Loss leaves Murty in search of home help

GRAEME MURTY last night implored his players to up their home game after Kilmarnock inflicted a seventh Ibrox defeat on Rangers this season.

Not since the days of The Great War has a Rangers side lost so many league matches at home and, with the team still being chased by Aberdeen and Hibs in the race for second place, he admits his men must address its frailties.

‘We know we haven’t been good enough at home this season,’ said Murty. ‘That’s been encapsulated by today, where a team has come and been very organised and made it difficult for us to play and capitalised on us making a mistake.

‘That seems to be a theme of this stadium this season and it’s one we’re keen to break. If anything, the players are more disappointed than me. They know that this place needs to be turned into a fortress but we haven’t managed to do it.

‘We were short on tempo today. I thought it was a bit flat. You have to move the ball faster against a team as organised and compact as Kilmarnock are.

‘The chases and challenges that we are involved in are still there for us to grasp if we continue to make the strides I believe we have.’

As Rangers chalked up an unwelcome statistic, Killie are chalking achievements almost by the week.

Their winning goal was scored by Kris Boyd, his 20th of the season, and maintained Steve Clark’s unbeaten record in five matches against Glasgow’s big two since taking over at Rugby Park in October.

His first game in charge witnessed a 1-1 draw at this venue and, since then, the former Chelsea and Liverpool assistant has taken the team from relegation contention to the top six.

A dead-pan character by nature,

Clarke betrayed the euphoria that is sweeping the Ayrshire club, at one stage breaking into a laugh during his post-match press conference.

He said: ‘This was our seventh game in 21 days and I don’t have enough words to praise this group of players. They get results.

‘The run of wins, the way we compete with all the top teams, it’s got to be great for the Kilmarnock supporters to watch us.

‘I’m really proud of the players and they should be proud of their efforts as well.

‘I don’t take any credit — I give it to the people I work with. My staff are excellent, my players have been magnificent and the crowd have been great as well.

‘We maybe didn’t have as many here today but you could hear them shouting, screaming and getting a little bit excited.

‘We haven’t done anything yet. Okay, we’ve maybe just about sneaked into the top six and that would be remarkable considering where we were when I signed for the club in October.

‘We all deserve a little pat on the back. We’ve given the players a week off because they deserve it.’

Almost 8,000 fans turned out to watch Killie in their midweek Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen, an upturn in support that has been welcomed by the players.

‘They’ve backed us brilliantly in the last couple of months,’ said Boyd, the Premiership’s top scorer and perhaps a Player-ofthe-Year contender.

‘I’ve been fed up over the last couple of years begging supporters to come back because, when the product is rubbish, why would you?

‘Over the last few years, we’ve had a lot of managers at the club but now we’ve got somebody of the ilk of Steve Clarke.

‘The players had a genuine belief that we have a real manager coming in here and that if we bought into everything we’d become a better team.’