R. Calderwood (Cartvale).
In consequence of Mr. R. M. Christie, who had played in the International, of the previous year, meeting with an accident in one of the trial matches, Mr. Calderwood did duty as left-wing forward in this match, and played very creditably. He was by far the best man in the young Cartvale, and a finer country player never came under the eye of an International referee. He was a veritable dodger among the opposing backs, and in this contest gave the Englishmen, but more particularly the Walters and Amos, a lot of trouble. He played a fine game in combination with the rest of the Scottish forwards. In the same season Mr. Calderwood played against Wales in the Principality.
The Final Association Cup Tie of 1886.
The clubs left in the final tie for possession of the Blue Ribbon of Association football glory in this season were the Queen's Park and Renton. Queen's Park led off by scoring from the foot of Mr. Lambie, and this was all the effective work till ends were changed, when the Renton team made a brilliant charge on the Queen's Park goal, and forced the ball through in a scrimmage. The play immediately after this was so even that a draw looked certain, but the Queen's Park eventually assumed command, and scored other two goals (one by Mr. Hamilton and another by Mr. Allan), and won a hard contest by three goals to one. As most of the Renton players who took part in the match were considered famous in their day, and have not been already introduced to you, I shall give short sketches of their style of play. So far as the Queen's Park team are concerned, however, I have only to deal with new faces in Messrs. R. M. Christie, G. Somerville, and J. A. Lambie, as all the other eight (Messrs. Campbell, Watson, Gow, Harrower, Hamilton, Arnott, Allan, and Gillespie) have already been disposed of in the present volume.
J. A. Lindsay.
Somehow or other the Renton Club were never very strong in goalkeeping when the perfect form of their forward division was taken into account, but Mr. J. A. Lindsay was decidedly their best. He had what might be called his good and bad days, however, and while he was always clever with his feet, he sometimes misjudged the ball and allowed a "soft thing" to take effect. In the present contest he had hot work in keeping the Q.P. forwards clear. Mr. Lindsay showed such brilliant form in the trial matches of 1888 that he was chosen to represent Scotland on Hampden Park. He was somewhat unfortunate there, however, as England revenged Bannockburn to the extent of five goals to none.
A. Hannah.
Who does not remember Mr. Hannah's fine fly-kick and powerful tackling? In meeting and judging the ball in the air he rivalled the great Q.P. back himself, but wanted the ability to follow up an advantage. In nearly all the matches in which he took part that season, Hannah worked hard and earnest. He had a peculiar way of turning round to an opponent and taking the ball away from him with the side of the foot, and no man in the Renton team was more feared by an opponent than Hannah. He never played against England, but in 1888 was picked out to represent Scotland against Wales.
A. M'Call.
In this tie Mr. Hannah had as his companion at extreme back Mr. A. M'Call. In some of the earlier matches in which the latter appeared he was a wild tackler and erratic in charging—rather going for the man, and never minding the ball—but by and by he mellowed down, and returned the leather beautifully from a besieged goal. I remember seeing him in several of the leading games that same year, and he showed a neatness of style which won for him golden opinions. He played against Ireland in 1888.