Hibee History: Rangers 1-3 Hibs, October 11 1969

Hibs manager Willie Macfarlane talked his team into a supremely confident mood before the game at Ibrox and his talented players proved him right by outplaying Rangers in front of 54,000 witnesses who could testify as to why Hibs were ahead in the title race at that time.

And the Hibs boss said afterwards: "I kept hammering home to them that we had the better team and our display confirmed it.

"It was clear, too, that Rangers were worried about us when they introduced a new boy at left-back. Our number changes were designed to throw them off balance.

"We had no set plan to use Peter Marinello through the middle where he scored his goals. It just happened that in the constant switching, he was in the centre at the right times."

Hibs collected a cheque for more than 6,000 and the success story at the time - seven wins on the trot - meant that the Easter Road players ranked among the most highly paid in the country.

That ought to have been incentive enough for them to stay in the driving seat. They' had won at Celtic Park, Tynecastle and Ibrox in their last three away games. And very few sides would manage six points from those fixtures.

The "old" Hibs might have been ruffled by the loss of an unlucky goal five minutes before half-time when John Blackley was penalised wrongly for a perfect tackle on Willie Johnston, who dived and won a foul that produced his own goal.

But Marinello, who had scored in 16 minutes from a Hamilton pass, added No.?2 just three minutes after the equaliser and Joe McBride grabbed an opportunist goal in 71 minutes.

It was a triumph for teamwork, running power and skill against a ragged Rangers outfit. They could not match the composure of their rivals and Jim Baxter, while he seldom made a bad pass, slowed the game so much that it was stop-go football throughout from Rangers. Willie Henderson threatened to create trouble on the right, but sound covering snuffed him out and Johnston was the forward most likely to trouble Hibs. However, right-back Chris Shevlane played exceptionally well to subdue the sharp Fifer.

On reflection, the Easter Road defence never allowed Rangers to create a clear-cut chance and Gordon Marshall had no difficult saves.

Hibs' interchanging style forced Rangers to leave gaps and the margin might have been more substantial but for the resourceful covering of John Greig. Even he deserted his post at times in a bid to infuse some drive into the home attack.

Three players were booked - Pat Stanton (Hibs), Baxter and Johnston (Rangers), and the Ibrox wing-half might have been lucky to escape with a booking since Hamilton received a kick on the head when they clashed.

Stanton, incidentally was not fined by Hibs. That rule applied only in the case of retaliation or talking out of turn.

Bathgate golfer Bernard Gallacher, an enthusiastic Hibs fan, was the club's guest at the match. Bernard, who topped the PGA Order of Merit table, was getting together with the "Order of Merit" leaders in his favourite spectating sport.