FROM RED TO WORSE
Jack walks, Light Blues botch spotkick ... then roof falls in
EVEN from a comfy seat in the main stand the ride continues to be rough and painful for Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha.
His turbulent term at Ibrox took another brutal twist last night in the type of fashion that suggests he is sliding towards the abyss. Right now he is going through the mill.
The way Kilmarnock nabbed a point in a quite extraordinary finale you begin to wonder just how many kicks and blows the beleaguered Portuguese boss can withstand.
Caixinha desperately needed a win last night. Ticking into stoppage time his team were 1-0 in front and Daniel Candeias was waiting to take a penalty.
They had the game won and despite a late Killie flurry Rangers would have deserved it. Yet within seconds and by the time it finished it had fallen apart.
Ryan Jack had been red-carded, Candeias had missed the spot-kick and the manager was facing a chorus of boos and shouts from around his seat in the directors’ box after former Rangers winger Chris Burke nabbed a leveller for Kilmarnock in the most astounding fashion.
It was almost cruel on Caixinha. His seven-month reign has been littered by catastrophe and this five minutes of chaos just seemed to sum it up.
Out of the Betfred Cup to Motherwell at the weekend Caixinha took the bold, or reckless, step of lobbing his squad under the bus. Filleting them. Calling them an embarrassment.
He seemed to have got a response of sorts. Jason Holt’s first-half goal had them in position to triumph and move to within three points of Aberdeen in second spot.
Yet it crumbled again. Sure it was controversial. Sure Rangers were angry but they chucked it away. Kilmarnock’s point means they are not rock bottom anymore but Caixinha must be feeling such this morning.
Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke was able to savour a precious point in his first game in charge. Burke’s goal was reward for some late grit.
But this was about Caixinha. It’s not about embarrassed red faces or broken red noses, dogs, caravans or anything else at the moment.
It’s about winning games and for all the controversy and chaos Rangers failed. They played Highway to Hell over the tannoy before the game. For 89 minutes it looked like the road would more serene.
But in the end it was a familiar path to pain. There was no middle ground here for Caixinha. He just had to win to ease some of the stress and strain. He said he would give his Betfred Cup bottlers an opportunity to atone and was true to his word, albeit bar the trio who more or less had to come out.
Wes Foderingham returned for Jak Alnwick as it was a Premiership game, Ross McCrorie because Fabio Cardoso had a broken beak and Holt took over from Carlos Pena who was ruled out with a knee injury.
The rest were told to go and perform, to restore their reputation. They were going to have to do so if they wanted the stick to subside.
It did not prove a simple task but achievable when an interval advantage was eeked out despite an early blow which led to Graham Dorrans’s exit before the midway point of the period.
The midfielder was crunched by the combative Alan Power and despite trying to run it off following treatment had to be replaced by Eduardo Herrera.
Before that setback Rangers had passed it well enough and got into some decent positions without seriously testing Kilmarnock keeper Jamie
MacDonald. Declan John and James Tavernier were strong in the wider areas but the final ball was lacking.
Killie started with the same team that had defeated Partick Thistle 11 days previously in their last outing. Clarke was in the stand that day having just been appointed. This time he was in the dugout.
Jordan Jones produced a good touch in the box before he tugged a snapshot wide and Greg Taylor also forced Foderingham into a save after Adam Frizzell had pounced on a Tavernier slip but Kilmarnock’s opening period was based mainly around containment.
With Gordon Greer and Kirk Broadfoot offering experience at the heart of the backline they almost got to the break unscathed. Almost though isn’t enough.
As Ibrox No.2 Helder Baptista took the task of technical area tinkering Rangers hammered at the door before it caved in. Holt, who assumed more responsibility in central areas with Dorrans gone, smashed a ball across the six-yard line that was scrambled clear. Josh Windass had a header from a Candeias cross saved and Broadfoot’s magnificent block in the box thwarted Alfredo Morelos.
Windass came even closer. His strike from a Morelos slipped pass was clean but MacDonald plunged to his right to make a stunning pointblank stop.
Killie must have thought that block would get them there yet two minutes from the break Rangers savoured a priceless moment. Tavernier hit the byeline and Morelos gathered in the cross before teeing up Holt.
The onrushing midfielder’s drive scorched into the roof of the net and the release of frustration and strain among those in the stands and on the park was both audible and visible.
Now Rangers had to finish it off but it didn’t happen. MacDonald saved from Herrera as they had control, yet ticking into the last 20 minutes the slender nature of the one-goal lead began to hang over the hosts. Killie began to sense it. Rory McKenzie could barely have caught a strike better after Kris Boyd had flicked on a long throw from sub Burke but Foderingham kept it out. Clarke’s team kept probing at Rangers nerve ends and they snapped in a crazy late conclusion. Referee Alan Muir awarded a penalty for Broadfoot’s trip on Herrera. In waiting for the award to be taken the Killie defender suddenly crashed to the deck after a clash with Jack. Broadfoot was booked then Jack was red-carded after the whistler took advice from his assistants. Jack wandered up the tunnel as MacDonald saved the spot-kick. If that didn’t blur Caixinha’s senses enough Burke’s far-post finish from Stephen O’Donnell’s cross hauled Killie level. There are surely only so many of these type of bitter blows one man can handle.