Posts Tagged ‘Kenny Miller’

Brown and Maloney out of Scotland squad

• Scott Brown and Shaun Maloney will not face Wales
• Recalls for Ross McCormack and James McFadden

The injured Celtic midfielders Scott Brown and Shaun Maloney were today omitted from the Scotland squad for next Saturday’s friendly in Wales. Neither player travelled with their club to Hamburg for the Europa League game, with Brown still troubled by an ankle problem and Maloney having suffered a heel injury.

Cardiff City’s Ross McCormack and Birmingham City’s James McFadden have both been recalled after missing last month’s friendly defeat in Japan through injury. Fellow forward Kevin Kyle is also back in the squad after being unable to accept a late call-up for the Japan game because of a knee problem.

Steven Caldwell, Kenny Miller and Barry Robson also return following injury while three of the players who made their debuts in Japan have been retained – Don Cowie, Graham Dorrans and Lee Wallace.

The Celtic left-back Danny Fox is included again after injury denied him a debut in Japan while Kevin Thomson, Alan Hutton and Steven Naismith fall into the same category, but Garry O’Connor and Robert Snodgrass drop out after missing the Japan tripand there is no room for Stephen Hughes, Lee Miller and Craig Conway, who were all late call-ups for the Yokohama clash.

The Scotland manager, George Burley, suffered nine call-offs for the Japan friendly, while Kyle and the Dundee United midfielder Scott Robertson both had to decline late invitations. So he is keen to see his side at full strength for the 14 November game at Cardiff City’s new stadium. “We want a strong team,” Burley said.

“We haven’t got many games for the build-up before the Euro [qualifying starts] in September. Scott Brown and Shaun Maloney are missing through injury but we have got a good balance; young players who went to Japan and were involved; and experienced players back in the squad who have been injured for the past few months.

“I was very impressed with the whole squad who went to Japan. It gives me a bigger squad to choose from. We have got 23 there but we have another five or six who are desperate to get in the squad.”

Smith urges Rangers to avenge ‘worst ever’ defeat

• Rangers travel to Romania for must-win game
• Dan Petrescu places bet on Unirea to lose

Rangers’ latest attempt at lifting the gloom which has descended on Ibrox comes against the opposition who triggered tales of their rapid decline. There may have been a freakish element to Unirea Urziceni’s 4-1 win in Glasgow a fortnight ago but the fallout was epic.

With supporters voicing their concerns over the shortcomings in Walter Smith’s team in their most vociferous fashion yet, the manager controversially admitted after the defeat by the Romanian champions that the Lloyds Banking Group was, in effect, running Rangers.

Although Rangers’ performances have markedly improved since that Unirea debacle, they have to win tomorrow to retain any hope of progressing to the Champions League’s knockout phase.

“It goes without saying that, to have any chance of winning this game, we have to do a whole lot better than in the first match against Unirea,” Smith acknowledged. “We did not acquit ourselves at all well that night, it was our poorest European performance for a while. We have to turn that round and play in the manner that we know we can do. If we do that, we know we have a chance.”

Kenny Miller, expected to be deployed by Smith as a lone striker in Romania, was forthright about the consequences of another Rangers defeat. “We know it will probably be all over if we get beaten here,” he said. “We have to go out and get the three points. The game at Ibrox was a very disappointing result and we’ve got to try and use that hurt to spur us on to hopefully get the right result this time.”

Unirea’s manager, the former Chelsea full-back Dan Petrescu, has taken the bizarre move of placing a wager with his players that they will lose to Rangers.

“I have bet we do not get any more points,” Petrescu said. “Romanian teams always do this, win a game and then lose all their games. It is to do with mentality in this country; people do not want more from their life. Winning again would be a miracle. I don’t even remember the last time that a Romanian team won two consecutive Champions League games. But, for the first time in my life, this is a bet which I hope I will lose.”

Unirea Urziceni (4-2-3-1) Tudor; Galamaz, Maftei, Bruno Fernandes, Nicu; Ricardo Vilana, Apostol; Brandán, Varga, Onofras; Bilasco. Substitutes Arlauskis, Mehmedovic, Paduretu, Semedo, Bordeanu, Frunza, Balan.

Rangers (4-5-1) McGregor; Whittaker, Weir, Wilson, Papac; Novo, Davis, Thomson, McCulloch, Naismith; Miller. Substitutes Alexander, Boyd, Rothen, Beasley, Smith, Fleck, McMillan.

Referee C Larsen (Den).

