stewart intercepted the ball two  minutes from the interval after some neat work by Allan on the left wing and increase the home lead with a beautiful grounder to the far corner of the net.

Buckie's raids were building up quite nicely in the second half when suddenly in the 57th minute the Speysiders snatched a goal. Rhind lying a few yards out drove a low shot through a forest of legs in the Buckie goalmouth and had the good fortune to see the ball deflected into the net by Leask. 

This goal gave the visitors all the incentive they needed and, but for some fine defensive work by Dutch & Co., Buckie's position was in danger of deteriorating. The period of uncertainty passed and soon the home forwards were piercing the Rothes defence again.  Many chances were ruined, however, through weak and ineffective finishing, particularly on the right wing through which Buckie poured most of their attacks.   

Buckie Thistle: Cook; Leask and Reid; Thain, Dutch and Jeffrey; Fearns, Buchan, Stewart, McIntyre and Allan.
Rothes: McGillivray: Eric Cormack and Willie Pirie; Joe Allan, Billy McFadyen and Jimmy McCluskey; Forsyth, McLeod, Rhind and Logie.

The Maroons should qualify easily for the third round, but the tie is not one liable to attract a large ‘gate’. By taking part in the first round against Rothes, they had to postpone their local ‘derby’ in the League against Dundee United. For the second round tie they have to postpone another ‘derby’ against Forfar Athletic, and they must face the prospect of a poor financial return. The remark made by Mr. H. S. Nelson, chairman of Arbroath (and future President of the Scottish Football Association), as the teams came off the field last Saturday was this: “It only proved we shouldn’t have to play in this stage of the Scottish Cup.”

Although Arbroath were not at full strength, they were not stretched by Rothes at any moment. Several players nursing injuries from the (previous week's) League Cup ties with Dundee United took the ninety minutes quietly. McLevy was at left half in place of McKenzie.

The ‘Red Lichties’ did not have to sparkle. They sauntered through the tie. The only question in the second half was how many goals each forward would score. It was obvious that the endeavour was to give a double to every one of them.  Rothes were a gallant side. They never gave in and tried hard, but they lacked experience and were completely outclassed. Their display was sporting. There was little cup-tie fervour. Fouls were few and obviously unintentional.

All the Arbroath forwards scored, centre forward Frank McGrory being content with a ‘hat-trick’. In the second half the home side slackened off after having made sure of a double figure total. In Arbroath’s front line, Sharp and McGrory were best. McGrory was speedy, alert and quick in finishing, using either foot readily. But against such unimpressive opposition it would be unfair to single out any particular players. At times the game was more like a friendly trial rather than a cup-tie.   

Rothes had no sharp-shooters, and in defence their best man was the goalkeeper, Farquhar. It was no fault of this young lad that Arbroath netted ten. He denied the “Maroons’ a much larger ‘bag’. Towards the end he had the Gayfield fans rooting for him, and when he came off the field he got a special cheer to himself.

In the second half Arbroath right back Sandy Milne went to centre half, switching positions with Chris Anderson. It was an experiment for future League games. Milne shaped well as a pivot, but was not seriously tested.

The goals
The spectators lost count of the goals. Here they are:
Five minutes – Kirkwood, with a low drive to the corner of the net.
Seven minutes – McGrory, after a solo dash through the middle.
Nineteen minutes - Sharp, a lob from the wing being misjudged by the 'keeper who helped it into the net.
Twenty-three minutes – McGrory, with a typical thunderbolt following a corner.
Thirty minutes - McGrory, by heading home a flag kick from Sharp.
Forty minutes - Tough, for Rothes, with a 12-yard drive in a defensive mix-up when Anderson slipped.
Forty-three minutes -Vandermotten, with a flying header to a cross from Sharp
This made the half-time score 6-I.
Fifty-one minutes - Vandermotten, by netting the rebound when McCrory headed against the post.
Fifty-six minutes – Gunn, from close in off a cross by Sharp.
Seventy-five minutes – Sutherland, for Rothes, after going to centre forward, when Williamson clutched his shot, but allowed it, to slip through his hands.
Eighty minutes – Sharp, after a solo dash.
Eighty-eight minutes – Kirkwood, with a neat shot after several earlier attempts by acrobatic headers to get his second goal had been cleared.

The attendance was 2.693, the gross drawings being £207 2s 9d (gate £184 1s 6d, stands £23 1s 3d).
Teams: Arbroath Williamson; Milne, Gray; Rattray, Anderson, McLevy; Gunn, Kirkwood, McGrory, Vandermotten, Sharp.
Rothes--Farquhar; Pirie, Allan; Geddes, Macfadyen, Gardiner; Sutherland, Tough, Mackay, Grant, McCluskey.
Referee – Mr. Graham, Dundee.

A second opinion
The report in the Northern Scot was limited to one paragraph: "The score tells the story. In this instance, Rothes found the difference between the standard of Highland League and Scottish League Division "A" football too great to overcome, in spite of a plucky fight. From the first whistle Rothes were outpaced and outplayed, and once Arbroath found the net it was only a question of what their final tally would be."