Posts Tagged ‘Whittaker’

Rangers 1-1 Hibernian

Late equaliser by Anthony Stokes further dampens the League leaders’ spirits after their miserable week

Rangers remained at the top of the Scottish Premier League, but not even their most committed supporter could argue with the contention that it was an appropriately depressing end to a thoroughly miserable week.

Curiously, the match itself was certainly the most entertaining and intriguing at Ibrox this season, one that deserved more goals than the early leader from Kris Boyd and the second-half equaliser from Anthony Stokes.

Misgivings would have been more plentiful than expectations among a home support rendered fearful by the humiliating defeat from Unirea in the Champions League four days earlier. But the identity of the opposition should have offered a fair measure of reassurance of an open, eventful match.

Hibs let nobody down, threatening to open the scoring with less than a minute played and to concede one at the other end less than sixty seconds after that. With the boys from Leith, matches are rarely incident-free.

Even after falling behind to Boyd’s goal, the visitors adhered to their patient, passing game and continued to give Allan McGregor, the Rangers goalkeeper, abundant opportunities to distinguish himself. That opening chance came to Derek Riordan, the result of a precisely-lobbed pass from Liam Miller out to the left. Riordan drove inside and, unusually for a player normally reliable in these situations, slid his low shot wide of the far post.

Rangers’ first opportunity came to Boyd, who should have taken advantage of his smart turn past two defenders, but pulled his left-foot shot wide from inside the penalty area. He scored with his next chance because it was basically unmissable.

Steven Whittaker crossed long and deep from the right, Kyle Lafferty was isolated at the far post and immediately sent his header across to Boyd, who had only to volley the ball over the line from four yards.

Merouane Zemmama, producing some incisive skill throughout, and Stokes would have given Hibs the lead between them but for two exceptional saves from McGregor. But Boyd and Lafferty should also have scored another two for the home side, the first thwarted by the outstretched leg of Graham Stack, the second shooting weakly straight at the goalkeeper after he had been released into the area.

Almost typical of the way Rangers’ misfortunes had been piling up through the week – injuries to influential players had accompanied the defeat in Europe – they lost the lead at a time in the second half when they appeared emphatically the better team and by far the likelier to score the next goal.

John Fleck, the teenage midfielder, had replaced the injured Lee McCulloch just before half-time and he took control of his area with vision, precision and a mature appreciation of his position. It was his perceptive flick through the middle that allowed Miller a clear scoring chance, the striker’s powerful drive palmed away once more by the alert Stack.

The Hibs goalkeeper would repeat the good work with another vital save from a ferocious left-foot drive from Sasa Papac from around 30 yards before Stokes delivered the Hibs goal.

It was from a forward pass by Miller that the striker chested the ball down and then played keepy-uppy between Papac and David Weir before turning away from them and lobbing the volley left-footed over McGreegor. It was a goal to which the visitors could have added twice during the last ten minutes.

Rangers 4-1 Hamilton

Rangers strode virtually unchallenged back to the top of the Scottish Premier League and, barring a wide-margin victory for either Hibernian or Celtic when those two meet at Easter Road today, the champions are likely to remain there.

The Ibrox side’s ascendancy was made on the back of goals from Steven Whittaker and Kris Boyd, each having delivered a brace, but their general superiority over largely hapless Hamilton Academical made the contest something of a mismatch. By the time Mark McLaughlin scored a consolation with a late header from a corner kick, the stadium was almost empty.

Visits to venues such as Ibrox by teams like Hamilton almost invariably carry undertones of damage limitation, and this latest example of the genre conformed precisely to the convention.

The Lanarkshire side demonstrated hardly any inclination to operate in the vicinity of the home goalkeeper, Allan McGregor, seemingly preferring to swarm in numbers in front of their own, Tomas Cerny, in an attempt to minimise Rangers’ score.

It was an approach that simply encourages champions to flex their muscles, and Rangers had bullied their opponents into submission before a third of the match had been completed. What is also common to these occasions is that the odds-on favourites will get their goals cheaply. The two with which Whittaker and Boyd sent the Ibrox side on their way could be called complimentary.

David Weir began the move for the first with a pass to Steven Davis in the inside-right position and while the midfielder’s low through ball to Whittaker was admirably measured, the full-back did not meet a challenge as he strode into the area on the right and drilled the ball low into the far corner.

