A harum-scarum first half saw a distinct lack of accurate shooting, with Tobin making one save, M'Aulay none; but Dumbarton started the second better, perhaps riled by supporters' shots of "play the Hurlford" which greeted the players on their return to the pitch.
[19] Miller soon grazed the post, and Aitken opened the scoring for the county side after 59 minutes with a "swift shot" over Tobin's head.
Madden came close to doubling the lead, also hitting the post, almost straight from the kick-off, but Hibernian equalized in the 65th minute thanks to an error by M'Aulay, who dropped a Clark shot at the feet of Montgomery, who tapped home[20] Straight from the kick-off, Groves won the ball back for Hibernian, and dribbled down the centre of the pitch; he and Lafferty manoeuvred the ball between themselves, and the Dumbarton players stopped playing, claiming offside.
However the resulting goal - credited to Groves by the Glasgow media,[21] Lafferty by the Edinburgh[22] - was given, and Hibernian saw out the game, to the great jubilation of the majority of the crowd, as many of those present were Irish Glaswegians supporting "the wearers of the green".
[23] The match was the last Cup tie in which Dumbarton played in "the Blackburn Rovers style of quartern colours", as from the next season it adopted "black and gold vertical-striped shirts, very smart-looking and attractive".