On 26th April 1958, a large Hibs’ support travelled to Hampden Park for the Scottish Cup Final, confident of beating Clyde who at that time were a top six side containing several internationals.
The cup run began with a 2-0 victory over Dundee United after a replay at Easter Road then excitement reached fever pitch in the capital when the draw paired Hibs with high flying Hearts at Tynecastle. Hearts at that time had players of the quality of Dave Mackay, Alex Young and the ‘Terrible Trio’ of Alfie Conn, Willie Bauld and Jimmy Wardhaugh.
That game is still talked about to this day, thanks to the performance of 17 year old Joe Baker who scored four times in a famous 4-3 victory.
Third Lanark were the next opponents in the quarter final and the ‘Hi Hi’ were leading 2-1 with a few minutes to go but Baker and John Fraser struck in dramatic fashion to secure a trip to Hampden where they faced the mighty Rangers.
A recently introduced young inside forward called Andy Aitken was excellent in the game but the game ended all square at 2-2.
In the replay, with Hibs leading 2-1, Rangers had the ball in the net in the last minute when Ralph Brand challenged Lawrie Leslie inside the area and the ball fell to Max Murray who fired the ball into the net from close range. Referee Bobby Davidson disallowed the goal as Brand had punched the ball from the grasp of Leslie and a photograph in the newspaper the following day showed that he was correct. (allegedly overnight the words Ralph Brands became rhyming slang for hands in Leith)
On the Monday before the final, Hibs faced Rangers in Lawrie Reilly’s testimonial match at Easter Road and although the striker scored he was clearly not fit enough for the final and his place went to Baker.
The final however proved to be a disaster for Hibs. Semi-final hero Andy Aitken was injured early on and spent most of the day limping on the right wing as substitutes were not allowed.
John Baxter then deflected a Johnny Coyle shot into his own net and Hibs’ fans thought they had equalised when Baker had the ball in the net but the ‘goal’ was correctly disallowed for handball.
A netbound shot from left back Joe McClelland struck Clyde’s Mike Clinton in the face, knocking him out but crucially diverting the ball wide of the goal and the game ended with a win for the Glasgow side.
The Hibs team that day was: Leslie, Grant, McClelland, Turnbull, Plenderleith, Baxter, Fraser, Aitken, Baker, Preston, Ormond.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
