afternoon, conceding an injury-time equaliser to
Inverness Caledonian Thistle in a 1-1 draw.
It was a dreadful performance from the Light Blues,
truly woeful, and questions must surely be asked over
Manager Alex McLeish's failure to change the way the
game was heading.
'Eck' made one enforced change from Tynecastle with
Steven Thompson replacing the suspended Dado Prso, and
Bojan Djordjic made a welcome return from injury,
replacing Michael Ball.
There was a healthy travelling support from Inverness
present, but the atmosphere generally was flat as the
game got under way.
The visitors were first to show when Juanjo turned
Marvin Andrews from a Stuart Golabek pass before
shooting just wide of the target in eighteen minutes.
Nine minutes later Thomas Buffel was through on goal
only for former Ibrox goalkeeper Mark Brown to block
his effort - the loose ball falling to Nacho Novo who
shot over.
A truly awful first-half ended goalless, and seven
minutes into the second Bob Malcolm replaced the
ineffective Bojan Djordjic.
Rangers had stepped up the pace after the interval,
and should have opened the scoring in 55 minutes when
Novo shot wide from a Thompson header.
The opening goal was merely delayed sixty seconds
however - Ricksen finding Barry Ferguson with an
exquisite chip, the midfielder lobbing the ball over
the advancing Brown to notch his first goal since his
return from Blackburn.
Astonishingly Bajram Fetai replaced Barry Wilson in 69
minutes, the on-loan Ranger somehow being allowed to
play against his club due to a contractual failure to
legislate for such an eventuality.
The goal had failed to revitalise Rangers however -
although a surging run from Marvin Andrews created an
opening for Thomas Buffel whose low shot was held by
Brown in 71 minutes.
Six minutes an alarming gap appeared in the Ibrox
defence - Richard Hart going through only to shoot
wide.
Novo was not having the best of afternoons - his turn
and shot from a Maurice Ross pass flashing over in 79
minutes.
Three minutes later there was an incredible scramble
in front of the home goal - with both Fetai and Juanjo
coming close - but how play was allowed to carry on
when a Caley Thistle player firstly stayed off the
park to prevent being caught in an offside position,
then came back on to square the ball across the face
of goal, was a mystery to all bar the referee and
linesman.
Novo should have sealed the victory in 85 minutes when
he dispossessed Golabek and found himself one-on-one
on Brown only for the goalkeeper to touch his effort
wide.
Unbelievably with the game in injury time a long high
ball into the Ibrox defence rebounded on the back of
Gregory Vignal into the path of Bryan Prunty whose
miss-hit effort bounced over Waterreus into the net.
It was a catastrophic outcome for the Light Blues, and
one that may well prove most expensive in the final
analysis.
Afterwards a frustrated McLeish, who must accept the
major share of the blame for this disaster, reflected:
"This was very disappointing, but these results happen
in football. Losing a player of the quality of Dado
Prso cost us. The tempo was too slow in the
first-half, but we should have had it won in the
second. We now have nine games left, and have to win
them all to win the League."
RANGERS Waterreus; Ross, Andrews, Kyrgiakos, Vignal;
Buffel, Ricksen, Ferguson, Djordjic (Malcolm 52);
Novo, Thompson
UNUSED SUBS Ball, McGregor, A. Rae, Namouchi, Burke,
McCormack
INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE Brown; Tokely, Dods,
Munro, Golabek; Hart, McBain, Duncan, Wilson (Fetai
69); Bayne (Prunty 73), Juanjo
UNUSED SUBS Proctor, Fraser, McCaffrey, Hastings,
Black
REFEREE Mike Ritchie
Attendance 49,345