Livingston 2 (Snodgrass 2 {54, 63}, Rangers 2 (Ferguson 13, Burke 52)
Attendance 9,481
The defence of the League Championship lies dead and
buried following tonight’s catastrophic 2-2 draw with
Livingston at Almondvale – an abomination of a
performance by Rangers throwing away two more points
against the SPL’s bottom club.
This was a game that not only should have been won,
but was in fact as good as won early in the
second-half only to be thrown away in a quite shameful
manner.
However no analysis of tonight’s debacle should
overlook the contribution of Referee Craig Thomson
whose officiating ultimately cost the Ibrox men
victory, denying them two stonewall penalties.
The reigning Champions have now failed to win a
solitary away game since the visit to Cyprus more than
two months ago – a period that incorporates visits to
struggling clubs Falkirk and Dundee United as well as
Livingston.
Far from aiming for Champions’ League glory, Rangers
will now have to face the plainly unpalatable fact
that they now face the very likely probability of not
qualifying for Europe at all next season.
It was a cold, wet and miserable evening at Almondvale
with Manager Alex McLeish making two changes from
Saturday with Pierre Fanfan and Ian Murray replacing
Julien Rodriguez and Ross McCormack.
Rangers were on top from the opening seconds, taking
the lead in thirteen minutes when Barry Ferguson
slotted home a Chris Burke cutback.
Five minutes later a surging Peter Lovenkrands run
ended when Roddy McKenzie blocked his eighteen-yard
shot.
It was all Rangers – Marvin Andrews heading just wide
from a Burke corner in 24 minutes.
Livvy finally crossed the halfway line in 35 minutes –
Greg Strong’s shot from a Richard Brittain cross being
held by Waterreus.
Sixty seconds later Rangers were denied an absolute
clear penalty when Peter Lovenkrands, clear through on
goal, was hauled down by Harold Pinxten – yet
astonishingly Referee Thomson saw nothing amiss. It
should have been a spot-kick – and a certain red card
for the defender.
As the interval approached Rangers were in total
command – Andrews seeing his bullet header from a
Brahim Hemdani cross flash just wide.
It should have been 5-0 at the interval, but no one
was in the slightest way perturbed such was the Light
Blue superiority.
Seven minutes after the restart it was 2-0 when Burke
turned an Olivier Bernard cross home after Murray had
released the Frenchman down the left.
The game was over with the home side on their knees –
or so it appeared, yet within two minutes the deficit
was halved when Fernando Ricksen’s loose pass allowed
Robert Snodgrass to curl the ball into the corner of
the net from fully 25 yards with Waterreus badly
misjudging the flight of the ball, clearly believing
it to be going wide.
Unbelievably the scores were levelled in 63 minutes
when Snodgrass headed home a Paul Tierney free-kick
with the visitors’ defence all at sea.
In desperation, Steven Thompson replaced Murray nine
minutes later – but it was a substitution that failed
to inspire.
Rangers were denied a second stonewall penalty in 84
minutes when Lovenkrands, through on a Dado Prso
flick, was scythed down by Pinxten as he was about to
pull the trigger. It was an absolute certainty, and
again a stick-on red card for the defender, yet to
utter astonishment Craig Thomson again turned a blind
eye.
Sixty seconds later the Dane was again denied, this
time legitimately, when McKenzie turned his
twenty-yard shot wide.
Rangers were now laying siege to the home goal –
Fanfan’s eighteen-yard shot flashing just over in 86
minutes, but it was the home side who incredibly
almost snatched the winner two minutes later when
James McPake took advantage of a Fanfan error to go
clean through on a Ramon Pereira pass only to see his
shot blocked by Waterreus.
The final whistle brought forth a crescendo of booing
from the massive travelling support – and in case Alex
McLeish is in any doubt the jeers were directed at
both him and his team for a quite appalling display.
The time has now surely arrived for the departure of
the Rangers’ Manager – and hopefully perhaps for good
measure he can take his number one apologist Andy
Cameron with him.
LIVINGSTON McKenzie; Brittain, Pinxten, Strong,
Mackay; Adams (McPake 54), Walker, Lambert (Barrett
45), Tierney; Snodgrass (Pereira 79), Scott
UNUSED SUBS Adam, Roy, Boyd, Miller
RANGERS Waterreus; Ricksen, Andrews, Fanfan, Bernard;
Burke, Hemdani, Ferguson, Murray (Thompson 72); Prso,
Lovenkrands
UNUSED SUBS Klos, A. Rae, Malcolm, Hutton, Namouchi,
McCormack
REFEREE Craig Thomson