Rangers and their second successive opponents from Dundee locked horns at Hampden on Saturday April 13th 1964 before a crowd of 56,391 in a game played in a swirling wind. In a hectic opening 15 minutes, Rangers had Billy Ritchie to thank for keeping the scores level as they withstood an onslaught from their opponents. After weathering the storm, so to speak, Millar gave Rangers a 24th minute lead as he took a pass from Baxter in midfield and powered forward into the box and drew the keeper before calmly slotting home
Two minutes later the Rangers support may have been beginning to plan for another trip to Hampden for the final when Millar scored again, this time after Willie Henderson raced down the wing and cut it back to McLean who in turn flicked it onto Millar to net his own and his team's second. A quite incredible spell of goals was to follow, however.
United equalised with goals on 29 and 34 minutes before Rangers again took the lead on the 36 minute mark. Shearer and Baxter combined to get the ball to McLean whose misplaced pass to Brand nevertheless bounced off a defender into the path of the initial intended recipient who turned the ball into the net. With a minute until half-time, Rangers restored their two goal advantage when Henderson raced to the byeline and cut to McLean whose shot hit the bar; Jimmy Millar happily pounced on the rebound to give himself a hat-trick and a 4-2 interval lead for Rangers.
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After such a scoring burst it is perhaps not surprising that the second half ended up being a total non-event, enlivened only by a blistering 25 yard shot from George Mclean 4 minutes from time. Thus, a 5-2 win - which was not as easy as it sounds - gave Rangers passage to the final. Their opponents for the first time in a final for 35 years would be Celtic who also won 5-2, their opponents being Raith Rovers at Ibrox although presumably, with their team winning, the Celtic support saw no need to re-enact their shameful behaviour of 12 months previously at the same venue.
As mentioned, this was to be the first time Rangers and Celtic had met in a Scottish Cup Final since 1928, the scene of Rangers' legendary Hoodoo-busting performance. The Rangers supporters who snapped up their share of the 134,000 tickets available for the 1963 final would have welcomed a similar scoreline to that of three and a half decades previously. In the end, they very nearly got their wish.
Sam Cooke
Ayrshire Billy Boy