a hard-fought 2-1 win over Hibernian at Easter Road
tonight in a thrilling encounter that kept the 14,773
crowd on the edge of their seats right to the final
whistle.
Once again the Light Blue goalscoring hero was Kris
Boyd who, in netting twice, has now notched an
incredible eighteen goals in twenty games for his new
club.
Rangers travelled to Edinburgh for this evening's
fixture fully aware that the fate of their Champions'
League ambitions would surely be decided one way or
the other in the capital with Hearts due to entertain
Aberdeen at Tynecastle tomorrow evening (for the third
time this season) following Celtic's shameful
capitulation at the same venue on Sunday.
Manager Alex McLeish made two changes from Kilmarnock
with Marvin Andrews and Sotirios Kyrgiakos replacing
Alan Hutton and the injured Julien Rodriguez.
The game got under way with the home fans directing
sickening abuse at their former captain Ian Murray.
Hibs spurned a great chance to open the scoring in
seven minutes when a Derek Riordan cross found Gary
Caldwell whose weak flick was held by Ronald
Waterreus.
Nine minutes later at the other end Boyd was through
on goal from a Chris Burke pass only to see his effort
blocked by home goalkeeper Zbigniew Malkowski.
Rangers sliced open the Easter Road defence in 35
minutes to open the scoring - Dado Prso's run and pass
finding Thomas Buffel wide on the left, the Belgian
cleverly cutting the ball back for Boyd to scoop the
ball into the roof of the net.
Peter Lovenkrands made a welcome return after injury,
replacing Buffel at the interval.
Hibernian restarted on the offensive - and Gavin Rae
did well to block Dean Shiels' shot from Riordan's
inswinging corner in the opening minute of the
second-half.
Sixty seconds later in a lightning break Prso released
Boyd who in turn fed Lovenkrands only for the Dane's
effort to be turned wide by Malkowski.
Yet again the home fans polluted the atmosphere with
disgusting - if intriguing - chants concerning
Vladimir Romanov and Paul Hartley. And yet they had
the cheek to boo when the Light Blue legions sang
'Rule Brittannia'.
Ivan Sproule was proving to be a thorn in the side of
the Ibrox defence - his angled drive in 54 minutes
being touched wide by Waterreus, then six minutes
later the Ulsterman's cutback saw substitute Paul
Dalglish's shot on the turn held by Waterreus.
Rangers appeared content to hit their opponents on the
break - Lovenkrands' solo run in 66 minutes ending
when his shot was held by Malkowski.
Five minutes later Hibernian equalised when Riordan's
wicked inswinging free-kick was headed into his own
net by Brahim Hemdani.
A team is always at its' weakest immediately after
scoring - and so it proved for as the Hibs' fans
celebrated Rangers struck back in 73 minutes when Boyd
netted from a Prso pass.
Two minutes later, as the visitors went for the kill,
Lovenkrands saw his twenty-yard drive from a Boyd
knockdown tipped over by Malkowski.
The home fans turned on their own soon afterwards -
Gary Caldwell, soon to join Celtic, was booed when he
he hit a long pass out of play.
Rangers suffered an injury blow in 82 minutes when Ian
Murray suffered a clash of heads with substitute
Amadou Konte, and was replaced by Alex Rae.
Hibernian battled to the end - Konte overpowering
Kyrgiakos in injury time only to see his angled drive
beaten out by Waterreus.
Rangers survived for a crucial three points - and
afterwards Alex McLeish reflected:
"We achieved our target in a nervy game. Hibernian's
efforts kicked any conspiracy theories into touch.
Hearts are in the driving seat and can only lose it.
They bounced back on Sunday, but Aberdeen have a good
record at Tynecastle this season. We've clawed back a
lot of points and have nothing to lose."
HIBERNIAN Malkowski; Shields, G. Caldwell, Konde,
Murphy; Whittaker, Shiels (Konte 71), Fletcher
(Dalglish 52), Glass, Riordan (Lynch 78); Sproule
UNUSED SUBS Simon Brown, Murray, McCluskey, Smith
RANGERS Waterreus; Murray (A. Rae 82), Andrews,
Kyrgiakos, Smith; Burke, Hemdani, G. Rae, Prso; Buffel
(Lovenkrands 45), Boyd
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Novo, Malcolm, Ashikodi, Lennon
REFEREE Mike McCurry
Attendance 14,773