Three and easy for back-to-form Gers
RANGERS 3 Wallace (16), Halliday (pen. 29), Garner (47) KILMARNOCK 0
RANGERS best performance of the season and their biggest league win since January brought a happy end to a testing week.
Beaten in the League Cup semi-final and held in the Premiership by St Johnstone, the Light Blues then had to endure the vexing sight of the controversial figure of Joey Barton exiting Ibrox via a side door.
His situation is still unresolved after another sort-it-out meeting.
Yet here, in their Remembrance Day game, all irritations melted away.
On a near perfect afternoon they cruised to victory, their prize three points and the climb up to second place in the table.
Clearly keen to get the job done early Rangers wasted little time in establishing a lead and did so with an impressive piece of football.
Josh Windass, by his own admission below par in the League Cup semi-final against Celtic six days earlier, showed excellent vision to send Lee Wallace scampering free down the left.
The full back shaped his body in a way that looked for all the world as if he was going to square the ball across to the in-rushing Joe Garner. But he had a cunning plan in mind ... Then, comfortable that keeper Jamie MacDonald had bought the dummy, he smashed a low shot past him at his near post.
If that was a sickener for a Killie team which had gone into the match with renewed confidence thanks to the midweek victory over Hearts, there was worse to come. For soon it was 2-0. Former Rangers defender Steven Smith must have been feeling generous when he gifted the home side a penalty as he needlessly scythed down Jason Holt in the box as the ball ran away from him.
Christmas may be on the horizon, but it’s still a bit early for presents like that.
Andy Halliday wasn’t bothered how it came about, though, and he efficiently converted the spot kick to the keeper’s right as if missing was never a possibility.
Halliday is a Rangers fan who happens to wear the jersey and a man whose confident performances have done much to help improve the team in Joey Barton’s absence.
It was therefore no surprise he was given the loudest cheer of the day from the stands as he spun to accept the celebrations of his teammates.
The club’s £1.8 million signing Joe Garner can’t count on such enthusiastic backing from the fans. Not yet anyway. His lovely deft touch to glide the ball past MacDonald after a Windass shot down into the turf looped perfectly into his path to make it three and easy just after half-time, will have helped win over some of the doubters.
The emphasis really was on easy, MacDonald screaming at his backline after being forced to scramble to save Kenny Miller’s effort when the Rangers striker had been given time and space to try his luck.
To be fair, his teammates hadn’t exactly been standing on their hands up to that point with Gary Dicker having produced an excellent goal line clearance to keep Clint Hill’s goal bound header out.
They didn’t buckle either in the closing stages when the game was already lost and the home fans were clamouring for more and more goals.
“It was probably our best performance of the season in terms of our passing and movement,” said Rangers midfielder Jason Holt, who had turned in his usual neat and tidy display.
“Midweek against St Johnstone (the 1-1 draw) was a big disappointment so it was important we bounce back.
“We always try to start on the front foot and play at a high tempo.
“We did that and it’s nice to be up into second. That said, we’re not settling for that and we need to kick on again.
“From that point of view the game away to Ross County next Sunday is massive.”