Attendance 47,867
Yet another nail was hammered in Alex McLeish’s coffin
on Saturday as Rangers slumped to yet another draw
– on this occasion a 1-1 scoreline with Inverness
Caledonian Thistle at Ibrox.
It was another bleak, dire performance from the
Champions, who now trail THIRD placed Hibernian by no
fewer than six points. It can now surely be a question
of not IF the Ibrox Manager walks, but WHEN.
There were two changes from Wednesday’s debacle with
Alan Hutton and Bob Malcolm replacing Ian Murray and
Pierre Fanfan. Ronald Waterreus retained the
goalkeeper’s jersey, despite intense speculation in
recent days.
There was a funereal atmosphere around the Stadium
even when play commenced, with little spark from
either side.
It was the visitors who struck first however in 25
minutes when Craig Dargo hit a speculative 25-yard
hook shot that Waterreus appeared to misjudge once
again, thinking the ball was going wide.
This was the last thing that Rangers needed – but two
minutes later it might have been 2-0 when Alan Morgan
sliced the ball wide from a Dargo pass.
The Light Blues were out of luck in 33 minutes when
Fernando Ricksen’s header from an Olivier Bernard
cross struck the crossbar, but that was the only
effort worthy of note in the entire 45 minutes from
the home side and the interval arrived with Caley
Thistle still ahead and a crescendo of booing pouring
down from the stands.
‘Eck’ made one change at half-time with Steven
Thompson replacing Chris Burke, and the substitute
levelled matters eight minutes in when he stabbed the
loose ball home after a Hutton cross had broken free
off goalkeeper Mark Brown, under pressure from a group
of players.
Ten minutes later Dado Prso’s header from a Thompson
head-flick was just wide, as Rangers started to apply
a sustained bout of pressure.
The 47,867 crowd had been brought to life by the
second-half revival, and Peter Lovenkrands almost
snatched the lead in 68 minutes when Ross Tokely
cleared his flick from a Ricksen corner off the line.
Four minutes later the Dane embarked on a surging
75-yard run that saw him, following a one-two with
Thompson, clearly fouled in the penalty area by Darren
Dods, but Referee
Iain Brines - just like his counterpart at Livingston
on Wednesday - waved play on.
It was all Rangers – Marvin Andrews seeing his volley
flash just wide from a Ricksen cross in 74 minutes,
then two minutes later Barry Ferguson fired over from
a Hutton cross.
The pressure was intense at this stage – Ricksen’s
22-yard free-kick being held by Brown in 78 minutes,
but the breakthrough simply would not come.
Inverness were reduced to ten men four minutes later
when Graham Bayne received a second yellow and
subsequent red for a foul on Lovenkrands.
In the dying seconds former Ibrox goalkeeper Mark
Brown defied his old club with a superb save from a
Thompson header following a Ferguson cross, touching
the ball over the bar.
The final whistle brought forth no comfort for Rangers
or their manager, only the wrath of the crowd, and
afterwards a besieged McLeish, who on Friday had
stated that his team had to win every remaining game,
tried to explain it all:
“We were very good in the second-half, but had a
setback in the first. Inverness defended in numbers.
There are vital games ahead for the club. We gave
everything in the second-half. We have a massive game
on Tuesday. The fans are hurting, but we won’t go down
without a fight. We can go to Bratislava and win – and
I expect to be in charge.”
RANGERS Waterreus; Hutton, Malcolm, Andrews, Bernard;
Ricksen, Ferguson, Hemdani; Burke (Thompson 45), Prso,
Lovenkrands
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Smith, A. Rae, Murray, Namouchi,
McCormack
INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE Brown; Tokely, Dods,
Munro, Hastings; Proctor, Duncan, Black, Morgan;
Bayne, Dargo (Wyness 85)
UNUSED SUBS Fraser, McCaffrey, Hart, Carricondo,
Parratt, Fox
REFEREE Iain Brines