26-09-21: Heart of Midlothian (a) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Crowd (8,500)

Robert (Bob) Preston was brought up in Edinburgh after being born at Loanhead in 1895. A Centre-half or Wing-half, he joined his local club Loanhead Mayflower before moving to Heart of Midlothian. He played his first games for Hearts in the 1918-19 season, when he made eight League appearances. He soon became a regular, scoring once in thirty-nine League games in 1919-20 and four in thirty-eight in the following season before scoring four times in forty-two League games in his final season of 1921-22. The Club granted Preston a Testimonial at Tynecastle against Leeds United on 26th September 1921, which Leeds won by a single goal from Len Armitage in the eighty-fifth minute. Preston joined English Southern League side Torquay United, where he spent the 1922-23 season and scored three goals in one hundred and forty-three League games in four seasons for Plymouth Argyle, before returning to Plainmoor and playing fifteen League games in the 1928-29 season. He then had two seasons in Non-League with Welsh club Llanelly, before moving on to Ireland and playing for Bray Unknowns in the 1931-32 season, before later being on the books of Shelbourne and Sligo Rovers. After his footballing days were over he remained in Ireland, where he died in May 1945.

Match Report

The benefit match for R. Preston, the Heart of Midlothian Half-Back, between Heart of Midlothian and Leeds United, which was played at Tynecastle, Edinburgh, in the evening of 26th September 1921, brought out a crowd of about 8,000.With one exception, the Leeds side was at full strength, and that exception was that Frew, an old Hearts man, was playing at right back. They came as an undefeated side, and they gained a victory over Hearts, and were quite worthy of it. They proved themselves to be a very capable side, a level lot, without any particularly bright stars. Their defence was sound, and as a result not many chances fell to the Hearts. Lister had a good try early with an header, which narrowly missed taking effect, and Meickle had hard luck in seeing an effort of his strike the cross-bar. Murphy had a good shot in the second half, and Blair did some capital work then. The Hearts, however, were not in a particularly bright mood, the visitors halves and backs having generally the upper hand. Nor were the Leeds forwards dangerous on many occasions but in one of their raids on Kane's goal Haworth, the centre forward, gave the goalkeeper a sharp shot to save from close range. It was Armitage, the inside right, who got the goal well on in the second half. There was nothing outstanding or exciting about the game. T. Miller played at left-half for the Hearts and showed some clever touches, but was hardly robust enough for the position.