Hibee history: Four of Five star on Eddie off day

HE'S an all-time great of Scottish football and arguably the greatest player and manager in the history of the Hibees, but this game was not one of Eddie Turnbull's finest – despite the remarkable scoreline in his side's favour.

Although he managed a scrappy goal, he saw a penalty saved by plucky Thirds keeper Robertson, who won plenty of friends on the day, and Turnbull's passing was so wayward he was described as "having his boots on the wrong feet".

Nevertheless, Hibs put the relegation-doomed Hi-Hi to the sword, despite the fact that the Lanarkshire men had almost reached the Scottish Cup final in a tight semi-final against Rangers.

That final was being played on the same day as this game and Aberdeen and the Light Blues drew 1-1 at Hampden.

At Easter Road, however, fellow Famous Five legend Bobby Johnstone was the star of the day with a hat-trick which put Turnbull well and truly in the shade.

His first goal came after 13 minutes and he followed that up in the 20th and 25th minutes. Gordon Smith made it four right on half-time when he ran through by himself and netted.

Willie Ormond struck the fifth with a fine drive at the foot of the near post 21 minutes into the second half and Turnbull got his name on the scoresheet a few minutes later when penalty hero Robertson turned villain for Thirds by failing to hold a shot from the inside left.

That meant that four of the Famous Five had scored – only centre forward Lawrie Reilly didn't manage to net despite the one-sided nature of the game.

He did, however, set up the final goal – Smith's second – with a deft head-flick. Turnbull's poor afternoon was compounded by his failure, when the nearest Hibs player to Thirds' Henderson, to prevent the left-half striking a shot from 30 yards which flew in through a bunch of players.

The crowd of 15,000 wasn't, apparently, enthralled by the game, despite the scoreline in Hibs favour.

Many of them were listening to the Cup final on portable radios and, according to reports, the response when Aberdeen scored their equaliser through Yorston showed there weren't many on the Easter Road terracing supporting the Govan side.