Sky Sports Xtra, kick-off 7.45pm

Rangers 1-4 Unirea Urziceni

The most comprehensive thesaurus in the world would barely contain the words to describe this Rangers performance. The latest evidence that Scottish football may be in terminal decline rather than just suffering a rough spell arrived on another harrowing night in Glasgow.

Rangers had the luxury of a one-goal lead against Unirea Urziceni and passed up a penalty at 1-1 before collapsing to arguably the most eye-catching effect in their 53-year European history.

“It is a big low point for me and that is before I have even sat down and had a think about it,” said Walter Smith after his 72nd match as a manager in Europe. “We lost 4-0 here to Juventus [in 1995] but they went on to become the European champions. I don’t think the penalty was the turning point of the game. You shouldn’t defend as we did at any level of football.”

Smith, amid a trophy-laden career, cannot have suffered a more wounding night. No wonder his demeanour was one of shell-shock in the post-match media conference. As Pablo Brandan’s deflected shot secured the visitors’ fourth goal, 25 minutes from time, blue and white scarves rained on to the Ibrox track. Those supporters who remained until full-time, albeit they admirably applauded the victors from the pitch, did so to make their anger perfectly clear. Unirea, in truth, could well have scored more.

“If we qualify for the last 16, this will be an historic victory,” said Dan Petrescu, the Unirea manager. “If we do not, this will just be another memory. I expected more pressure from Rangers in the second half, after we scored our second goal.”

And yet, it had all started so brightly for Rangers. Pedro Mendes watched his 18-yard shot loop off Ricardo Gomes Vilana and into the Unirea net within 90 seconds. Rangers displayed little early evidence that they regarded this as anything like an onerous task, Kenny Miller coming within inches of condemning Unirea to a miserable night nine minutes later with a header, while Steven Naismith missed an even more clear-cut chance.

Petrescu, renowned as a calm full-back during his time at Chelsea, cut an agitated touchline figure but was soon placated as Marius Bilasco slotted home an equaliser.

Steve Davis promptly wasted the opportunity to reinforce Rangers’ superiority as Bruno Fernandes handled a David Weir header. From the penalty spot, however, Davis allowed Daniel Tudor far too simple a save.

Unirea set the tone for what was to come, three minutes after the re-start. Fernandes, earlier a sinner, had the audacity to offer a back-heel which took a deflection off Kyle Lafferty on its way into the Rangers net. The home support, not fooled about the quality of this opposition, could not hide their disgust.

As Lee McCulloch followed by heading Tiberiu Balan’s free-kick into his own net, Ibrox descended into further uproar. Brandan then scored the fourth, his 30- yard shot flying past Allan McGregor after clipping Naismith.

And so the debate returned to just how far and fast the mighty in at least one half of Glasgow have fallen. Unless there is a turnaround of quite epic proportions, the most immediate drop will be, at the very best, into the Europa League after Christmas.

Referee admits his error in denying Celtic penalty

The Old Firm derby referee admits to an ‘error of judgment’ that will be little comfort to Tony Mowbray

Any sense of injustice harboured by Celtic following their Old Firm defeat yesterday would have intensified today after the admission by the match referee, Craig Thomson, that he should have awarded an early penalty to Tony Mowbray’s side at Ibrox Park.

Rangers were already in the lead when David Weir made a clearly illegal 12th-minute challenge on Shaun Maloney, but Thomson did not deem it worthy of action. Four minutes later, Kenny Miller scored what proved to be a decisive second for the hosts. Celtic were later awarded a penalty, converted by Aiden McGeady, but were unable to equalise.

The Scottish FA’s head of refereeing, Hugh Dallas, took the unusual step of effectively issuing an apology to Celtic on Thomson’s behalf. “Craig and I have had our post match debrief,” Dallas explained. “Whilst I would compliment Craig for his overall handling of the encounter, he is disappointed at his error of judgment when he decided against awarding a penalty to the visiting team in the 12th minute.

“Taking charge of an Old Firm game is both high-profile and challenging. Referees are well aware that their performance will be judged on calling the major decisions correctly. Our referees are fitter than they have ever been and our referees are better prepared for matches than they have ever been.

“We are working each and every day with our top officials to make sure that they are in a position to get the big calls right. However, mistakes are part and parcel of football. I think that it says a lot for the character and professionalism of Craig that he has been more than willing to hold his hands up on this one.”

In his immediate post-match interviews Mowbray would not entertain suggestions that the referee’s refusal to give that early penalty was a decisive moment in the game, and instead focused blame on Celtic’s poor defending. “If replays show it should have been a penalty, does it matter?” he asked. “The referee makes his decision as he sees fit and has one shot at making that decision. We gave Rangers a two-goal start and they didn’t really have to do anything for the goals. Long punts down the middle, allowing the ball to bounce, you could have driven a bus through the gaps.”

