Clyde 1 Rangers 4: Leaders maintain momentum as they return to happy hunting ground

Sunday 17 February 2013

There was never any danger of Rangers being bullied by the Bully Wee.

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This was the Third Division leaders' eighth successive away league win on the trot and, fittingly, it came at the stadium where it all started. Following a sluggish start to their travels in Scottish football's bottom tier, Rangers eked out their first league win on the road, at Broadwood in October, with a 2-0 triumph. The journey to the title continued yesterday with this four-goal stroll, illuminated by a spectacular double from David Templeton and a brace from Andy Little, to maintain their 22-point advantage at the top of the table.

"Templeton's two strikes were absolutely fantastic and would have graced any level," said Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager. "As for Andy, well, he is the man in possession of the jersey with four goals in the last couple of games, and he's the kind of player who will make something happen on the park wherever he is. We need to keep winning, but the fans deserve a level of performance that allows them to sit back and enjoy their football."All week long, to mark the anniversary of Rangers' slide towards the financial abyss, various media outlets had been raking over the old ground with all the relish of a farmer putting in some practice for a championship ploughing match. It was billed as 'Rangers, one year on', but the Ibrox club were keen just to keeping moving on. They were upwardly mobile here early on and grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck with an opener on seven minutes. Little knocked the ball to Dean Shiels and continued his surge upfield and, when the ball was slid back into him, the Rangers striker neatly stroked a finish into the net.Clyde, adopting the kind of slapdash approach to defending that always left them vulnerable, swiftly found themselves being run ragged as their guests ambled about with carefree abandon. Ian Black and Templeton both had decent chances in quick succession just after the quarter- hour mark before the second goal duly arrived on 24 minutes. Kyle Hutton dinked a pass to the lurking Little, who spun away from his marker and unleashed a clinical strike high into the goal.The contest had all the ferocity of a training match and, after Emilson Cribari had an effort hacked off the line, Rangers' complete and utter dominance was rewarded with a third goal as half-time loomed. And it was a goal worthy of a grander stage than a dull afternoon in Cumbernauld. Templeton picked up the ball just inside enemy territory, strode forward and let rip from 30 yards with a searing drive that rattled off the upright on its way into the net.The hosts, unbeaten in their previous four matches, had been a fairly timorous bunch in the first half, but they emerged for the resumption with renewed vigour and caught Rangers on the hop with a goal on 48 minutes.Stuart McColm whipped over a cross and Kevin Watt jabbed the ball past Neil Alexander at his near post. Any hopes of some rousing cavalry charge were swiftly crushed seven minutes later, however, when Templeton engineered some space for himself inside the area and zipped an angled left-footed strike that soared into the corner."We have to be realistic, they are miles ahead of us," admitted Jim Duffy, the Clyde manager. "There were no harsh words at half-time. We worked hard, but maybe the occasion was just too much for some."

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Clyde 1 Rangers 4: Leaders maintain momentum as they return to happy hunting ground

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