What beating the Premiership meant to Rangers

11
What beating the Premiership meant to Rangers

At a wild, wet and windy Rugby Park last night Mark Warburton’s Rangers finally broke their Premiership duck. It took a literal last-second winner from early substitute Nicky Clark to do it, but at last, on the third attempt, Warbs’ men overcame opponents from the top tier in Scotland.

What conclusions can be drawn from this performance and result? Well, conditions made smooth silky football extremely difficult, with both sides guilty of giving the ball away, and the general standard of play on offer being mediocre as a result.

But the confidence this victory will give cannot be understated. Bear in mind, not only did Rangers finally beat a side from the top tier under Warburton, but they did so with two bright new signings cup-tied in Michael O’Halloran and Billy King, and the early departure through injury of star striker Martyn Waghorn.

Inside five minutes Rangers lost their talisman in a bit of a blow following his successful conversion of the early penalty, and he was replaced by the very different Clark. Admittedly this will give Waggy a badly-needed rest but it certainly is not the circumstances we would have wanted it under.

Nevertheless, Rangers were not at full strength after 5 minutes for this one, nor technically full strength from the off, but after a war of attrition over 90 minutes including an explosive first 10, the match calmed down into a soggy battle of who wanted it more.

And Rangers’ players, including the outstanding Wilson and Kiernan defence, clearly wanted it more, with that last-second corner and sumptuous finish from Clark taking the visitors to the quarter finals.

A word must also be said for a number of users who, aware this match was completely blacked out for broadcast thanks to UEFA’s ridiculous rules regarding UCL football, filmed it live on their phones at the ground and broadcast globally to Bears around the world via the Periscope app. A sign of fan power for the positive and worthy of commendation.

But, back to the result – Rangers under Warbs have shown they can compete with Premiership sides at last. That they can beat them. It is a step in the right direction and hopefully this is the boost the team badly needed to get form back on track.

No posts to display

11 COMMENTS

  1. I hope for the sake of the team Waghorn is out for a wee while. While I don't wish ill on the guy if he's fit Warbs will pick him so being out will give Clark a chance, who is a better goalscorer than Waghorn which is something we need.

    Our performance didn't suffer from Waghorn going off as in the second half we still put them to the sword. Lack of finishing was again the issue but, given game time, Clark will find his rhythm and start banging them in. Waghorn, quality player that he is, is not a natural goalscorer which is why he misses so many sitters.

    • Do you actually watch the games, Waghorn has scored as many goals this season as Clark in his whole Rangers career.Yes he has missed chances but nowhere near as many as Clark even in his brief appearances this season.Waggy is ten times the player and goalscorer that Clark is and, if we want to win this league , we need him back as soon as possible.

    • I have got to agree with the 1st post. Waghorn is in desperate need of a break and he is maybe more suited to playing wide. Let's face it how many of his goals have been penaltys. I think if Clark is given a few games running he will bang them in. His last season at qos he scored over 40 goals, the boy tries his heart out and his contract is up. He will be desperate to prove himself and I believe he can be a great striker

  2. Just what we needed , but Dundee if that's who we get will be a tough but to crack and I hope Kane Hemmings doesn't come back to haunt us

  3. The win was great but a think wi gettin a bit excited……in reality wi just beat a very very poor premier League team who are 2nd bottom of one of the poorest quality premier Leagues in living memory …..they will get done over by hivs in the playoffs and won't be back for a while…. hope wi get dundee next…. maybe get a more realistic idea of how wi progressing….

  4. Im hopin its not too bad for Waghorn, but a couple of weeks of might help him, Clarke still has to prove himself so lets see if he can, His goal the other night was well taken hope that gives him a bit of confidence, But we need to see the rest chipping in with more goals, I think Tav has scored more goals than our STRIKERS

  5. Let's not forget that Dundee united put 5 past kilmarnock and united are truly shite. The result tells us we struggled against a poor team and only narrowly avoided extra time and penalties.

Comments are closed.