Celtic maintained that stance today by declining to publicly acknowledge the sentiments of Dallas. Both Maloney and the Celtic full-back Mark Wilson received bookings for diving elsewhere in a typically fraught Old Firm derby.

The SFA also confirmed today that the Celtic defender Glenn Loovens will have his appeal over a one-match ban heard on 15 October. The Dutchman was retrospectively punished for a challenge on Rangers’ Maurice Edu during a match in May but instantly protested. Gordon Smith, the chief executive of the SFA, is among those who have criticised the time it has taken for the appeal to be formally conducted.

Mowbray has been left nursing the walking wounded after Sunday’s encounter which Rangers won 2-1 to cut Celtic’s lead in the Scottish Premier League to a point. Celtic’s first-choice full-backs, Andreas Hinkel and Danny Fox, are sidelined through injury and Stephen McManus, Shaun Maloney and Scott McDonald picked up knocks at Ibrox. Barry Robson, who would otherwise have featured against Rangers, injured his hamstring during training on Saturday while Scott Brown will visit a specialist in London tomorrow with an ongoing ankle complaint.

“We have got to wait and see, there were a lot of players with ice on in the dressing room at Ibrox,” Mowbray said. “Maloney has got an achilles problem, Brown, obviously we know about his ankle. McManus has got stitches, whether that is a problem for him or not, I don’t know. All we can do is wait and see how they are over the next few days.”

It will be at least some form of relief to Celtic’s manager that his team have no competitive match until Saturday week, when Motherwell visit Glasgow’s east end.

Motherwell 0-0 Rangers

Motherwell looked more like odds-on than 5-1 chances as they came within a missed penalty kick of inflicting a first defeat of the season on Rangers. As it was, they largely outplayed the champions, who had Madjid Bougherra sent off for receiving two yellow cards in the same incident. Jim O’Brien’s weak conversion attempt gave Allan McGregor the chance to make the save.

It had been seven years since Motherwell’s previous home victory over Rangers, but their productive start to the season suggested that their visitors would once again be properly tested. Despite extensive personnel changes made in the summer by new manager Jim Gannon, they consistently presented Rangers with enough problems to cost them vital championship points.

With Rangers unbeaten in away games in the SPL since November, none in the crowd would have been astonished by the tightness of this renewal of the fixture. That it should take the champions until the 42nd minute to contrive their first scoring opportunity was testimony to the sturdiness of the home team’s defence and the industry of a midfield that could switch easily and effectively from three to five according to circumstances.

It was Kenny Miller who squandered that first chance, the striker taking the loose ball from a headed clearance and, from just inside the area and without a challenge, sending his right-foot shot over the bar. Within a few seconds, Bougherra was offered an even more promising opportunity, but the big defender, taking a perfectly measured free-kick from new signing Jérôme Rothen flush on his forehead just five yards out, was denied by the legs of the home goalkeeper John Ruddy.

During a well-balanced first half, Motherwell bothered Rangers on several occasions, most notably through O’Brien on the left, although striker John Sutton should have done better than allow Yassin Moutaouakil’s precise cross from the right simply to bounce from his chest and wide of McGregor’s right post.

But it was an indicator of Motherwell’s ascendancy during the first 15 minutes of the second half – and Walter Smith’s concern – that the Rangers manager felt the need to make two changes. The seemingly rusty Rothen, who had not played for several weeks, and the ineffective Miller were replaced by Steven Naismith and Nacho Novo.

The home side had dominated that opening period, retaining possession with fluent movement and precise passing that took them into the heart of the visitors’ defence. Some resolute work by Bougherra and his colleagues was required to prevent damage.

But, almost predictably, it was Rangers who came close to taking the lead within a few seconds of the arrival of the substitutes. Naismith caused the alarm, racing in to try to connect with a cross from the right and forcing Ruddy to make the block at his feet in an incident in which the goalkeeper’s timing was paramount in the matter of avoiding the concession of a penalty kick.

Following Rangers’ most sustained period of pressing in the match, however, it was Bougherra who gave away a penalty. The defender clearly tripped Lucas Jutkiewicz, the Motherwell substitute, and, ill-advisedly continued to protest against the decision so vehemently after being cautioned for the foul that he was shown a second yellow card.

O’Brien took the spot kick in the absence of Ross Forbes, who had been replaced by Keith Lasley, and gave McGregor a chance to make the save by putting it too close to the goalkeeper’s left.