On 6 October 1877, Rangers secured their record margin of victory, beating Possil Park 13-0 in the first round of the Scottish Cup. They matched that scoreline just over a month later in the same tournament, but failed to lift the Cup after going out in the fourth round.At the time, Rangers were still a young club, formed only five years earlier. They got off to a strong start, however, winning their second-ever match by the score of 11-0. (A year later, they had their first annual meeting and elected staff, so that the club itself recognizes their official founding year as 1873.) By 1876, they were an established side, advancing to the 1876-77 Scottish Cup Final, where they took Vale of Leven to a second replay before falling 3-2.
They approached the 1877-78 Scottish Cup with the intention of returning to the Final and were encouraged by their 13-0 win over Possil Park FC in the first round. In the second round, they defeated Alexandra Athletic by the relatively low score of 8-0, then crushed Uddingston FC 13-0 in the third round.
Unfortunately for Rangers, they met Vale of Leven in the fourth round and fell 5-0 in a replay. They had to wait until 1897 before finally lifting the first of their 33 Scottish Cups.
Rangers must be the only team in any Cup competition to have scored 34 goals before they were knocked out.
ReplyDeleteThere were some pretty lopsided scores back in the 1880s. For example, Preston North End scored 50 goals in the 1887-88 FA Cup before losing the final. Don't know if that's the record, though.
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