ON the afternoon before the clocks went forward, Rangers kept ticking along in a similar direction.
They left it late, though. Three goals in the last seven minutes finally put Cowdenbeath to the sword after the visitors had threatened to plunder a point and leave Rangers without a home victory since January 3. When Kudos Oyenuga took advantage of Bilel Mohsni's sloppiness to rattle in an equaliser on 76 minutes, the groans of despair from the Rangers fans could be heard in Lochgelly. Following last week's industrious, morale-boosting win over Hibernian, the prospect of spilling two points against the SPFL Championship's second bottom club was all too real. Not so long ago, that may have transpired but Rangers are gradually looking fitter and more resilient and a Darren McGregor pile driver, followed by a brace from the impressive substitute Haris Vuckic, gave them a victory their overall dominance merited.
"It was very pleasing but we almost shot ourselves in the foot like we did against Alloa the other week," said the manager Stuart McCall after watching his side move level with Hibernian in the league table. "Alloa had two shots on goal that night and scored twice. I think today, Cowdenbeath scored with their second attempt. It would have been a massive blow to have come off that park with just a point after all the chances we made. This keep the roll going."
Twenty years on from his sudden, premature passing, a montage of the late Davie Cooper's many twists, turns, birls and barnstorming blasts were broadcast on the stadium's big screens and provided plenty of moments for poignant reflection. In the grand scheme of affairs, the saga of Rangers in recent years remains all rather trivial.
Cowdenbeath, meanwhile, arrived at Ibrox in the midst of a fairly turbulent run. Over their past few games, the struggling west Fife team had suffered a 10-0 clouting, two 5-0 trouncings and a 4-1 thumping. The 0-0 draw with Rangers at the start of March looks like a misprint when you consider all the goals that were flying in against them during this punishing period.
The boys of the Blue Brazil could have been renamed the boys of the black and blue stuff as they made their presence felt early on. Colin Marshall was booked after barely 60 seconds when he clattered into David Templeton. They almost made their mark in the Rangers box too, with Oyenuga and Sean Higgins causing anxious moments. Rangers quickly took charge, though, and a Lee McCulloch header brought out a fine save from Robbie Thomson. From the resulting corner, a similar effort from the napper of Mohsni produced another instinctive block from the visiting keeper. Nicky Law would come even closer on 20 minutes. Having neatly engineered some space for himself in the area, his tidy curler evaded the outstretched hand of Thomson, hit the post and bounced back into the Cowdenbeath custodian's grateful clutches. Kenny Miller, Law and Dean Shiels all had good chances to open the scoring as Rangers swarmed around their guests but they could not break down Cowdenbeath's dogged resistance and the players trotted off at half-time to one or two puffs of despondency.
Those curses would quickly turn to cheers three minutes after the resumption, however, as Clark slid in at the back post to bundle Lee Wallace's low cross into the net and ease the growing frustration.
The floodgates would not be prised open although Rangers had plenty of opportunities to put the tin lid on proceedings. Clark managed to slice Templeton's cross wide from point blank range on 70 minutes before Miller failed to connect with a free header inside the six yard box moments later. They would pay for that profligacy with 14 minutes left as Mohsni's slackness presented Oyenguya with a chance and he finished with great authority.
The sight of Rangers players with heads buried in hands has been an all too familiar scene at Ibrox this season but McGregor made sure heads and hands were held aloft as he thundered in a crisp strike from the edge of the box on 83 minutes to restore the lead before Zuckic put the finishing touches to a tidy one-two to seal the points in the 87th minute. Another classy finish from Zuckic in stoppage time gilded the lily.
"We rode our luck a bit but our efforts were different class and we're disappointed we never took anything," lamented Cowdenbeath assistant, Lee Makel.
Rangers: Bell, Mohsni, Wallace, McCulloch, Law, Templeton (Black 86), Clark (Hardie 74), Miller, Shiels (Vuckic 68), McGregor, Murdoch
Subs not used: Robinson, Aird, Daly, Crawford
Cowdenbeath: Thomson, Toshney, Armstrong, Brownlie, Wedderburn, Higgins (Buchanan 68), Hughes (Miller 64), Robertson, Marshall, Oyenuga, Milne (O'Brien 84)
Subs not used: Sneddon, Nish, Kane, Johnstone
Scorers
Rangers: Clark 48, McGregor 83, Vuckic 87, 90
Cowdenbeath: Oyenuga 76
Bookings: Marshall, Armstrong
Referee: Brian Colvin
Attendance: 32,682
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