28/6/1941 Summer Cup 2nd Round 2nd Leg
Clyde 3 v 4 Hibernian ( Agg 5-5)
Finnigan 3 ( 2 pens )
Smith
Hibs were 1-2 down from the first leg at Easter Road and rolled up at Shawfield on a salvage mission to save this Cup tie
Willie McCartney had signed guest player Matt Busby who was now a tough Army Sergeant based just outside Edinburgh. Matt Busby was a Scotland international and he had won the League with Manchester City in 1937 and had appeared in two FA Cup finals
Hibs were trailing 1-2 at half-time the HIBS goal coming from Willie Finnigan but eight minutes into the second half Clyde went further ahead when they were awarded a penalty and all looked lost for the Edinburgh Irishmen
Shrewd tactician Willie McCartney thought otherwise and the dapper bowler hatted boss surprised everyone by leaving his seat in the stand and shouting instructions from the track side for Gordon Smith and Arthur Milne to switch positions and less than ten minutes later the whole picture changed with a goal from Gordon Smith and two more from Willie Finnigan to complete his hat-trick.
The press at the time commented ‘Matt Busby was Hibernian’s star man’ Matt was to go on and give ‘McCartney’s Babes’ great service and his influential half back play made Willie Finnigan and Gordon Smith look good. Willie, Gordon and Matt went on to combine beautifully together forming an uncanny understanding not even looking up to see where the other would be before passing the ball to one another
After the war Matt Busby would go on to manage Manchester United and Gordon Smith insisted that Manchester United provide the opposition for his Testimonial - a game in which HIBS would take seven goals off a very strong Manchester United side
In his foreword to the book ‘100 Years of HIBS ‘ Sir Matt Busby stated that he enjoyed his time at HIBS so much that the HIBS result was always the first score he looked for on a Saturday
Hibs would go on to defeat Clyde in the play-off at Ibrox after going behind to an early goal and would win the Summer Cup in this year defeating Rangers in the final at Hampden Park.
Hibernian: Kerr Shaw Hall Busby Baxter Kean Smith Finnigan Milne Cuthbertson and Combe
Att: 10000
The Making of Hibernian : The Romantic Years. Alan Lugton
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