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The Blue Brazil Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame - The inductees
Games
1949 Rangers v Cowdenbeath (League Cup Quarter final)
On 17th September 1949, the teams took the field for a first leg League Cup quarter final tie in front of a 46,670 crowd at Ibrox Stadium. The Cowden side was: Moodie; Hamilton, Cameron; Menzies, Holland, Durie; McGurn, Mackie, Armstrong, Reid and Dick. Rangers had eight internationalists in their line-up. Rangers started the game looking as though they would brush aside the Cowdenbeath challenge forcing three corners in the opening three minutes. Only twelve minutes had elapsed when Rangers swept into the lead as Williamson netted from what appeared to be a glaringly offside position.
However, the plucky visitors had obviously not read the script. For the next 25 minutes Rangers bombarded the Cowdenbeath goal but Jock Moodie defied the eager Rangers forwards time and again. In the 37th minute, Cowdenbeath at last lifted the siege. Left-winger Geordie Dick cavorted past George Young and fired in a low cross. The ice cool Willie Woodburn went to gather this innocent looking ball on the byeline but suddenly he hesitated for a split second; young student Frank Armstrong hooked his leg round Woodburn and somehow managed to screw the ball into the Rangers net – ‘the cheekiest and coolest of counters’ said the ‘Dundee Courier’. Half-time then arrived with the teams level at 1-1. In the Cowdenbeath dressing-room, the ebullient players each quaffed a glass of champagne. This was a long-standing Cowdenbeath tradition in cup-ties which dated back to before the war.
The Cowdenbeath players then took the field for the second half with renewed determination and their confidence was promptly sent soaring as just two minutes after the interval Frank Armstrong let fly from a distance and the ball went soaring past Bobby Brown to end up in the Rangers net. It was panic stations now for Rangers and their fans. Winger Geordie Dick was tying George Young in knots while Rangers danger man Willie Waddell was kept well in check by Angus Cameron. In the 70th minute there was a great sigh of relief as Marshall equalised for Rangers. Now surely the home side would finish off their brave part-time opponents. However, Geordie Dick refused to be cowed and produced yet another twisting run down the flank. He fired in a shot from an acute angle and once again the ball ended up in the Rangers net. Rangers and their followers were astounded, the Cowdenbeath contingent danced with joy. The final whistle eventually blew. 3-2 to Cowdenbeath. For the first time ever Rangers had lost to a lower League club, and at Ibrox of all places. When the referee blew for time and pointed to the pavilion there were a few seconds of hesitation as the enormity of their achievement sunk in. Then the Cowdenbeath players celebrated joyously. Jock Moodie threw his hat in the air and Big Ming did his own version of the Highland Fling. The ‘Daily Record’ reported ‘Cowdenbeath was delirious, Govan was struck dumb’.
Cowden v Rangers League Cup quarter final 2nd leg (1949)
After Cowden’s shock 3-2 win at Ibrox, thoughts now turned to the second leg of the League Cup quarter final to be played at Central Park on the following Wednesday. Football fever had seized west Fife. On the day of the match a crowd of 25,586 (still a record for Central Park) assembled. This was approximately twice the population of the town of Cowdenbeath. Rangers were of course grimly determined to redress the embarrassment they had suffered in the first leg. Many felt Cowdenbeath were in for a hammering. Rangers fans had little doubt their team would come good as they came in from the High Street under the railway bridge.
The teams took the field to a tremendous roar and the air crackled with atmosphere. The two teams started nervously with some scrappy play. Rangers were looking for an early goal and an early goal did indeed arrive. However, this was not a strike to gladden the hearts of the Glasgow men. Only eight minutes had elapsed when Cowdenbeath won a free-kick outside the Rangers penalty area. Local hero, Alex ‘Ming’ Menzies, born and bred in Cowdenbeath and a miner in the local pits stepped up to take the kick. His shot flew low and hard towards the goal and then there was pandemonium as the ball nestled in the rigging behind Bobby Brown. 4-2 to Cowden!
Rangers laid siege to the Cowdenbeath goal but ‘The Miners’ refused to yield. Jock Moodie and his men, roared on by a passionate support, resisted wave after wave of Rangers attack. At half-time the score was unchanged and there had been controversy when in a rare sortie Woodburn had pushed Willie McGurn in the box. The Cowdenbeath penalty claims were waved aside by the referee. The second half was to be the longest 45 minutes ever endured by the Cowdenbeath support. Rangers continued to press and in the 50th minute the inevitable happened. Sammy Cox who had been moved forward to inside left for this game scored with a snap shot from the edge of the penalty area. The Rangers fans now roared on their favourites in their unfamiliar hooped jerseys while the home crowd roared back defiantly. The home defence still held and Rangers became ever more frantic. In the 83 rd minute Willie Waddell passed back to George Young but the ball evaded big Corky. Geordie Dick pounced on the loose ball. The ex-Southend winger hared down the wing and flashed the ball across the face of the Rangers goal, agonisingly just out of reach of the onrushing Armstrong. The next seven minutes saw the crowd in a ferment with thousands of watches being consulted again and again. Somehow it seemed Cowdenbeath were going to do it. Some fans began drifting to the exits. The ball came to Frank Armstrong at the Rangers end. The crowd and his colleagues urged him to kick it over the stand but Armstrong with the innocence of youth tried once again to go round George Young. This time the Scottish captain wins the ball and advances towards the Cowdenbeath half. There are 13 seconds left to play. Young punts the ball skywards towards the Cowden goal, the crowd falls silent. The ball seems suspended in the air, in time almost, and then Eddie Rutherford of Rangers barges Holland aside and rises to head the ball past the despairing Moodie. It is the equaliser, the referee blows for time, strong men weep. Rangers fans in ecstasy. Cowdenbeath, 13 seconds from glory now face extra-time.
