Rangers 5 Elgin City 1: Embarrassment avoided as old routine prevails

Hugh Macdonald

Chief Sports Writer

Monday 3 September 2012

IF Rangers had still been eligible for Europe they would have been drawn against Surreal Madrid.

Lee McCulloch scored his 100th and 101st senior league goals. Picture: SNS

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Hugh MacDonald

It would be the only appropriate tie for a stadium and a club still surrounded by an air of unreality.

It is now September but the appearance of Elgin City at Ibrox for an Irn-Bru Third Division promotion six-pointer still has the capacity to strain belief systems. These, of course, are tested further when Elgin City take the lead in front of 46,015 paying fans.

Something approaching normality was duly imposed by Rangers yesterday but there is still a lingering feeling that Bobby Ewing will reveal to the nation – as Dallas returns to screen this week -–that dreams are not just restricted to successful debuts. The football story eventually adhered to traditional story lines. The big team duffed up the wee team, David Templeton made an impressive debut of the cliched dream variety and Lee McCulloch scored his 100th and 101st senior league goals in an afternoon that became increasingly comfortable for Rangers after a nervous, unconvincing start. Amid the bizarre and the downright unbelievable, there was one moment when the routine prevailed. One finally grasped that this was a normal football match when Ian Black was duly booked. This almost routine incident came at the end of a first half during which Rangers went behind before securing the game with three goals in reply to the opener from Jamie Duff.The Elgin centre-back had contributed to the early unorthodoxy of the afternoon by performing a dragback and a dummy. He is the sort of defender who fits easily into the mould of third division stopper. His adeptness therefore was akin to watching Desperate Dan winning Strictly Come Dancing. He had, though, another piece of footwork that he used to more telling effect. When the ever willing Craig Gunn fed a pass into the path of the centre-back after 14 minutes, the substantial Duff duly blootered it past Neil Alexander.It was an unmistakeable sign that the Rangers defence is far from impregnable even at this level, with Ross Perry and Emilson Cribari finding the lone Gunn could present problems that could not be resolved without anxiety.Calm was restored to the Rangers team and the massed ranks in the stands by a burst of goals that took the match far beyond the capabilities of Elgin. The visitors' one-goal advantage barely lasted 10 minutes before Rangers showed a modicum of class and a dash of ruthlessness in front of goal. The equaliser came when Dean Shiels steered a deflected McCulloch shot past John Gibson, but the second goal showed the difference between the sides. Black could have shot but checked and found Templeton with a smart pass. The former Hearts player cut back inside and curled a right-foot shot drive into the net. This touch of poise and execution was beyond Elgin, and so, very quickly, was the match.As half-time approached, Templeton again found space and cracked in an effort that Gibson spilled at the feet of McCulloch, who scored his 100th senior league goal. Templeton enhanced his good impression in the second half when he wheeled on a Shiels' corner and shot home, exploiting the sort of space no team should allow at a setpiece. The match was now galloping away from Elgin at a pace that would have made Usain Bolt look short of a yard. However, they lost just one more goal though McCulloch, who clipped home a cutback from Andrew Little, and must have wondered why he ended the afternoon without a hat trick. Indeed, given the chances created, he might be reflecting why he is not yet on the brink of 200 league goals.Elgin, carefully set up by manager Ross Jack, limped away after a comprehensive defeat but they will know their greatest test in the league is now behind them. The challenges will keep coming for Ally McCoist and his team. The manager praised the contribution of Templeton and captain McCulloch and must be encouraged by the potential of Lewis MacLeod, but his defence remains a problem."I would have been happier with four or five in. We got one or two in and one out. The maths would tell you I am not particularly happy," said McCoist of the transfer window where he lost Carlos Bocanegra on loan in the last hours. "I know we are a little thin on the ground in defensive areas so we will have to carry a bit of luck in terms of injuries and suspensions."The next destination is Annan to play Athletic on September 15. It is Scottish football but not as we have ever known it.

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Rangers 5 Elgin City 1: Embarrassment avoided as old routine prevails

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