If last week's 2-2 draw with Dundee United was a
travesty of justice, the same alas could not be said
of today, for this was an extremely poor Rangers'
performance which must leave Manager Paul Le Guen
seriously considering his options.
For a third successive fixture the Frenchman fielded
an unchanged line-up with new arrival Lee Martin from
Manchester United on the bench against a Pars side,
pointless thus far this season, fielding former Ranger
Scott Wilson.
There was a pathetic turn-out of home fans, all the
more frustrating when one considers the huge number of
ticketless visiting supporters left locked outside
East End Park.
Rangers went into today's game knowing that a two-goal
win would see them at the summit of the title race,
and they almost struck as early as the fifth minute –
Thomas Buffel ghosting onto an Alan Hutton cross only
for the ball to slip just wide.
Two minutes later Buffel's volley from another Hutton
cross was held by home goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie.
Just to prove the traffic was not all one-way, Stephen
Simmons saw his 25-yard free-kick held by Lionel
Letizi in ten minutes.
Rangers were the ones making all the running however –
two minutes later Charlie Adam might have done better
than scoop the ball over after Buffel's shot had been
diverted to him by Dado Prso.
The longer the half developed the more disappointing
the game, and when the interval arrived with the
scoresheet still blank it was all too obvious that the
flowing football of the previous two weeks had gone
from Rangers' play.
The restart saw no improvement, obliging Le Guen to
make a double substitution on 58 minutes with Kris
Boyd and Chris Burke replacing Prso and Libor Sionko.
Within four minutes the deadlock was broken when
Buffel swivelled on a Hutton pass to slot the ball
home.
The lead did not last long however – Pars' substitute
Owen Morrison netting from a Simmons cross following a
collision between Letizi and Julien Rodriguez in 66
minutes.
Four minutes later Martin replaced Charlie Adam, and
immediately caught the eye with his fast, direct
running.
Boyd was denied by McKenzie when the goalkeeper
blocked his shot from a Buffel pass in 81 minutes.
It was however the home side who almost snatched the
winner in injury time when Calum Woods intercepted
Burke to drive into the side-netting from twenty
yards.
Afterwards a frustrated Le Guen observed:
“It was dissappointing not to win. We have to do
better, but the goal we lost was unlucky. We must work
harder, but will not change our system. I said when I
arrived that we would not win all our games at the
beginning.”
DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC McKenzie; Woods(C. Wilson 90),
McGuire, S. Wilson, Bamba; Simmons, McCunnie, Mason,
Muirhead (Ross 57); Tod, Burchill (Morrison 65)
UNUSED SUBS De Vries, Campbell, Phinn, Smith
RANGERS Letizi; Hutton, Svensson, Rodriguez, Smith;
Sionko (Burke 58), Hemdani, Clement, Adam (Martin 67);
Buffel, Prso (Boyd 58)
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Rae, Sebo, Pierre-Fanfan
REFEREE Charlie Richmond