Forres 0 Rangers 1: Stuck in bottom gear

Sports Writer

Sunday 30 September 2012

RANGERS engineered their path into the third round of the William Hill Scottish Cup but Forres Mechanics all so nearly put an almighty spanner in the works.

Scorer Kal Naismith skips away from Forres Mechanics captain Ross McPhersonPhotograph: SNS

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Stewart Fisher

It was job done for Ally McCoist's side, but the cheers which reverberated around pretty little Mosset Park at the end of this match were for the losers, not the winners: great patches of this match belonged to last season's Highland League champions.

The pattern continued into the last half-hour, by which time the Mechanics were down to ten men following the dismissal of centre-half Nathan Sharp for a second bookable offence.For McCoist, this was a depressing return to the club's awayday lows after the midweek high of Motherwell. He left his players in no doubt about his disgust, and was hugely thankful for another Naismith for the goal which got him through.Kal of that ilk – a 20-year-old who has previously had loan spells at Cowdenbeath and Partick Thistle – steered in a fine first goal for the club with his left foot after a cross from fellow youngster Fraser Aird in the 13th minute. Another man Rangers had to thank for their victory was Neil Alexander, the goalkeeper's net leading a charmed life at times, particularly when he stuck out a leg to defy Kyle Scott's effort from a Simon Allan free-kick. "I thought this is going in, this is dreamland," Scott recalled afterwards of the moment he thought he had earned a replay. "I would have been doing laps, or running all the way back to Inverness." It was one of a number of set-pieces forced by the Highland League side in the second half, the last of which came to nothing when Graham Fraser bulleted a header wide. "I was probably the harder worked goalie, which shouldn't be," said Alexander. "It was tougher than we expected and the only positive we can take is that we are in the next round. In all honesty, they deserved something out of the game. In midweek we played exceptionally well against a good Motherwell team, but in what should have been the easier game we failed to turn up." Forres manager Charlie Rowley went off into the night hugely proud of his players, but somewhat aggravated by the performance of referee Crawford Allan. It was hard to argue against the dismissal of Sharp, but Rowley felt he could have had a penalty as early as the first minute, when Sebastien Faure appeared to handle the ball."The referee didn't do us many favours with the major decisions," said Rowley. He added: "For the last half hour, no neutral would have realised we were down to 10 men. I couldn't be prouder after a performance like that."His opposite number seemed relieved to be back on the bus with a place in the Scottish Cup intact. The aerial prowess of Lee McCulloch did cause Forres huge issues early on, but it was only later, when Stuart Knight defied a volley from substitute Robbie Crawford, that Rangers looked like adding to their tally."As happy as I am to be in the next round I don't think I'd be doing my job if I didn't register my disappointment at the way we played," said McCoist. "It's disappointing, but in all honestly it could have been a bigger disappointment."

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Forres 0 Rangers 1: Stuck in bottom gear

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