Rangers keep the pressure on
By: j |
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The Rangers kept the pressure on Celtic with a 1-0 victory over Hibernian on Saturday. While the Rangers controlled the run of play and pelted ‘keeper Yves Ma-Kalambay with numerous attempts it was not till a minute past the hour when Kris Boyd scored a brilliant scissors kick that Ibrox would rise for a goal. The Hibernian ‘keeper played a stunning match, holding Kris Boyd early and then began a match full of solid saves. Finally just past the hour mark Steven Davis’ corner was redirect by Kirk Broadfoot to Kris Boyd, who finished with a splashy scissors kick. With the lead, the Rangers pushed a hearty defensive effort throughout the balance of the match and the match ended with the 1-0 victory.
Walter Smith said after the match:
“This was a very important win for us today as we knew it would be a difficult game.
“Hibs came here on the back of two victories and have shown recently that they can defend well as a unit.
“Today we controlled the game but but they kept their shape and made it difficult for us to break them down.
“Obviously we were delighted when Kris finally scored and it was a great finish from him, we needed something special.
“His goals have been an important factor this season and today’s was no different.
“But after that the game opened up a little bit as you would expect and Hibs put us under a wee bit of pressure for the first time.
“However, I felt we dealt with that well and, overall, thoroughly deserved to take all three points.”
Category: Team News
Rangers v Hibernian match preview
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Mixu Paatelainen’s Hibernian invade Ibrox to face the Rangers riding high on a five match unbeaten streak including the stunning 2-0 upset of Celtic two weeks ago. The side from beautiful Edinburgh will be possibly miss both Derek Riordan and Northern Ireland international Dean Shiels but do receive a boost with Steven Fletcher returning to action. Walter Smith will be without Andrius Velicka and Maurice Edu with Madjid Bougherra and Chris Burke questionable. With the Gers four points behind Celtic there is no room for slip-ups and they will need to play a heart two-way match.
I will report on the match after it concludes or late Monday (CET) evening due to a difficult holiday travel schecule. I apologize for the delay.
Category: Team NewsJean-Claude Darcheville exit confirmed
By: j | 1 Comment
As reported earlier, the Gers have confirmed that Jean-Claude Darcheville is leaving for Ligue 1 side Valenciennes in January. The thirty-three year old expressed his respect for the Rangers via the club web-site:
“It is a difficult moment for me to leave Rangers because I played for a year and a half here and I was very happy in Glasgow.
“I had a good relationship with the staff, my manager and the fans but I need to play football.
“It will be good to go back to France because I’ll be able to see my family there but I really enjoyed playing for Rangers.
“It was one of the highlights of my career and last year was my best season because we won two cups and I scored lots of goals.
“It was a disappointment to lose the SPL in the last game and lose the UEFA Cup final but I can’t forget what happened as there were still a lot of good memories.
“It has been a special time. I have good friends here who I can call when I leave and I’ll always be a Rangers fan.”
Category: Team NewsMartin Stranzl to Rangers
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A variety of media reports are suggesting the Austrian international Martin Stranzl wishes to leave Spartak Moscow and join the Rangers. The Daily Express reports that the Rangers fancy the defensive specialist and with a fee of only £1m he fits perfectly into their budgetary constraints.
Category: Team NewsJean-Claude Darcheville to Valenciennes
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This should not be a shock to anyone, given his diminished role however Jean-Claude Darcheville has confirmed his interest to join Ligue 1 side Valenciennes during the January transfer window. As reported in La Voix du Nord Valenciennes president Francis Decourriere said:
“It would be a great reinforcement for us.”
Category: Team NewsRangers squander perfect chance
By: j | 2 Comments
The Rangers squandered a perfect opportunity to make up ground on Celtic as they played to a 2-2 draw against Dundee United. While Celtic and Hearts fought to a draw, the Rangers will rue this missed opportunity and were in-fact hard pressed to earn a draw. While the Gers took the lead eleven minutes in with Kris Boyd’s strike from inside the box, Dundee United brought Tannadice Park to its feet as Lee Wilkie scored five minutes past the hour as he headed in Paul Dixon’s cross from the back post. Only four minutes later, the home side took the lead with Paul Dixon once again the provider, as Warren Feeney nodded his cross into the net. However with time dwindling down the Rangers began to play with greater urgency and conviction. With fourteen minutes remaining Nacho Novo provided Kyle Lafferty a perfect opportunity which he converted neatly, bringing the match level. The Rangers came within a whisper of scoring the winner with Pedro Mendes late effort but it was not to be and the match ended with a 2-2 draw.
The Rangers return to action next Saturday against Hibernian at Ibrox.
Category: Team NewsRangers visit Dundee United
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With the surprise defeat of Celtic last week, the Rangers title bid took a major leap forward. In a year where victories seem rare for Celtic they must continue to press-on and pick up points where ever possible. Dundee Utd is weighted down with a number of absences including Morgaro Gomis, Willo Flood and Lee Wilkie to the flu and Francisco Sandaza isn’t fit to play yet. Walter Smith goes into the match with a near full squad list with only Madjid Bougherra questionable.
Walter Smith said of the match:
“Tomorrow’s game is a good one for us. We had a smashing game at Ibrox earlier in the season and I think anybody who was at that game would have thoroughly enjoyed it.In Scotland we don’t get enough praise at time for the standard of game we can put on but that was an excellent game and hopefully this one will be every bit as good. I certainly hope it will have a different result - in our favour - but I hope it’s as good a game to watch.”