The weary home side have a mountain to climb and really everyone knows that Rangers must now carry the day. The Cowdenbeath men continue to give their all for the cause but in the 102 nd minute, Cox beats two men on the left and crashes home a drive - the winner for Rangers. By now darkness was gathering in, the spectators could no longer pick out the dark brown ‘T-Ball’ in the gloom. The home fans shouted for the referee to abandon the match but it would have been a brave referee to have taken such a course of action. The game was played out with the spectators no longer able to see all the play. Full time brought joy to the Rangers fans but the home fans cheered their own heroes to the echo after two of the most dramatic cup-ties ever witnessed.
Clash of the Titans - Cowden 2 v Falkirk 1 (1970)
Andy Matthew’s shock troops had led the 2 nd Division from the start of the season to everyone’s amazement. Falkirk though began to rapidly gain ground as they played off several games in hand. Queen of the South also moved up to challenge. The scene was thus set for a titanic clash with in-form Falkirk as the season neared its climax. This game remains one of the best remembered matches ever played at Central Park. A crowd of well over 10,000 gathered. John Dickson was out injured and Falkirk started the match as favourites. The game was played at a terrific pace throughout but the high wind made for exciting rather than attractive football. At first the team seemed apprehensive of Falkirk but once the visitor’s defence showed signs of panic under early pressure, Cowden quickly got on top and maintained control right up to half-time. The game should have been won in the first half for apart from Davie Ross’s goal, Bostock shot wide from a good position and Mullen missed a real sitter.
After the interval Falkirk gained the supremacy mainly because of some weird and wonderful decisions by Referee Mullan, who gave decision after decision in their favour. It was no surprise when Falkirk equalised, an inswinging corner being cleverly head-flicked into the roof of the net by Andy Roxburgh. The celebrating Roxburgh was promptly decked by a fly punch from Cowden’s Tommy Millar! Alex Ferguson then drilled a shot against the Cowden post. Falkirk went all out for the kill but the home defence, inspired by skipper Andy Kinnell, weathered the storm. With only three minutes remaining, Cowden won a free-kick. Tommy Millar chipped the ball into the area. The Falkirk defence moved out appealing for offside but Billy Bostock darted in to head the ball past the despairing Stewart Rennie in the Falkirk goal. A mighty roar then split the night sky as Central Park went mad with joy. Minutes later the final whistle blew to herald scenes of great jubilation.
‘The Towniebusters’ – Dunfermline 0 v Cowden 2 (1993)
Already relegated, Cowden had gone a British record of 33 League games without a win and few could have been optimistic as we travelled along the road to play 2 nd placed rivals Dunfermline who were poised to win promotion back into the top flight. The events of that day though were to be unforgettable. Before the match, Pars fans were somewhat disconcerted to see the East End Park pitch had been painted with the words ‘the Blue Brazil’. The challenge Cowdenbeath FC were likely to offer on the pitch as opposition though was largely discounted. A critical mistake that was to cost Dunfermline their cherished promotion.
Cowden were up for this one on a beautiful sunny day. Twenty minutes into the second half, Eddie Petrie’s long throw was knocked down by Iain Lee into the path of Willie Callaghan, who fired the ball high into his former teammates’ net to put Cowden ahead. Dunfermline tried to come back, but Colin Harris prowled majestically at the back of the Cowdenbeath defence while Colin Scott and Billy Herd were dominant in midfield.
With two minutes to go, Callaghan raced clear to score his second. The Cowdenbeath supporters danced with joy. Their team had, by beating their great rivals, doubled their league victories for the season: two wins in 42 games! The humiliated Dunfermline fans hurled abuse at their manager and demanded that the board of directors resign. What a day it was!
Toorie comes up Trumps – Cowden 2 v Brechin 1 (2001)
Come the last day of this campaign Cowden with 73 points were in 2 nd place in Division 3 on goal difference from Hamilton with Brechin 1 point further behind. Visitors on the last day to Central Park of course were Brechin City. The kick off v Brechin was long delayed as around 3,500 fans crammed into Central Park for a day of exquisite drama. Toby King gave Cowden a 1 st half lead and John Martin defied the eager Brechin forwards led by ex-Cowden star Roddy Grant time and again. The ever lively and aggressive Murray McDowell though missed two absolute sitters for Cowden. In the very last minute, Cowden fans were horror-struck when Brechin scrambled an equaliser. An injury time winner for Brechin would see all of Cowdenbeath’s hopes dashed. However, this was a team of Blue Brazil heroes. A deflected shot by Brechin was safely gathered by John Martin and the ball was moved out to Graeme Brown on the right hand side. He passed to Murray McDowell who flew down the right wing before firing a perfect cross into the middle. Charging in was Cowden skipper Craig Winter and he rose to head the ball high into the net to provoke scenes of bedlam both on and off the pitch. Seconds later it was all over – on came the hordes of Cowden fans to celebrate promotion with the players as dejected Brechin were left behind in the 3 rd Division. Hamilton meantime had won their last game to take the title on goal difference despite never winning a match v Cowden. That evening there were tumultuous celebrations at the Park Bar as Davie White was named player of the year. There was a whole team of heroes though and the next day’s papers told the tale of a day that will long be remembered by all Cowden fans.