THIRTY-FIVE minutes it took.

Thirty-five minutes for all that joy and hope and positivity to be sucked out of the atmosphere by a team now turning misery and failure into an art form.

This was intended to be a night of new beginnings at Ibrox. On the way to the ground, vendors were selling special John Greig souvenir badges for a couple of pounds to mark the grand return of the Greatest Living Ranger to the Directors' Box.

Walter Smith and John Brown, men known to have their own particular issues with the previous 'custodians', were in there with him. Chris Graham, brought onto the plc board to represent the supporters, and James Blair, the company secretary so closely associated with the Rangers First community ownership programme, were unveiled in their new roles.

Dave King, Paul Murray and John Gilligan beamed from the front cover of the match programme, arms round each other in a show of togetherness with the historic splendour of the Trophy Room behind them.

The supporters wanted to be part of it, wanted to believe this really was the start of something special. The eventual crowd of 35,018 was perhaps a little lower than hoped, but it was the second-best of the season at Ibrox behind the opening-day visit of Hearts and the atmosphere was vibrant and expectant before kick-off.

That's the whole problem, though. The actual game had to start some time. The football had to take centre stage. When that happens at Rangers, the problems start.

Not even going a goal up through Haris Vuckic, the talented Newcastle United loan signing who serves as one of the few physical remnants left from Mike Ashley's recent involvement, with 13 minutes left was enough to get them over the line.

A chaotic equaliser from the Queen of the South substitute, Aidan Smith, killed the party stone-dead four minutes from time. The booing around the stadium at full-time was even louder than it had been as the teams left the park at the interval.

It had turned sour a long time before that, though. With the visitors having just hit the post around the half-hour mark, the precise moment that all the same old frustrations took over came when Nicky Law collected the ball on the right of the visiting area.

He tried to cut inside and make something happen and lost possession to Kevin Holt. Sick of watching another pedestrian display by Kenny McDowall's side, now with just one win in six matches and only three in nine fixtures under the caretaker-manager's watch, the fury spewed forth from all corners of the stadium.

The boardroom may have been successfully cleared out by those now in charge, but removing the deadwood from the dressing room will require a little more time.

They did not start badly in front of a vibrant crowd with Nicky Clark sending an early shot just wide of the target and then putting a header from a good position straight at the goalkeeper. Jon Daly, recalled to the starting line-up as Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller were relegated to the bench, then missed a great chance from close-range when putting the ball over after Zander Clark had spilled a low drive from Haris Vuckic.

Queens had been spraying the ball around handsomely from the start, though. They never lost their desire to play in the right way and their endeavours began to bring rewards as the first half wore on.

With half-an-hour on the clock, they should really have taken the lead. Lee McCulloch missed a header deep inside his own half and Gavin Reilly latched onto the ball on the left before feeding it inside to Michael Paton, inexplicably left unmarked in the centre by Marius Zaliukas.

Paton did not do badly, in truth. He waited until Lee Robinson had advanced from his line and curled a clever, left-footed effort past him. Sadly for the visiting forward, the shot cannoned off the outside of the goalkeeper's right-hand post to safety.

Iain Russell did terrifically well eight minutes later to fashion some space for himself in the penalty area and released a low drive that Robinson had to dive low to save. The ball spun into the air with Reilly standing directly in front of goal, but it was just a little too high for him and he put his header over the crossbar.

In truth, it looked like petering out into a goalless draw until Vuckic struck. He had managed to touch a ball into the area from Lee Wallace onto Clark and steady himself for the return after the former Queens striker had dunted it on. His low, angled finish was a delight.

Rangers' defending in the ensuing moments, however, wasn't. Bilel Mohsni failed to clear and the ball made its way to Paton. His drive from just inside the area was blocked, but Smith, brought on a couple of minutes earlier for Reilly, sent his snapshot bobbling into the net.