with a hard-fought 2-1 triumph over Kilmarnock at
Rugby Park this afternoon, with all the goals coming
in a thrilling second-half.
Manager Walter Smith made two changes from last
Saturday with DaMarcus Beasley and Kris Boyd replacing
Nacho Novo and Lee McCulloch against a Kilmarnock side
fielding Ibrox transfer target Steven Naismith.
The home side were themselves unbeaten going into
today's game, and indeed victory would take them, at
least temporarily, into first place in the SPL.
Rangers wore their new change strip of black and
purple vertical stripes and threatened from the
opening whistle when Steven Whittaker's 25-yard shot
from a Daniel Cousin pass was held by home goalkeeper
Alan Combe.
Naismith soon made his presence felt in thirteen
minutes when his 22-yard shot from Jamie Hamill's pass
was fisted over by Allan McGregor.
Rangers had the bulk of the pressure however - Beasley
seeing his low twenty-yard shot in 26 minutes from a
Daniel Cousin lay-off parried by Combe, then two
minutes later Cousin again created a goalscoring
opportunity when his headflick released Boyd only for
the former Killie player to blast his effort straight
at Combe.
Whittaker, so impressive on his debut last week, was
next to test the Kilmarnock goalkeeper with a turn and
shot from a Barry Ferguson pass in 32 minutes.
Four minutes later , just to prove it was not all
one-way traffic, Danny Invincible saw his twenty-yard
volley fisted away by McGregor.
Cousin had finished the first-half limping with a calf
injury, and he was replaced by Jean-Claude Darcheville
at the interval.
Within six minutes of the restart the substitute shot
into the side-netting from a tight angle from a Kevin
Thomson pass.
The opening goal was only delayed a further sixty
seconds, Beasley netting after the ball had broken to
him after a Boyd - Whittaker move had been blocked.
Rangers poured forward in search of a killer second,
Darcheville's eighteen-yard snap-shot being parried by
Combe in 54 minutes.
Five minutes later Combe again kept his side in the
game when he pushed wide Whittaker's effort from a
Darcheville cross, then in the very next attack the
goalkeeper had to be alert to claw away Sasa Papac's
hanging cross.
Incredibly despite all of the Ibrox pressure,
Kilmarnock levelled the scores in a lightning break in
61 minutes when Naismith sped away on the halfway
line, before finding Colin Nish who easily shrugged
off Thomson's challenge before crossing for the
unmarked Invincible to net.
Three minutes later the visitors almost regained the
lead when Ferguson's shot on the turn from a
Darcheville cutback was deflected over the bar - but
Killie now scented the possibility, however remote, of
victory and when Gary Wales broke free of David Weir
in 68 minutes he might have done better than an
attempted chip that McGregor easily gathered.
Sixty seconds later a Weir miss-header from Combe's
long kickout saw Wales through again only for his weak
shot to be held by McGregor.
Anything other than a Rangers win would have been a
travesty however - and the lead was duly regained in
76 minutes when Darcheville swept the ball home after
Beasley's run had been blocked.
As with the first goal, the Ibrox men went all out for
the kill, and within three minutes Beasley saw his
effort from a Hutton pass held by Combe.
Hutton himself almost made it three when his low
22-yard shot from Whittaker's slip flashed inches wide
in 83 minutes.
Rangers coolly retained possession as "There's only
one Steven Naismith" sang the Light Blue legions in
the closing minutes following the tannoy announcement
of that player as the sponsor's home 'Man of the
Match', although in truth many felt that the award
should have gone to Combe, without whom the home side
would surely have suffered a much heavier defeat.
Afterwards Walter Smith reflected:
"It was good to win. The first-half was tight, but we
played very well in the second. I was disappointed
with the goal we lost. We're making progress."
Killie Boss Jim Jeffries was honest enough to admit:
"Rangers have quality players - there's a huge
difference in their team from last year."
Later, Ibrox Chief Executive Martin Bain issued a
statement praising the 'Gers fans who had given their
team such vocal backing throughout the game. There
were no offensive 'add-ons' and only the most biased
anti-Rangers bigot could have taken exception to
anything today.
KILMARNOCK Combe; Lilley, Ford, O'Leary, Wright;
Invincible, Hamill (Johnston 58), Locke (Murray 58),
Wales (Fernandez 80); Nish, Naismith
UNUSED SUBS Harpur, Dodds, Gibson, Jarvis
RANGERS McGregor; Hutton, Weir, Cuellar, Papac;
Whittaker, Ferguson, Thomson, Beasley (Novo 90); Boyd,
Cousin (Darcheville 45)
UNUSED SUBS Carroll, Broadfoot, Emslie, Shinnie, Fleck
REFEREE Dougie McDonald
Attendance 11,544