CHARLES Green may not have been at Ibrox yesterday, but his presence hung over this team like a ghostly shroud.
While Rangers and their supporters were still digesting his shock departure on Friday, their players turned in one of their worst displays of the season as Peterhead chalked up a memorable win.
The Yorkshireman had famously franked this the worst Rangers side in history. Perhaps he felt vindicated yesterday. This was a woeful effort from Ally McCoist's men, who crashed to their third league defeat of the season and deservedly so.
Jim McInally's side were excellent value after they recovered from gifting Lee McCulloch an early goal and strikes from Scott Ross and Rory McAllister handed them a triumph they will long savour. Rangers may have cantered to the Third Division title, but this performance was totally unacceptable as the part-timers incredibly proved to be stronger and more up for it.
McCoist was scathing in his assessment of his team's shortcomings. He said: "We should have been home and dry after the first half with the chances we missed and we hit the post twice. Second half we huffed and puffed. It's really evident what needs to be done. Nothing has changed over the last couple of weeks, we need freshness. There were one or two disappointments."
McCulloch was reunited with strike partner Andy Little – they have netted 50 goals between them this season – after the Northern Ireland international recovered from his knee injury. That total would soon become 51 in the 12th minute following a Peterhead gift.
Dean Cowie was short with his pass back to former Rangers keeper Graeme Smith and McCulloch nipped in. Smith was able to get a hand to the ball, but it squirmed from his grasp and the Rangers captain was able to spin round and lash the ball high into the empty net.
The veteran striker very nearly added a second goal when he collected Kyle Hutton's pass, rounded Smith and struck the post from an acute angle. However, the Balmoor Stadium outfit were level in the 23rd minute when they took advantage of Rangers' weak spot this season – their inability to defend set- pieces. David Cox's corner from the right was met at the far post by Ross, who nodded past Neil Alexander into the net.
Undeterred, Rangers rattled the woodwork again soon after when McCulloch threaded in David Templeton with just Smith to beat, but the former Hearts winger hit the post when it seemed easier to score.
The visitors were better in the second half against the out-of-sorts champions and they took a 56th-minute lead, which was just about merited. McAllister collected Andy Rogers' pass and found space for a shot despite the challenge of defender Sebastien Faure, striking a superb effort into the far corner of the net.
It mattered little to the home crowd that their side were far clear at the top of the league – this was woeful stuff and they were not slow in letting the players know. Peterhead defender Graeme Sharp saved his side when sub Kal Naismith's corner was deflected towards goal, the right-back bundling the ball clear on the line. And Smith made a fabulous fingertip reaction save in injury-time to prevent McCulloch from equalising.
Visitors' manager Jim McInally said: "At half-time I said to them you have 45 minutes to make history and it means so much to a club like Peterhead. They just went out and played and I thought our strikers and two centre-halves were excellent."
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