Rangers eased past Livingston with a less than convincing 2-0 victory at Almondvale this afternoon with goals from Maurice Ross and Barry Ferguson in the second half, following a red card for Sherif Toure-Maman.
The game started in humorous fashion as the stadium announcer said “Anyone using foul or abusive language will be ejected from the ground”. Cue a nearbyLivingston supporter to shout “C’mon Livi – intae these f***in’ b******s”!
The game started in humorous fashion as the stadium announcer said “Anyone using foul or abusive language will be ejected from the ground”. Cue a nearby
Only three minutes were on the clock and Livi registered the first chance. Zarate rode a couple of challenges and played a neat ball out to the impressive Barry Wilson. He crossed low and Quino met the ball first time. Thankfully a smart stop by Klos kept Rangers in the game early on.
On 9 minutes, Caniggia had a solid penalty claim. Arveldze fed the ball through to Claudio, who enticed McNamee into the challenge. Amazingly Kenny Clark waved away the appeals.
Another penalty appeal from Rangers came 3 minutes later as Caniggia went down under a challenge from Gary Bollan. There was only a bit of contact, however Bollan’s reaction was disappointing – possibly to contest any penalty – and the reaction got Caniggia an undeserved booked.
Caniggia again was in the thick of the action on 20 minutes as the Livi tactics became apparent – to boot and foul Rangers at every turn – and CC took a sore one.
The game was now threatening to get out of control as Livi’s boot boys seemed to be intent on injuring the Rangers players, rather than play the ball. No booking for this rather summed up the craziness of the earlier Caniggia booking.
The resultant free-kick from
Sherif was finally booked on 25 minutes as
8 minutes from halftime and Livi should have been a goal to the good. Arveladze’s misplaced pass allowed Quino to feed Zarate in on goal. As he tried to go round Klos, the German stopper proved why he’s the best goalkeeper in
Half time –
The second half was only 3 minutes old when
On 53 minutes we were left wondering how many fouls Gary Bollan would be allowed before getting a card as he flew through Arteta again. The little Spaniard should take this as a back handed compliment though as he is simply too good for them to handle.
Only 3 minutes after Bollan’s latest foul, Zarate was booked for a soft foul on Craig Moore!
With the second half short on goalscoring opportunities, the turning point came on 57 minutes. Having been booked for his crude lunge on
From the resultant freekick , Rangers had a golden chance for the opener. Arteta’s flighted cross was met superbly by
The first goal was however only 2 minutes away. A marvellous run by Maurice Ross was found by a superb pass from Barry Ferguson. The young Scot took a great first touch and swept the ball home with a low drive.
It was the youngster’s first goal for the club and one he obviously relished as he celebrated in front of the (once again) fabulously vocal travelling support – home support and Subway Loyal take note…..
Livingston
Rangers now threatened to take Livi apart as Caniggia tricked his way past two defenders. His cross was a fraction too high from Arveladze and the header went wide.
Four minutes after the goal provided further evidence of
Peter Lovenkrands returned from injury on 66 minutes, replacing Billy Dodds. The former Scottish international tried hard and linked the play well, but nothing would drop for him.
A further change on 74 minutes as Latapy replaced Caniggia. Maybe this was to pacify the
Following yet another foul on Ricksen on 80 minutes, Mikel Arteta almost brought the house down with a Paul Gascoigne style shot on goal from the touchline. The ball whizzed a fraction wide as Javier-Sanchez Broto should and watched, well beaten.
With only 5 minutes remaining, Lapaty robbed McNamee on the touchline and fed Lovenkrands who had beaten the offside trap. As he entered the box, he cut inside only for Marvin Andrews to chop his legs away from him – the dictionary definition of “stonewall penalty” is being rewritten this evening
Barry Ferguson despatched his fourth penalty of the season with ease, and left me wondering how long it would be until those of a “dirtier” persuasion would moan about the penalties – first call of the evening on Sportsound, and they never disappoint!
Livingston
He last chance fell to Rangers again as Shota Arveladze hit the post from 20 yards almost on full time.
Full time –
In the end, it was a comfortable victory for Rangers even thought they did not play particularly well. It could be said that games like this go a long way to winning titles – and even at this earlier stage, it was games like this that we dropped many points in last term. Nice to note too that it’s two Scots boys scoring the goals.
As for
Follow Follow Man of the Match – Mikel Arteta. Close cal between himself and Barry Ferguson as both simply ran the midfield. Arteta gets it for continually getting up following
Teams
Rangers:
Klos, Ricksen,
Subs:
McGregor, Latapy, Mols, Konterman, Lovenkrands
Livingston
Broto, McNamee, Bollan, Rubio, Andrews, Quino, Lovell, Sherif,
Subs:
McEwan, Dadi, Dorado, Bingham, O’Brien
Referee: Kenny Clark
Asst Referees: Martin Doran, James Bee
4th Official: Dougie Smith
Vanderhogg
The East Enclosure Dutchman