in yet another drawn game against a club anchored at
the bottom of the League this afternoon - drawing 3-3
at Dunfermline in a game where appalling defensive
errors cost the Scottish Champions dear, a result that
means that the Light Blues have once again slumped to
fifth place.
The visitors, wearing all-blue, travelled to Fife for
this Boxing Day fixture, with Manager Alex McLeish
making just the one change from the Hearts game with
Steven Thompson replacing Hamed Namouchi against a
home side featuring two former Rangers' players,
namely Scott Wilson and Greg Shields.
It was the Ibrox men's first visit to East End Park
since the playing surface reverted to natural grass
and they almost made a lightning start in three
minutes when Peter Lovenkrands fired over following a
Thomas Buffel / Steven Smith move.
Three minutes later at the other end Sotirios
Kyrgiakos was caught in possession by Noel Hunt who
saw his shot held by Ronald Waterreus.
The 'Pars' took a shock lead in fifteen minutes when a
Wilson free-kick was missed by Marvin Andrews and as
the defence appeared to stop in the mistaken belief
that the ball was going out of play Hunt was able to
gather the ball, turn and cross for Andy Tod who had a
free header right in front of goal for the opener.
The scores were levelled six minutes later when Peter
Lovenkrands curled the ball home from twenty yards
following a cleverly-worked Barry Ferguson / Bob
Malcolm free-kick.
Incredibly straight from the restart Dunfermline
regained the lead when Mark Burchill netted from a
Darren Young pass with the visitors' central defence
posted missing.
Dunfermline held their lead until the interval,
although how Wilson remained on the park was a mystery
- having been yellow-carded for a foul on Thompson he
then chopped down Chris Burke in 43 minutes, but
Referee Craig Thomson took no action other than the
award of a free-kick.
The official had not had the best of afternoons thus
far, but even he surpassed himself on the stroke of
half-time when Wilson and Shields collided with each
other in the middle of the park. Somehow Thomson
awarded Dunfermline a free-kick, and booked
Lovenkrands for presumably being the nearest Ranger to
the incident.
The home side restarted on the offensive - Darren
Young seeing his 25-yard shot turned wide by
Waterreus, but Rangers were soon pressing for an
equaliser with Thompson's 47 minute header from a
Burke cross somehow being turned wide by home
goalkeeper Bryn Halliwell in 47 minutes.
Two minutes later the goalkeeper again kept his side
in the lead, holding a twenty-yard shot from Ferguson.
The game turned dramatically in 62 minutes when a
Lovenkrands corner was met by the head of Andrews -
only for Lee Makel to handle on the line. Amazingly
the referee saw nothing - but on the say-so of
linesman Martin Cryans a penalty was awarded and the
'Pars' midfielder red-carded.
Lovenkrands rifled the ball home to make it 2-2, and
sixty seconds later Rangers might have had another
penalty when Burke was upended by a shove from Greg
Ross - but on this occasion the referee waved play on.
The Light Blues were motoring now - and in 65 minutes
a superb goal by Burke gave them the lead when the
winger took a Ferguson pass before weaving his way to
the byeline. With everyone anticipating a cutback he
somehow chipped the ball into the roof of the net from
a narrow angle.
Nacho Novo replaced Lovenkrands six minutes later as
Rangers went in search of a clinching fourth goal.
Thompson might have got it in 86 minutes - but he was
inches away from connecting with a Novo cutback.
Kyrgiakos and Tod were both yellow-carded two minutes
later for a tussle, although the Ranger appeared
hard-done-to as he was clearly the victim.
Dunfermline were making a spirited late challenge to
retrieve something from the game, and Darren Young was
denied by Waterreus when his twenty-yard shot was
turned wide in 89 minutes.
With 94 minutes on the clock (and the referee having
indicated that there would be three minutes additional
time) a Darren Young corner was headed clear by Steven
Thompson only for Referee Craig Thomson incredibly to
award the home side a penalty for an apparent foul by
Kyrgiakos on Tod. The Greek defender received a second
yellow and consequent red card, and Darren Young
levelled matters from the spot.
Two points had been thrown away, and afterwards a
defensive Alex McLeish summarised:
"I'm very disappointed. We showed great character to
come back, but we should have killed the game off.
Referees have as tough a job as managers - sometimes
we can all do better. If penalties are awarded for the
Kyrgiakos / Tod incident then there will be fifteen a
game. We were already well over time."
Nevertheless the blunt and unacceptable truth is that
this was yet another game thrown away.
DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC Halliwell; Wilson, Tod, Shields,
Thomson (Campbell 65); Ross, Mason, Makel, Darren
Young; Burchill (Tarachulski 79), Hunt (Derek Young
79)
UNUSED SUBS Paterson, McCunnie, Labonte, C. Wilson
RANGERS Waterreus; Murray, Andrews, Kyrgiakos, Smith;
Burke, Malcolm, Ferguson, Thompson; Lovenkrands (Novo
71), Buffel
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Fanfan, Jeffers, McCormack,
Campbell, Lowing
REFEREE Craig Thomson
Attendance 9,481