When Hearts won at Ibrox with a 'sitter' from Tommy Murray

The old story that Jim Baxter sat on the ball at Wembley in Scotland's 3-2 win over England in 1967 is a myth, as the television coverage of the match confirms. However, Murray's antics were captured by the Scotsport cameras and the clip has been posted on YouTube for posterity - pure 1970s footballing gold.

It is December 1972 and only a few minutes remain. The game is goalless when the ball is played to Murray, an attacking midfielder, on the left wing. He has a quick look around: plenty time, plenty space. With Rangers reluctant to tackle, Murray decides to sit on the ball.

Sandy Jardine snaps first. The Rangers right-back charges towards Murray who quickly gets up off the ball and slips it to Hearts team-mate Jim Brown. With Jardine posted missing, Brown is able to deliver an inviting cross to the back post where Donald Ford leaps to head home. It was, as Arthur Montford noted in the commentary, a sensation.

The players celebrated; the full-time whistle sounded shortly afterwards and, to use a well-crafted cliche, Christmas came early for the Jam Tarts.

This all occurred in the middle of what can be loosely dubbed Hearts' "Ajax phase". For the 1972-73 season they experimented with an away kit which replicated the strip of the great Dutch side who at that time were the European Cup holders. The broad maroon band on a white background split opinion among the Hearts faithful and the current kit seems to be doing the same.

The club say it is a "unique modern twist" on the Ajax-style kit, the twist being that the colours have been reversed so that the band down the middle is white while the outside bits are maroon. "Looks like a pyjama top" said one outraged fan online yesterday while another claimed he'd had to call Samaritans, so distressed was he by the break with tradition.

Does Tommy Murray know what he's started? Well, he certainly remembers the goal fondly and explains that his decision to sit on the ball was an act of revenge after Rangers winger Willie Johnston had pulled off a similar stunt the season before.

"Rangers were winning easily when Willie Johnston decided to sit on the ball and beckoned to (Hearts'] Ian Sneddon to come forward and get it," Murray told the Hearts website. "I thought to myself, 'If I ever get the chance to do that...' In the same game the following year I did get my chance of revenge. It was more a time-wasting ploy than anything else - we were just trying to hang on to a point. I didn't think for a minute a goal would come of it.

"I did the same to Sandy Jardine as Willie Johnston had done to Ian Sneddon and when he came towards me, I passed the ball to Jimmy Brown who had run behind me and he managed to cross to Donald Ford who scored and that was more or less it."

Almost but not quite. It seems that the blazers who ran the game in those days did not take kindly to Murray's sedantry antics. Goalscorer Donald Ford takes up the story: "The Referees Committee decided that, from then on, sitting on the ball was ungentlemanly conduct and bookable ,,, and they say that Rangers and Celtic don't control Scottish football! When Rangers did it, it was seen as good fun and great for the sport, but when Tommy did it, the Glasgow brigade weighed in and it was decided it was a bookable offence.

"But it was epic stuff. Wee Tommy had not forgotten how the Ibrox crowd went berserk with glee when Willie Johnston sat on the ball the previous year. I never scored a better headed goal in my life - I must have been three feet off the ground when the ball arrived. No-one remembers the header, though, because all they remember is Tommy sitting on the ball. By great good fortune the TV cameras didn't track Tommy for the celebrations which was just as well because he must have run 30 yards up the ash track at Ibrox giving two fingers to the Rangers fans."

• To watch footage of Tommy Murray sitting on the ball at Ibrox, go to www.youtube.com and search for 'tommy murray hearts'

FROM THE SCOTSMAN ARCHIVES

THIS IS how The Scotsman's football writer John Rafferty reported the Murray incident:

"There was a spell in the first half when Rangers hit Hearts with everything bar the floodlights and could not score, and the feeling then was that they would have one of those days. Indeed they did and it took a piece of impudence by Tommy Murray to perpetrate the full injustice.

"When Hearts were settling for a draw two minutes from the end and no Ranger would come to tackle, Murray sat on the ball.

"That immediately stung Sandy Jardine to rush at him - which left Jim Brown clear. Brown's well-placed cross was headed into the net by Donald Ford.

"It was the first time Murray had done such a cheeky thing. In the next minute Murray was booked - again for the first time in his career. It was a weird game, but as (Rangers manager] Jock Wallace would say, 'That's football'."