3rd Jan 1938 Rangers 1 Partick Thistle 3 (SFL First Division - game 21)

matches:1937-38: ← 24game 2526 →

Match Information

			Bill Struth		Donald Turner			56y, 11m, 3d
					Charlie Busby
					James Douglas
Robert Harrison (3-1, 86 mins)					John Wallace (1-0, 37 mins); Peter McKennan (2-0, pen 57 mins); David Alston (3-0, 61 mins)
			George Jenkins		Bobby Johnstone			26y, 1m, 28d
			John Drysdale		Peter Curran
			Whitey McDonald		Jimmy Stewart
			Tom McKillop		Alex Elliott			32y, 11m, 24d
			Jimmy Simpson		George Sutherland			23y, 2m, 29d
			George Brown		Charlie Busby			22y, 0m, 28d
			Willie Thornton		David Alston			23y, 7m, 10d
			Alex Venters		Peter McKennan			19y, 5m, 18d
			Jimmy Smith		John Wallace			21y, 4m, 0d
			Robert Harrison		James Williamson
			John Reid		Sammy Picken			17y, 7m, 21d
								23y, 3m, 25d

Match Report

TTA report

“McKennan and Williamson brilliant” (SC). Thistle's 4th league win at Ibrox in 39 matches began when Williamson pounced on a defensive blunder (37). McKennan scored from the spot (57) and Alston (61) made it 3-0 before Rangers scored (86) then Johnstone saved a pen in the last minute.

Who put the ball in the Rangers net?

Peter featured at #16 in our Top 25 countdown here on The Thistle Archive →

PETER McKENNAN

03.01.1938 Rangers [a] W3-1 (SFL First Division - game 21)
John Wallace (1-0, 37 mins); Peter McKennan (2-0, pen 57 mins); David Alston (3-0, 61 mins)

Ma Ba’ McKennan, a dazzling inside forward, was a true darling of the Firhill faithful who, with one dip of the shoulder, could send an entire backline the wrong way and, as the auld boys of Maryhill would say, “could beat three men on a tanner”. These skills, together with the bullet-shot in his armoury, combined to make him an opponent to be feared by any club, statistically verifiable by his final tally of 114 goals which, considering there were 13 clubs on his CV, was highly impressive. He was in his Thistle prime in the pre-war years of the 1930s, emerging as a teenage sensation by bagging multiple goals against both halves of the Old Firm.

Indeed, I could just as easily have picked a Ma Ba’ special from the Glasgow Cup Final of October 1936, a 2-2 draw at Ibrox (tut, so much for neutrality), on the grounds that Peter was just turned 18 at the time. However, we don’t get too many League wins in Govan, so my eyes are more inclined to focus on our visit there on holiday Monday, 3rd January, 1938.

19-year-old McKennan was described as brilliant on the day, constantly unlocking the Rangers defence, and Partick Thistle were described as “superior to the champions in almost every department”. Such was the siege upon the Rangers goal that panic set in, manifest in the pathetic attempt of their left-back, Robert McDonald, to fist away a net-bound shot, mid-way through the second half. Justice was done when Ma Ba’ converted the penalty kick to put Thistle 2 nil up. A late consolation goal for the home side gave the scoreline an unrealistic air of respectability; Rangers 1 Partick Thistle 3.

Some years later, fleets of coaches left Partick and Maryhill to watch Peter play for his new club, West Brom, when they played a friendly at Love Street in 1947. Such was the long-held Jaggy devotion to MA BA, Bachelor of the footballing arts.

Stats Watch

ongoing sequences:

● 24 consecutive competitive appearances for Jimmy Stewart, 21st Aug 1937 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Alex McSpadyen - 26 games, 21st Apr 1937 to 4th Dec 1937. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

Stats Watch adheres to our stated definitions of League, League Max, Major Competitive, Competitive or All Games. Where there is no written qualification, you should presume that the Stat in question is compiled from the All Games criteria.

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