IT’S ALL ACADEMIC
Back to school for Professor Pedro’s boys as Killie draw to all but expel 2nd place hopes
PROFESSOR Pedro’s thirst for knowledge took him on a first field trip as Rangers manager last night. But all he discovered on the plastic of Rugby Park is there are almost certainly better ways to waste a couple of hours in Ayrshire on a Wednesday night. Very possibly a million and one of them. True, the academic Caixinha will have noted that in 18-yearold Myles Beerman he has a leftback of considerable promise. And he’ll have been pleased too that fellow rookie David Bates, 20, came through his top-flight debut unscathed at centre-half. But then this was a night when nothing much happened at all. Apart, that is, from the dropping of another two points. Caixinha won’t need a pocket calculator to work out his hopes of toppling Aberdeen and claiming second spot are now stuck somewhere between slim and non-existent.
Having secured just two points from the last available six, Caixinha doesn’t just need a win at Pittodrie on Sunday – he needs snookers.
And perhaps he will have learned he could do without winding up the opposition too.
The Portuguese’s decision to name his team in advance of boarding the team bus did little to help his players end their run of dismal returns on the road, which now extends to five games without a win.
The word from downstairs was Lee McCulloch had initially been planning to deploy a single striker but that his game-plan was tossed in the bin the moment he found out Caixinha had announced his starting line-up more than 24 hours before kick-off.
And so the interim Kilmarnock boss loaded up his attack with Kris Boyd and Conor Sammon as they went gunning for a Rangers team that had never seen the light of day and which, it must be said, may never again.
Caixinha probably did not mean to come across as arrogant or to offend his hosts but he managed to do both, lighting a fire under the feet of these Killie players who set about their task as if they too had taken his candour as a scorching personal insult.
Within 10 seconds Boyd had raced
towards Bates, shutting his first kick of the night down and causing his heart to jump into his throat in the process.
Rangers survived that scare but Kilmarnock’s intentions had been clearly stated.
Jordan Jones harassed James Tavernier soon after into first giving away possession then a free-kick in dangerous territory. Jones took it himself, picking out Gary Dicker with a perfectly delivered dead ball only for the midfielder to head straight at Wes Foderingham from 10 yards out.
Given not one Rangers defender had spotted Dicker’s run let alone attempt to get in his way, it was a miss of the glaring variety. And yet Killie seemed fairly relaxed about it – as if they knew there would almost certainly be more chances to come.
Boyd tried to force the next one by rushing to close down Beerman, making the youngster hurry a header on the edge of his own box. The wily old striker turned and clattered into Danny Wilson before screaming for a penalty only for referee Alan Muir to wave him back to his feet.
Sammon then came close with a stray cross that looked more like a shot as it dipped over with Foderingham scrambling back across his line.
Rangers, by way of contrast, didn’t seem to have much of a plan at all.
They passed the ball around – mostly inside their own half – before almost always giving it away cheaply or running it up blind alleys.
It was only after 20 minutes of this confusion, when Beerman got his legs pumping down the left for the first time, that they managed to threaten.
The youngster picked out Emerson Hyndman and the American’s fizzing, first-time drive was saved smartly by Freddie Woodman who saw it coming from 30 yards before clutching it at the base of his right-hand post. Gradually Rangers began to settle but without ever achieving control.
Had Joe Garner been more precise with a header in 32 minutes then perhaps they might have gone on to dominate. But the striker’s effort from Barrie McKay’s cross was saved by Woodman when the 20-year-old keeper ought to have been beaten.
Seconds later Martyn Waghorn missed a slightly more awkward chance from a few yards further out when his header flew over the top.
But the half ended as it had begun with Killie knocking hard on Rangers’ back door and the lively Jones causing Tavernier considerable discomfort.
So much so the full-back was booked before the break for barging the winger to the ground after allowing him to get in behind for the umpteenth time. That yellow card may not have been a surprise but Caixinha did have one up his sleeve at half-time as Hyndman – his most talented operator – was told to stay indoors. Kenny Miller, who must have been wondering why he had been left on the bench in the first place, was sent out with his introduction at the very least adding some urgency to proceedings.
Rangers were unfortunate not to be in front early in the half when Woodman kept out Garner’s flashing header then smothered a Wilson shot.
In the middle of that Killie survived another close thing when Muir chose not to point to the penalty spot despite furious appeals after one of Sammon’s rippling arms made contact with the ball inside a packed box.
Muir wasn’t convinced although one thing was certain – Miller’s energy and sheer desire to make a difference was forcing Killie on to the back foot for the first time all night. Caixinha
rolled the dice again for the final 15 minutes when he replaced Garner with Joe Dodoo but the game was getting away from him.
Tavernier had Rangers’ best chance of the half in the dying moments when he was presented with a dead ball on the edge of the box after Miller had been crudely stopped in his tracks.
But his effort was a horrible one that ended up 33 rows back in the stand behind Woodman’s goal.
In fact, the moment to win this match came and went at the other end soon after when Sean Longstaff got on the end of a hanging cross but headed wide from six yards.
It was a miss that managed to sum up a match – targets missed all round.
KILMARNOCK – Woodman 8, Taylor 6, Ajer 8, Dicker 6, Hendrie 6, Wilson 6, Longstaff 6, Kiltie 6 (Roberts 90, 2), K Boyd 6, Sammon 6, Jones 7. Not used: MacDonald, Osborne, Smith, S Boyd, Frizzell, Cameron.
RANGERS – Foderingham 7, Tavernier 7, Bates 6, Wilson 6, Beerman 6, Halliday 7, Holt 6, Hyndman 5 (Miller 45, 7), Waghorn 7 (Windass 80, 3), Garner 6 (Dodoo 73, 3), McKay 6. Not used: Toral, Alnwick, O’Halloran, Wilson.
Referee: A Muir.