the hands of Hibernian this afternoon - the heaviest
Ibrox defeat for four years - and one that had many
onlookers seriously questioning Manager Alex McLeish's
team selection and tactics.
There were two changes from Wednesday with Alex Rae
and Steven Thompson replacing Michael Ball and Peter
Lovenkrands.
The home side almost got off to the perfect start
inside two minutes when a quickly-taken Thomas Buffel
free-kick found Nacho Novo wide on the right, his
cross reaching Dado Prso whose shot was blocked, the
rebound falling to Steven Thompson whose effort was
saved by goalkeeper Zbignien Malkowski.
As the game developed the Rangers formation was
baffling the 49,754 onlookers. If the absence of
Marvin Andrews mystified many, so too did the fielding
of Dado Prso in a wide-left position, Nacho Novo wide
right, and Steven Thompson up front.
Novo as always was full of energy on the right,
cutting inside on twenty minutes before shooting over.
Hibs had clearly set out to contain and frustrate, yet
should have conceded the opening goal in 35 minutes
when a Novo cross found Alex Rae whose shot was
blocked, falling perfectly for Prso who with the
entire goal to aim at fired straight at Malkowski.
The Polish goalkeeper produced an outstanding save six
minutes later, touching over a Barry Ferguson shot
following a Fernando Ricksen corner.
With the first-half ending goalless, many anticipated
that McLeish would make changes at half-time, but none
were forthcoming.
Thompson had been less than effective, never more so
than when five minutes after the restart he completely
missed Novo's cutback when right in front of goal.
Thomas Buffel - Rangers' most effective player - was
inches away from breaking the deadlock three minutes
later with a volley off a Prso header from a Ferguson
cross.
To general astonishment Lovenkrands replaced Buffel in
55 minutes. Certainly the home side were crying out
for change, but to leave the ineffective Thompson on
whilst removing your best player was a decision that
baffled the Light Blue legions.
Malkowski again denied Rangers, holding a low drive
from Novo following a Prso lay-off on the hour, but
worse was to come six minutes later when a long
clearance from David Murphy found substitute Ivan
Sproule outpacing Pierre Fanfan to score the opening
goal in what was effectively Hibernian's first attack
of the game.
Ross McCormack at last replaced Steven Thompson in 71
minutes.
Five minutes later a Prso head-flick found Novo, but
Malkowski held his effort from a wide angle.
Novo presented Lovenkrands with a glorious opening in
80 minutes, but the Dane's effort, far from being on
target, almost hit the corner flag.
Six minutes later an eighty-yard run by Scott Brown
found Sproule in the clear wide on the right - the
Ulsterman curling the ball past Ronald Waterreus to
put his side 2-0 up.
Unbelievably the visitors had now scored with their
only two attacks, and incredibly the same duo repeated
the dose in injury time with the home defence in
tatters - Sproule writing his name in the history
books by becoming the first player in nine years to
score a hat-trick against Rangers at Ibrox - since
Allan Johnston in January 1996 to be precise.
It was Hibernian's first win at Ibrox for ten years,
and the final whistle brought forth a crescendo of
booing.
Afterwards a deflated Alex McLeish reflected:
"We played well in the first-half, but the last
fifteen minutes concerned me. We should have been
ahead at half-time. We had good chances that went
abegging in the first ten minutes. Hibs dug in, and
caught us with three sucker punches. There are no
guarantees in football. We gave the ball away cheaply
at the first goal; we had good chances that should
have been dispatched. I fielded Steven Thompson
because I felt he needed a game."
Today's shambles must raise serious questions not only
about Eck's tactics, but also about how Rangers will
cope in the Champions' League - on today's showing
they will be crucified.
RANGERS Waterreus; Ricksen, Rodriguez, Fanfan, Murray;
Novo, Ferguson, A. Rae, Prso; Buffel (Lovenkrands 55),
Thompson (McCormack 71)
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Andrews, Malcolm, N'Guessan, Smith
HIBERNIAN Malkowski; Whittaker, Hogg, Smith, Murphy;
Scott Brown, Stewart, Thomson, Beuzelin, Shiels
(Fletcher 72); O'Connor (Sproule 62)
UNUSED SUBS Simon Brown, Konte, Morrow, Rudge
REFEREE Iain Brines