behind them following this afternoon's 2-0 success
against Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Ibrox.
It was a less-than-memorable game for the capacity
crowd, but after last Sunday's reversal at Tannadice
the three points will be more than welcome for the
Light Blues.
Manager Walter Smith made just the one change from
Motherwell with Brahim Hemdani making a welcome return
from injury to replace Kevin Thomson.
The visitors had suffered just one defeat in five
previous visits to the Stadium, and that by a solitary
goal, but there was seldom any prospect of that run
being extended today.
Rangers got off to the perfect start when Kris Boyd
swept the ball home from a Nacho Novo pass in 34
seconds.
Four minutes later DaMarcus Beasley's chip found the
net only for the goal to be disallowed for offside.
There was only one team in it - David Weir seeing his
shot from the edge of the box from a Lee McCulloch
cutback just miss the target in eight minutes, then on
the quarter-hour mark Boyd, at the near post, fired
over from a Nacho Novo cross.
Caley had scarcely crossed the halfway line, although
their ultra-defensive tactics were riling the 48,898
crowd. It did appear odd to be lining up with ten men
behind the ball when you are already one down.
McCulloch almost added a second on the half-hour when
his hook shot from Novo's nod-down was inches wide.
The visitors finally crossed the halfway line six
minutes later when Graham Bayne broke forward only to
see his eighteen-yard effort beaten out by Allan
McGregor.
Inverness had deployed an offside trap that had
frustrated both the home side and spectators no end,
with Ross Tokely in particular giving a fair
impersonation of a traffic cop as he constantly stood
with raised arm appealing for the flag that inevitably
came.
So much for entertainment - although McCulloch again
came close to adding a second on the stroke of
half-time when his header from Alan Hutton's cross was
just wide.
Rangers restarted in determined fashion, keen to put
the game to bed at the earliest possible opportunity -
and Novo created an opening wide on the right three
minutes in when some sublime trickery created space
for himelf before seeing his cross headed over by
Boyd.
Beasley was causing all manner of problems for the
visitors defence on the other flank, and in 55 minutes
he cut in on a Novo cross only to see visiting
goalkeeper Michael Fraser hold his effort.
A one-goal lead is a tenuous one at the best of times,
and there was almost a collective heart-failure three
minutes later when a David Weir backheader eluded
McGregor only for the centre-half to himself retrieve
the situation by clearing off the line.
A nervousness was enveloping the Stadium, but the
introduction of Daniel Cousin and Jean-Claude
Darcheville on the hour, replacing Novo and Boyd
respectively, lifted the Light Blue legions.
Suddenly the Ibrox men were transformed, and within
sixty seconds Darcheville, making a most welcome
return from a five-week injury absence, had broken
free down the right - his low cutback being sliced
over by McCulloch.
The second goal was merely delayed - a Hutton cross,
nodded on by Darcheville, found Carlos Cuellar at the
far post, his downward header finding the net in 62
minutes.
In the very next attack Rangers split the Caley
defence asunder, Darcheville netting following a
McCulloch - Cousin move only for the goal to be denied
due to a lineman's flag.
Inverness at last decided to attack - and Cuellar had
to clear off the line in 68 minutes when Roy McBain's
cross was headed goalwards by Graham Bayne.
Darcheville was certainly enlivening the proceeedings
- and four minutes later he struck the crossbar with a
header from a Hutton cross.
Both Cousin and Darcheville again tested Fraser with
twenty-yard shots that the goalie was equal to in 73
and 81 minutes - but the game was won - and
afterwards a relaxed Walter Smith summarised:
"We perhaps relaxed a bit after the first goal. We had
a lot of possession, but it was disappointing not to
build on the start. We finished strongly. We'll try to
do our best at the Nou Camp."
Indeed - next stop Barcelona.
RANGERS McGregor; Hutton, Weir, Cuellar, Papac;
McCulloch, Ferguson, Hemdani, Beasley; Boyd
(Darcheville 60), Novo (Cousin 60)
UNUSED SUBS Carroll, Faye, Naismith, Lennon, Furman
INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE Fraser; Tokely,
McCaffrey, Munro, Hastings; Proctor (Morgan 86), Black
(Cowie 86), Duncan, McBain; Bayne, Wyness (Niculae 83)
UNUSED SUBS Malkowski, Niculae, MacDonald, Kell,
Vigurs
REFEREE Willie Collum
Attendance 48,898