VOLLEY GOOD SHOW FROM JACK
Rangers struggle until Ryan strikes a superb winner and edges Ibrox team closer to the title
RANGERS edged another step closer to celebration day but this wasn’t an easy watch for Steven Gerrard as his players seemed oddly reluctant to put this match to bed.
Afforded multiple sights of Colin Doyle’s goal by some sloppy Kilmarnock play that was an affront to new manager Tommy Wright’s sensibilities, the league leaders could not convert secondhalf dominance into a scoreline that would have provided comfort as they head towards the final straight of their Premiership title pursuit.
Fortunately for Gerrard, the wastefulness of Joe Aribo and Ryan Kent, in particular, could just about be tolerated thanks to a piece of first-half brilliance from Ryan Jack.
The midfielder’s game tends to prioritise the steady over the spectacular but the combined touch and volley that sent the ball screaming high into the net illuminated what was an otherwise dreary game at Ibrox. Watching from high in the stand, Wright saw little to trouble him for most of the first half.
With Gary Dicker stationed just in front of centre-backs Clevid Dikamona and Zech Medley, Killie’s shape held true. At the first sign of raggedness, his assistant, Paul Stephenson, was on touchline duty to offer some verbal advice.
Wright had been expected to include new signing Kyle Lafferty in his match-day selection but the former Rangers striker was not even among the substitutes. There was, though, something of a surprise in the selection of midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu starting his first game in nearly a month.
And he quickly emerged as the fulcrum of his team’s occasional bursts forward but, while striker Nicke Kabamba did his best to hold the ball in, the rest of the Congolese schemer’s team-mates were a little too tentative to effectively join in.
After a performance at Hamilton that goalkeeper Allan McGregor brutally described as ‘rubbish’ last weekend, this was as an opportunity for Rangers to reinforce the mentality of champions elect.
The lack of fluency that has been apparent since the turn of the year continued but there was so much to admire about the execution of that breakthrough goal.
James Tavernier, making his 200th league appearance for Rangers, swung over a free-kick.
Killie defended the box stoically enough, yet when Aaron Tshibola’s flicked clearance arrived in front of Jack, inspiration struck.
The midfielder’s cushioned first touch was sound and also provided the perfect set-up for a crashing second which, on the volley, speared the ball high to Doyle’s left.
Later, Wright took issue with both his team’s defending and an alleged infringement in the build-up.
‘I was disappointed at the goal on two points — one, we should clear our lines better and two, it was hand ball. After the header, it hit the Rangers player’s hand and the official should see that.
‘It was a great finish from Jack, we can’t do much about that,’
A gift from Medley nearly handed Rangers a quick-fire second. The on-loan Arsenal youngster played a loose pass into the feet of Kent, who drove forward but was a little too straight with his shooting, giving Doyle the chance to turn the ball over for a corner.
Wright eschewed the comforts of the directors’ box to watch the second half from eye level and was instantly relieved to see Doyle hold on to a shot from Kent.
The same leaky inside-left channel gave two further chances to Aribo, whose first shot was tipped away by Doyle before Aaron McGowan superbly blocked his next effort.
With Alfredo Morelos serving the final instalment of his three-match ban for a stamp on Hibs’ Ryan Porteous, and Kemar Roofe also banned for a retrospective sanction for a bad tackle against Murray Davidson of St Johnstone, Gerrard had chosen to give Cedric Itten another run in attack.
The hope was that starting the Swiss striker for the second game running might play him into some form but the £2.5 million man never looked like scoring.
A distant third choice to start in attack for Rangers this season, all of Itten’s four domestic goals have been scored against the same team, Motherwell. Another careless Kilmarnock pass presented him with a free run at doubling the tally of teams on his hit list.
Latching onto Tshibola’s errant cross-field ball, Itten beat a path towards Doyle but didn’t get to execute the shot as Brandon Haunstrup nicked in to save the situation for the visitors.
Even better was the chance presented to Aribo by Kent, again via that vulnerable channel.
Faced with an outrushing keeper, Aribo lost his composure and skewed the shot wide. Afterwards, Gerrard said: ‘In terms of the performance, I thought it merited a bigger win because we created some really good chances, especially in the second half, to go and get the second and the third.
‘That last little bit of our play was missing, so we need to keep trying to improve in that area. But there was certainly a reaction to last week. We came off ourselves then in terms of our identity.
‘We bounced back today, though, with another strong win even though the scoreline does not suggest that.’
The game’s final key moment saw Leon Balogun become a little too closely entangled with Killie sub Danny Whitehall on the right-hand angle of the area.
There were howls for a penalty as the forward tumbled inside the box although, in truth, any contact looked to have taken place just outside of the area. Neither referee Don Robertson nor his assistant Craig Ferguson viewed it as a foul but were challenged by more than one Kilmarnock player at the end.
Wright offered a withering verdict of the referee’s seemingly contradictory decision to wave play on.
He said: ‘From ground level, (it looked) a penalty kick all day.
‘I’ve seen it back, slowed down, and it was just outside the box, so somehow he (Robertson) has got the right decision.
‘But he has told our players that it was a foul and not a penalty. Forty minutes after the game, I am still trying to work that one out…’