Rangers could only savour the result against East Stirling yesterday.
The victory was welcome, but too many aspects of the performance fell short of the standards of a team that aspires towards a higher level.
There was even the affront of falling a goal behind just before the interval, although there was some comfort in the scoreline by the time the Rangers supporters began their 54th-minute celebration of 54 titles won, in the week when they learned that figure would not be eroded.
Andy Little's equaliser was the result of perseverance rather than ability, with Anestis Argyriou forcing his way into the penalty area before misdirecting a shot that Little bundled over the line.
A second goal from the Northern Irishman, after one from Lee McCulloch, secured the points but the home side's faults were evident, and it was telling that the player most comfortable on the ball, and most adept at turning possession into attack, was East Stirling's scorer, Andy Stirling.
He was seldom overwhelmed, and brought dynamism to the visitors' midfield. It was fitting then that, after a slick one-two that was the most incisive passage of play in the opening half, it was Stirling who finished confidently past Neil Alexander. The opening period had been characterised by the home side's pedestrian display – the tempo was sluggish and much of the passing lacked decisiveness or ambition – yet Rangers still accumulated chances, and Little tended to be at the forefront.
He missed with two headers, then steered a good chance wide after a quick counter-attack involving David Templeton and Kyle Hutton.
East Stirling were confident enough to pass the ball through Rangers at times, only to lack composure in the final third. The same was true of Rangers, though.
Chris Hegarty could only awkwardly direct the ball over from close range after McCulloch's free kick was parried by visiting goalkeeper Grant Hay. "We knew there was a storm coming in the second half because they wouldn't be happy at being a goal down to the Shire," said East Stirling manager John Coughlin. "We were excellent, We proved we could play here and showed we could pass the ball about, which is the way to go for this club."
Things improved for Rangers after a tactical change – McCoist gave the credit to his assistant Kenny McDowall – which worked in the sense that they were soon in command of the scoreline.
Templeton moved into the centre and Little out the left wing and it was the former's spin and pass that released McCulloch to round Hay and put Rangers in front.
Two minutes later, Little ambled infield and hit a shot that bundled through the diving Hay. It was a day of satisfaction rather than glory for Rangers, but the match marked the return of Sandy Jardine to Ibrox for the first time since he was diagnosed with cancer, and he addressed the crowd before kick-off.
"The first 45 minutes weren't good at all, but it's been a great day," McCoist said. "Seeing Sandy back was a massive boost for everybody."
Charles Green, meanwhile, revealed to a supporters' meeting beforehand that Rangers legends will play Manchester United legends in a charity match for Unicef at Ibrox in May.
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