MASTERCLASS FROM CLARKE

While ex-Ibrox favourite Boyd strikes again, it is the Killie boss who deserves all the plaudits

KRIS BOYD forged a career out of lurking in the Ibrox penalty area, so it really shouldn’t have been too difficult for Rangers to spot the warning signs as Youssouf Mulumbu drew back his left boot.

Infuriatingly for Graeme Murty, a defence marshalled by old hands Bruno Alves and Russell Martin failed to pay attention, and the former Govan favourite knocked home the rebound without a hint of a challenge to worry him.

It’s become routine to write but here was yet another coaching masterclass by the wily Steve Clarke, who started the Kilmarnock revival with a draw on Glasgow’s south side and has now taken seven from a possible nine points from his direct match-ups with Rangers.

Amid all the recent bluster about a potential title challenge it was somewhat lost that, at home, Rangers haven’t been very good all season. This was a seventh league loss of the campaign, something that hasn’t happened in over a century.

Their failings, anxiety in the face of a restless crowd and a failure to convert territorial advantage into goals, played right into the hands of Clarke’s Kilmarnock, quite probably the best-organised group of footballers in the country.

Clarke had claimed pre-match that he would be following his mentor Jose Mourinho’s lead by electing not to count a defeat on penalties as a loss — but his players must have been tired and emotionally drained by their midweek exit from the Scottish Cup to Aberdeen.

Just as Clarke needed to pick his players up, defeat to Celtic last weekend had left Murty with his own motivational and selection dilemmas.

He made two changes to his team. The first, which saw Russell Martin in for the injured David Bates in defence, was compulsory.

At the other end of the pitch Alfredo Morelos was taken out of the team following his late miss against the champions with Jason Cummings (right) taking his place.

The trouble with Cummings is that, although he may have been less likely to miss from five yards, he is neither physically robust nor sly enough to occupy a defence in the way Morelos did last weekend. The game panned out much as one might have expected. Kilmarnock conserved energy and carried a threat on the counter while Rangers hogged possession, switched the ball from side to side and made the odd chance.

The best of those opportunities fell to Martin.

Picked out by an in-swinging cross from Sean Goss, the Scotland squad member ought to have claimed a second goal for the club, but instead planted his header wide.

Goss hit a free-kick narrowly wide, Daniel Candeias fluffed his lines at the end of some clever work by Jamie Murphy and then Cummings came close.

Seizing on a cut-back from James Tavernier, the on-loan Nottingham Forest man was well placed but couldn’t generate the power to force the ball beyond Jamie MacDonald, who managed to palm the ball clear.

Rangers’ play became more ragged as half-time approached. Greg Docherty gifted possession to Mulumbu, who played in Boyd for a footrace he might have stood a chance of competing in ten years ago. Instead, Docherty got back to make up for his error.

Even allowing for a half-time regroup, Rangers did not heed the warning. Eamonn Brophy went close after Jordan Jones had outstripped James Tavernier down the left and then Killie took the lead.

Mulumbu, who had been careful and patient in his use of the ball, got himself goal-side and clipped a low shot towards the back post.

Foderingham saved but could only push the ball back into play.

There was Boyd to prod the ball over the line and, out of deference to the home crowd, there was barely a fist pump to accompany his 20th goal of the season.

It was no surprise to see Morelos warm up and he was introduced for Josh Windass, who had barely made a dent on the match.

There was one quick sight of goal for the Colombian but Kirk Broadfoot, excellent all afternoon, was all over him as he collected Candeias’ headed knockdown and produced a decisive clearance that took the ball high over the bar.

‘We had always looked for games to try and rest Alfredo because he has played a lot of football,’ explained Murty afterwards.

‘We also need to be fair to Jason who has been working extremely hard in training.

‘I thought it was a good game that would fit him but he doesn’t play in isolation. We need to get good supply to give him a good chance of representing himself properly.’ A sign of Rangers’ growing desperation — and a lack of ideas — came with the call to Kenny Miller. The 38-year-old hasn’t started since midDecember and was thrown up alongside the other two forwards, faring no better. Instead it was Martin who again came closest to a Rangers goal, this time his header