If the Hamilton defenders were guilty of lethargy then, they were quite shocking in the way they conceded the second. Kenny Miller tried to raid on the left, but was dispossessed by Martin Canning. In his pathetic attempt at a clearance, the right-back simply passed the ball straight to Stevie Naismith. His cross was headed into the air and looped towards Boyd, who did not even have to jump as he sent a free header dropping over Cerny.

In truth, Rangers should have been even further ahead, but a number of players, notably Miller and Davis, had squandered earlier opportunities. This failure to convert their superiority during that oppressive period seemed to encourage Hamilton in a second half in which they were appreciably more ambitious.

There was only the occasional moment of menace in the Rangers defence, but it was enough to create a pleasing difference in the visitors’ performance and give their small coterie of supporters something to cheer.

James McArthur tested McGregor with a drive to the goalkeeper’s near post from the left side of the box after he had coasted past Madjid Bougherra with some slick footwork. That moment came soon after Derek Lyle had forced the goalkeeper to scramble a save at the same post with a low, curling free-kick from the left.

While those episodes might have lifted the spirits of the visitors, however, they also prefaced a raising of tempo and pressure by the home side, who would double their advantage within a few minutes, as Boyd and Whittaker each grabbed a second goal.

Boyd’s came from a powerful left-foot drive after Naismith had bolted down the left and played a perfectly-measured cut-back, and Whittaker played a 1-2 with Davis before beating Cerny with a curling, left-foot drive from 22 yards.

Rangers 3-0 St Mirren

• Gers book final place against Dunfermline or Falkirk
• Kris Boyd scores 100th goal for Light Blues

Kris Boyd scored his 100th goal for Rangers as the Ibrox side cruised past St Mirren in their Homecoming Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.

Andrius Velicka fired the holders in to the lead in the second minute and Boyd, signed from Kilmarnock in January 2006, became the first man to reach the 100-goal mark for Rangers since Mark Hateley in 1994 in the 66th minute after midfielder Steven Davis set him up.

Kenny Miller, who had replaced Velicka, grabbed a third to confirm a May 30 final appearance against either Falkirk or Dunfermline.

St Mirren’s last victory over the Light Blues in the Scottish Cup had been at the semi-final stage in 1925/26 and that statistic looked safe when Rangers forged ahead with just over a minute gone.

Midfielder Steven Davis fed Boyd inside the Saints box and when his shot was partially blocked by Paisley stopper Will Haining, Velicka beat Jack Ross to the loose ball and lifted it into the roof of the net from six yards out.

It was a disastrous start for the Buddies and, in the 10th minute, it took a smart save from Mark Howard to prevent the Ibrox side doubling their lead. The St Mirren keeper dived to his left to keep out Pedro Mendes’s drive from the edge of the box after the midfielder had been set up by Velicka.

Rangers’ veteran full-back Christian Dailly was booked for a foul on Saints midfielder Stephen McGinn soon afterwards. And then, in the 40th minute, Mendes was stretchered off following a clash with Haining, to be replaced by Nacho Novo.

After the interval there were loud Paisley claims for a penalty four minutes after the restart when Steven Whittaker tackled Andy Dorman right on the line of the penalty area. However, referee Calum Murray indicated that the Rangers full-back had taken the ball.

On the hour mark, with the game simply drifting along on a sea of misplaced passes, Kenny Miller came on for the tiring Velicka. In the 66th minute the Ibrox side struck on the break with Davis again the architect. The Northern Ireland international drove at the Saints defence before slipping in Boyd who drove his left-footed shot from 16 yards past Howard for his 100th goal for Rangers.

St Mirren immediately brought on Jim Hamilton for Wyness and Garry Brady for McGinn. But in the 69th minute, Miller combined with Davis inside the St Mirren penalty area before sending a low shot past Howard and with that, the Ibrox club had sealed their final appearance.

Novo sent a shot screaming over the bar with five minutes remaining and as the crowd of 32,431 continued to thin out, Maurice Edu twice fired wide from distance.

Kilmarnock 0-4 Rangers

Goals from David Weir, Kris Boyd, Kenny Miller and Steven Whittaker give Rangers a comfortable victory at Rugby Park.