A First Tour of the Highlands (1951)

(first published in the match programme for St. Mirren v Hearts, 15^th May 2024)

St. Mirren secured their First Division status in the last match of the 1950/51 League season with a 2-0 home victory in a rearranged fixture against Raith Rovers on April 28^th. However, their season was not quite over as a variety of other fixtures had to be fulfilled before the players could contemplate a summer break.

The Club played three matches in the following week, with a 5-3 friendly win at Bo'ness United on the Monday, a 6-0 Renfrewshire Cup semi-final victory over Babcock and Wilcox two days later and a Paisley Charity Cup triumph on the Saturday against Carlisle United to the tune of five goals to two. The latter match was the only one of the three to see a programme issued.

A Festival of Britain friendly against Irish club Distillery followed on Wednesday May 9^th at Love Street and was drawn 1-1, after which the Club could then turn their attention to their first ever Tour of the Highlands.

The team left Paisley on Friday May 11^th to make their headquarters at the Windsor Hotel in Nairn, from where they would travel to face the local teams at Forres, Elgin and Inverness. Manager Bobby Rankin was expected to experiment with the side and the listing of two centre-halves in the sixteen-man squad suggested that Jackie Waddell would play in defence and Willie Telfer would occupy a forward position.

The first match, against Forres Mechanics at Mosset Park on Saturday May 12^th, attracted a crowd of 1,300. The home side included several guest players including goalkeeper Craig, a Paisley lad who was working in the north. The ground was hard and bumpy but did not detract from providing a good friendly match, with most of the play coming from the visitors.

Saints opened the scoring after 25 minutes when Gerry Burrell crossed for Walter Anderson to head towards goal. 'Keeper Craig allowed the ball to bounce on the hard surface, but was deceived by the spin and ball went in close to the upright.

Five minutes later, St. Mirren doubled their lead. Gilbert Rennie's solo run ended with a shot which came back off the post and fell to Burrell. The outside left crossed the ball for Rennie to again hit the woodwork, this time with a header. The ball then fell to George Stewart and he made no mistake.

With twenty minutes remaining, Rennie intercepted a poor passback, but his shot was parried into the air by Craig. The forward got to the rebound first and headed home to make the final score 3-0.

It is very unlikely that a programme was produced for this match.

Four days later, St. Mirren met Elgin City at the Borough Briggs Ground before a crowd of 2,800. The home side took the lead after just five minutes when outside-left Auld capitalised on hesitancy in the St. Mirren defence. Willie Telfer equalised seven minutes from the break after he took a short pass from Burrell to net from close range.

Within ten minutes of the restart, Saints had netted four more times. Telfer started the second-half rout with a 20-yard shot after 48 minutes and a minute later Burrell made the most of a defensive mix-up. In 52 minutes, Alfie Lesz took a through ball from Telfer to easily round the home goalkeeper and Burrell completed the 5-1 scoreline after 55 minutes with a low shot.

Elgin City produced a four-page programme for the match, printed black on pink paper and measuring 8.5 inches by 6 inches. The front cover contained the full match details, sandwiched between adverts for various restaurants in Elgin. The inside pages were dominated by the team line-ups in the 2-3-5 formation, accurately listing the players who participated. There was a short article on St. Mirren, recalling their Scottish Cup visit to Elgin in 1923 and detailing the other matches of their current tour. Local adverts occupied the whole of the back page.

The final match of the tour took place on Saturday May 19^th when Saints met Clachnacuddin at Grant Street Park in Inverness to a crowd of 2,693. A Gerry Burrell hat-trick - two in the first half and the third mid-way through the second period - put Saints well in command. Fraser netted a consolation goal in the last minute for the home side to make the final score 3-1.

The Inverness side produced a four-page programme similar in format but slightly larger than that available three days earlier. The cover of the twopenny issue carried the full match details amid a number of adverts for more diverse establishments than those listed in Elgin. These were continued on the back page.

The inside pages referenced Saints' successes in the two other tour matches, but warned against complacency in view of the homesters' "dour fighting spirit" and "excellent home record". The St. Mirren line-up, aside from positional changes, incorrectly included Rennie, who had been replaced by Waddell.