Attendance 7,245
Rangers crashed to yet another catastrophic defeat
this afternoon, going down 0-1 to Falkirk - but
any criticism must be tempered by the fact that the
game should never have been played due to the farcical
conditions that reduced the game to a complete and
utter lottery and that the result was undoubtedly
influenced by a dreadful display of refereeing from
Stuart Dougal whose bizarre decisions in denying
Rangers no less than three stonewall penalties
virtually gift-wrapped the three points for the home
side.
Conditions were absolutely horrendous with a
gale-force wind and torrential rain rendering the
overhead conditions unplayable - indeed it is
surely fair comment that only in Scotland could a game
have gone ahead in such weather. At times the ball was
being blown well of course and out of play in the
swirling wind that rendered conditions unplayable.
Manager Paul Le Guen fielded an unchanged side from
last Saturday before a record attendance at the new
ground of 7,245 - and Rangers almost made a
lightning start when Nacho Novo's volley from a
Barry Ferguson corner was parried by home goalkeeper
Jeroen Lambers
Four minutes later Dado Prso's header from a
Charlie Adam corner flashed just over as Rangers
sought to impose themselves.
The nearest thing to a goal in these absurd conditions
however came in fourteen minutes when Brahim
Hemdani's passback was blown off course and
towards the net with Allan McGregor only just
scrambling the ball off the line.
Almost instantly the action switched to the other end
where Adam's twenty-yard drive was parried by
Lambers.
Falkirk opened the scoring in 25 minutes when a corner
from former Ranger Russell Latapy was headed goalwards
by Marc Twaddle - Jeremy Clement making a feeble
effort to clear the ball off the line.
Two minutes later Rangers were denied the first of the
three penalties when Novo was hauled down by Darren
Barr as he homed in on an Adam pass.
Falkirk continued to threaten on the break -
Liam Brady's 25-yard shot being turned wide by
McGregor in 32 minutes.
The Ibrox men piled on the pressure as the interval
approached, although the conditions hampered any
constructive build-up - and when
Ferguson's corner swung in to the far post both
Novo and Karl Svensson were pushed to the ground from
behind when poised to nod into the unguarded net.
Incredibly once again Stuart Dougal saw nothing amiss
- although on this occasion at least his
linesman Gary Cheyne must have had a clear view.
Just to end the perfect 45 minutes, on the stroke of
half-time Kris Boyd limped off to be replaced by Filip
Sebo.
Rangers resumed on the attack, and in 57 minutes yet
another solid penalty claim was turned down by Stuart
Dougal when Svensson had the legs whipped from under
him by Jack Ross following a Ferguson corner.
Three minutes later Thomas Buffel replaced Papac as Le
Guen went for broke, and immediately introduced a
movement and intelligence that had been sadly lacking
in the visitors' attack. Indeed in 68 minutes
the Belgian Internationalist burst through on a Novo
pass only to see his shot blocked by Lambers.
Stuart Dougal's nightmare went from bad to worse
in 73 minutes when he totally missed a blatant
handball by Liam Craig, eventually awarding a
free-kick TO Falkirk out on the touchline, and then
lecturing Ferguson for daring to question how he could
have missed the original offence. Just to cap it all,
Latapy's vicious inswinger almost found the net,
McGregor tipping the ball over from right under the
crossbar.
The resultant corner saw mayhem break out in the
Rangers goalmouth - and once again Dougal
covered himself in glory. It all started when Twaddle
blatantly kicked out at McGregor, then Darren Barr ran
half the length of the park to floor Prso.
Unbelievably the referee produced one yellow card
- to Barr - when the only decision should have
been two red. And to think this is supposed to be one
of Scotland's top referees…
Rangers piled on the pressure in the closing stages
- Novo's cross being headed inches wide of
his own goal by Ross in 82 minutes, and on several
occasions low crosses flashed across the face of goal
without being converted.
Time ran out on the Light Blues however - and
primarily thanks to Dougal's nightmare the final
whistle signalled Falkirk's first League win
over Rangers in all of 35 years.
It should be stressed however that the abominable
conditions and refereeing should not disguise another
dreadful Rangers performance.
Afterwards a crestfallen Le Guen summarised:
“I am disappointed by the result and
performance. We did not defend set-pieces. We lacked
efficiency and composure. We had so many
chances.”
FALKIRK Lambers; Ross, Barr, Milne, Twaddle; Lima,
Latapy, Cregg, Craig; Gow, J. Stewart (Dodd 83)
UNUSED SUBS Higgins, Dodd, Scobbie, McStay, Uras, M.
Stewart, McManus
RANGERS McGregor; Hutton, Hemdani, Svensson, Papac
(Buffel 60); Novo, Ferguson, Clement, Adam; Prso
(Sionko 83), Boyd (Sebo 45)
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Buffel, Rae, Sionko, Sebo, Smith,
Lowing
REFEREE Stuart Dougal