RANGERS manager Ally McCoist wouldn't admit it, of course.
But the Ibrox side, to all intents and purposes, wrapped up the Irn-Bru Third Division title yesterday at a windswept Borough Briggs when they comprehensively outplayed their nearest rivals.
The Ibrox team were given a real battle in the first half as the home side simply refused to lie down and twice fought back to equalise when it looked as if Rangers would pull away from them. But fitness told in the second half and they ran out comfortable winners in the end.
This encounter was infamously postponed last month after Elgin sold too many tickets for the game, much to the embarrassment of the club, who were also fined. They deserve credit for yesterday though, both on and off the pitch, for their efforts. Ironically, after all that, it actually looked as if Borough Briggs wasn't even full.
But two goals each from Andy Little and Lee McCulloch, plus strikes from Lewis Macleod and Kyle Hutton, finally extinguished the strenuous efforts of the home side, who netted two spectacular goals of their own from Daniel Moore and Mark Nicolson.
McCoist was never going to hoist the white flag on behalf of the rest of the division, but he should have. He said: "We're in a good place just now and we have earned the right to be where we are and that's just as important. We've still got a lot of big games coming up over the festive period – on Boxing Day, then another big day at Hampden. So there's miles and miles to go, and over the next few months will decide how it goes but, that said, we have got to be delighted with the position that the boys have put us in. But the job's far from done yet.
"It was a big game for us because I know they fancied it today, as you would expect them to, especially on their own pitch and a lot of people would have looked at the conditions with the wind and the rain and a horrible dreich day. If there was going to be a shock – if you want to call it a shock – it might have been today. But I thought we thoroughly deserved the win."
That victory came despite twice being pegged back in the first half. It looked ominous for Elgin when Little rounded goalkeeper John Gibson to score after just five minutes, but the home side responded magnificently to grab a deserved equaliser in the 18th minute when Moore smacked a glorious left-footed drive which whizzed past Neil Alexander into the corner of the net.
Little restored Rangers' lead before Nicolson lined up a free kick at the edge of the box and curled a wonderful right-footed effort into the top corner of Alexander's net to again level matters. But Rangers captain McCulloch's turn and shot into the net just before the break was a hammer blow for the home side. Rangers ended the game as a contest on the hour mark as McCulloch collected Templeton's pass before turning to strike a low drive past Gibson.
They grabbed their fifth soon after when Barrie McKay's pass across the edge of the box was left by Templeton and Macleod's shot was far too good for the Elgin keeper.
In truth, Rangers controlled the second half after that, with the spirit finally knocked out of Elgin, and Hutton made it six late on before he fouled Stuart Leslie in the box to give Elgin a chance of a late consolation. But Alexander saved his second penalty in a row, following his midweek heroics against Annan, to keep out Moore's spot kick.
Daniel Moore said what Ally McCoist could not. He admitted: "We would have had to beat them today to try and keep up with them."
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