2-1 victory over Hibernian at Ibrox to establish a
six-point lead at the top of the SPL - but this was
scarcely a game to remember
Manager Walter Smith made five changes from Wednesday
with David Weir, Sasa Papac, Barry Ferguson, Lee
McCulloch and Jean-Claude Darcheville replacing Steven
Whittaker, Steven Naismith, Charlie Adam, Nacho Novo
and Kris Boyd.
This was the home side's fiftieth competitive fixture
of the season and at times it showed.
There was a poor turn-out of visiting fans, and making
a less-than-welcome return to The Stadium was Referee
Steve Conroy.
It was a bitterly cold day with an icy wind blowing
across the park - and there was precious little to
warm the 50,117 spectators in the first-half.
Rangers made all the running, but the absence of a
wide man reduced their attacking options, and there
was a lack of creativity coming from the midfield.
Anyone expecting a goal feast today had not studied
form - four previous meetings between the two clubs
had produced just five goals
The opening goal when it arrived in 39 minutes however
was a thing of beauty totally at odds with what had
gone before - a pass inside the full-back from Papac
released Darcheville down the left who cut in and
curled the ball into the top corner of the net from a
narrow angle.
It was Rangers' 100th competitive goal of the season,
and there can have been few better.
A superb goal was literally the only incident worthy
of note throughout a poor first-half, but Darcheville
might have added a second seven minutes after the
restart when Allan McGregor's quick throw-out found
Steve Davis moving at speed across the halfway line
before quickly releasing Jean-Claude who saw his drive
blocked by Hibernian goalkeeper Yves Ma-Kalambay.
Novo replaced Darcheville midway through the
second-half.
McGregor had his first shot to save in 72 minutes when
Hibs substitute Dean Shiels cut in from the right to
test the 'keeper with a twenty-yard shot.
Six minutes later it was 2-0 when Novo wheeled on a
Davis cross to rifle the ball home.
Rangers appeared to be coasting yet Shiels might have
reduced the deficit in 82 minutes when his flick
drifted wide after a long ball from Abdel Zarabi was
missed by Carlos Cuellar.
The warning went unheeded however - six minutes later
John Rankin's through-ball was flicked on by Colin
Nish to Shiels whose chip came back off the crossbar,
the substitute being alert enough to follow up and
slot the ball home.
A loss of concentration in the Ibrox defence had been
responsible for the loss of the goal, but the home
side held their nerve and played out time to secure
the three points.
Afterwards a relieved Walter Smith looked back:
"We got the win we were looking for. I was delighted
at two good finishes. There are hard games ahead. We
have a great desire to win, and have been quite
fortunate with injuries so far."
RANGERS McGregor; Broadfoot, Cuellar, Weir, Papac;
Davis, Ferguson, Dailly, Thomson, McCulloch (Whittaker
80); Darcheville (Novo 66)
UNUSED SUBS Alexander, Boyd, Naismith, Emslie, Furman
HIBERNIAN Ma-Kalambay; Canning, Hogg, Jones, Zarabi;
Morais (Shiels 57), Chisholm (Zemmama 57), Murray,
Rankin; Fletcher (Benjelloun 75), Nish
UNUSED SUBS McNeil, McCann, O'Brien, Stevenson
REFEREE Steve Conroy
Attendance 50,117