RUGBY PARK has seen it all now.
For 17 years they shuttled back and fore down the A77 to Kilmarnock, unbeaten and lording it. Not this time. A poor performance sent them down to defeat against a Kilmarnock team who deservedly delivered a piece of club history.
Manuel Pascali’s late header had all sorts of consequences. Rangers couldn’t equal their 1929 record of 15 consecutive away league wins and nor could they extend their 25-game unbeaten run in all league fixtures.
A couple of other numbers seemed even more significant on their retreat from Ayrshire. The Glasgow club were 12 points ahead of Celtic going into last weekend and, in what seems like the blink of an eye, they have suffered a landslide which washed away two-thirds of that advantage.
Kilmarnock’s unfathomable home results continue. What sense can be made of a team that goes 3-0 up against Celtic and draws, then loses to the Clydesdale Bank Premier League’s bottom side and beats the one perched at the top? Rangers never had the better of them yesterday.
Solid performances from Pascali and Momo Sissoko at the back, a crucial save from Cammy Bell and the powerful second-half running of Gary Harkins all contributed to Rangers’ downfall. The home side actually began poorly, giving no inkling of what was to come.
Rangers were bleak. Just as Celtic have found consistency, the champions have lost theirs. They were slow and unimaginative when drawing against St Johnstone last weekend and it was the same story this time.
They badly miss Steven Naismith’s energy, passing, movement and finishing, but he’s out for the season and fresh impetus and drive will have to come from others. The team has lost its way. Even if this was the first league defeat since Ally McCoist became manager it was a setback which had been on the cards.
There was a first sighting of Sone Aluko in Rangers’ colours. In truth he played much as he usually did at Aberdeen: scampering, quick feet, pace, nimble, not always a great deal to show for it all.
He began wide on the right but covered plenty of ground. As the debutant, he faced more scrutiny than anyone else. Without doing a great deal he contributed slightly more than all of his generally mediocre team-mates.
Kilmarnock have not beaten Rangers at Rugby Park since Methuselah was a lad. As Kenny Shiels, their manager, said afterwards, though, this was their day. They were the side showing verve and strength as the game wore on.
The hamstring injury Carlos Bocanegra suffered during training meant his name was added to those of Naismith, Kyle Bartley, Lee Wallace and Sasa Papac, none of whom were available. The problems are beginning to take their toll.
The first-half withdrawal of Kyle Lafferty, who suffered a painful knock on the back, gave young substitute Kane Hemmings a chance but added to McCoist’s difficulties.
Kilmarnock had lost Danny Buijs even earlier, to a hamstring strain after only seven minutes, but of equal concern to them was the poor quality of their early play. One unforced error followed another.
When Rangers won the league here in May, they scored three times in the first seven minutes. That was chalk and cheese compared to yesterday but Kilmarnock were grateful that Rangers never came close to punishing them at the start.
Eventually Hemmings forced Bell to parry away a firm shot and Lee McCulloch drilled an effort into the side netting. It was a poor return from a drab first half.
Later they twice came close to a goal came with low, diagonal shots from Aluko to the far post: the first was smacked away from the goalline by James Fowler and the second took a deflection off Alejandro Bedoya and hit the woodwork. Rangers had bodies in the goal mouth but they were unlucky. The home side improved significantly as their clean sheet held.
The second half was more entertaining and they were the side creating more chances. Harkins whacked a shot which Allan McGregor parried away, then Pascali popped a header on to the bar from a corner. The save McGregor delivered to deny Paul Heffernan, when the Kilmarnock forward was put clean through on him, looked to have saved Rangers’ skin and at least a point.
Instead they crumbled to a winning goal 10 minutes from time. Rangers cleared a Kilmarnock attack but only as far as Garry Hay out wide. Pascali was coming away from goal when suddenly Hay’s cross picked him out for a glancing header which flew beyond McGregor. Aluko had played the goalscorer onside.
Bedoya blew the big chance to save Rangers’ long unbeaten run. For once the ball fell to them with time and space in the penalty area. Seventeen years of disappointment flashed through the minds of many long-suffering home supporters but for once the script had a new ending. Bell saved his shot.
Soon Rugby Park saw what it had waited all those years for.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article