I will report on the match as it concludes.
Category: Team NewsRangers deliver Hamilton a horrible 7-1 defeat
By: j | 3 Comments
Following last weeks disappointing loss to Hearts, Walter Smith’s Rangers responded with a rousing 7-1 shocker over Hamilton Accies. Sarcasm aside, the match started well for Hamilton but went downhill fast. Two minutes after the start Chris Swailes’ cross was re-directed in by James McArthur to give the Accies the lead. The carnage began at the eleventh minute as Kenny Miller picked up a loose ball at the edge of the box and sent the ball to the back of the net. The match stayed close with only Kris Boyd’s goal at the twenty-eighth minute on the ledger to bring it to a 2-1 scoreline at the break. However with the re-start, the match turned into a one-sided affair with Kris Boyd scoring from the spot seven minutes in as Martin Canning was shown a highly undeserved red-card. While I’m opening up a can of worms, quality unbiased decisions are important in the game and referee Calum Murray quick red-card was completely uncalled for and led to the slaughter. This has no place in the game, regardless of who you support as does running up the score when the match is no longer in doubt. However with Hamilton down a man, the dogs needed to be called off as Rangers as Kris Boyd completed his hat-trick two minutes past the hour with Steven Davis feeding him a pass with an open goal. The goal-fest continued in the final ten minutes as the Rangers padded their stats against a beaten team with Kyle Lafferty, Nacho Novo and Steven Davis adding their name to the score-sheet of a 7-1 devastation of Hamilton.
Category: Team NewsRangers v Hamilton Accies match preview
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Following the tough loss to Hearts and the realization that the January transfer winter will have a foreboding financial side to it, Rangers welcome the Hamilton Accies to Ibrox. The SPL’s early season swagger is long goal and they hold a glimmer of a one point advantage over St Mirren in the final spot. Walter Smith’s Gers have yet to lose a match at Ibrox this season and with Celtic holding a seven point advantage, title hopes are slowly disappearing.
The Rangers are nearly fully fit and will have Steven Davis, Kenny Miller and Saša Papac back although Steven Naismith and Brahim Hemdani are still out. Hamilton manager Billy Reid will not have the services of Mark Corcoran but Simon Mensing returns from the sin-bin.
The Rangers are drifting in a peculiar place, both seven points ahead of Hearts and seven points behind Celtic and it is easy to be distracted. They must press for victories and wait patiently for every Celtic slip-up.
Walter Smith said of the todays match:
“What we need is consistency. We have had two poor performances - St Mirren and Hearts away - but otherwise we have played to a decent level.”
“I would hope we get a reaction from the players and we need to have one. We have a good record at home and we have been playing well there so hopefully that will continue.
“We found ourselves seven points in front last season and missed out because of the number of games we had out so we know that reaching a level of consistency is what we need.
“The only people who are talking about the gap are Celtic. They know they will need to keep playing at a certain level and in fairness to them they have been extremely consistent.
“But I am more concerned about my own team.”
Category: Team NewsHearts deny Rangers with 2-1 victory
By: j | 2 Comments
Hearts dealt the Rangers a massive blow in their title aspirations as they handed the Gers a 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle.
The Rangers were empty of attacking flourish and I suspect Hearts ‘keeper Jamie MacDonald might be feeling a bit spry this evening because he certainly won’t be fatigued from the match. Hearts took the lead twenty minutes in as skipper Christophe Berra’s header was saved by Allan McGregor but the rebound came to Marius Žaliūkas and the on-loan FBK Kauna-man snapped the ball into the net. Only three minutes later, another rebound off a Christophe Berra attempt, resulted in a goal as the hot-tempered Laryea Kingston headed-in the ball. A further three minutes later Rangers drew one back as a Kris Boyd header pinballed off the bar and Christos Karipidis into the net. With the score 2-1, Rangers were unable to launch a reasonable effort. With twenty-four minutes remaining, the Gers were gifted a man advantage as Lee Wallace was sent off with his second yellow but still they could not break-through and the match ended with Hearts winning 2-1.
Important to note from the larger perspective of the sport is Hearts troublesome payroll issue. For the second time this campaign, wages have been delayed and this is quite obviously a highly problematic situation. The club is owned by Lithuania financier Roman Romanov are paid through Ukio Bankas Investment Group. For the sake the sport and of-course the club, hopefully this is only a temporary problem and not a sign of things to come.
After the match, Walter Smith said:
“Hearts did well but we made it easy for them and we didn’t create an awful lot up front. That was surprising because we’ve made a lot of opportunities in previous matches but never came up with any of note many here. Hearts deserve credit. They had their players back in position and played very much in the manner we played in a number of games last season. They did very well. We spent the last hour of the game almost entirely in Hearts’ half of the pitch but never really created any opportunities to score.”"You’re going to miss players of that quality but you’re going to go through the season without some people and there are no excuses there.
“We’re still good enough without them. I felt in the first 20 minutes or so that we struggled in a defensive sense by giving away too many fouls. That gave Hearts the opportunity to get the ball into our area and we ended up losing two goals from such situations. With the consistency Celtic have shown, any points that we drop are a blow to us and it certainly means the three Old Firm games left are ones where the pressure is on us. We deserve that because we didn’t deal with set plays well today. Normally we defend well but against Dundee United we gave away two bad goals. Those little bits of inconsistency have plagued us in games and that has been costly for us.”
The Rangers return to action next Saturday against the Hamilton Accies.
Category: Team News
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