HAMILTON..3 RANGERS..5 BUY ONE GET WIN FREE
It’s gifts and dodgy defending galore as Gers snap up the home bargains
THERE’S a Sainsbury’s behind one stand at New Douglas Park and a Morrisons store running alongside the other.
In the shadow of the delivery bays for Iceland and B&M, for 90 minutes yesterday Accies operated a pop-up branch of Home Bargains.
Hamilton have already been the sorry victims of financial larceny off the field this season but defensive fraudulence on it turned this performance into bankrupt stock.
At the back Rangers were little better as both sides operated a buy-one-get-one-free policy, particularly in a first half in which six goals were scored and yet only one demanded a label of quality.
At the end of it all Rangers moved above Aberdeen into second place in the table and boosted their goals difference as they maintained their reputation as the best side on the road in the Premiership this season.
There was much to admire in the Rangers performance in the final third as Josh Windass grabbed another hat-trick in an exceptional season and Alfredo Morelos continued to lead the line so unselfishly.
The little Colombian drew the Accies defence out of position time and again and left space for Windass and Jamie Murphy to exploit with eye-catching runs beyond the ball.
That trio shared four goals for the away side in the astonishing opening 45 minutes as Windass chipped in with a double to celebrate his recent contract extension while Murphy also popped up with a double assist.
Windass completed his hat-trick in the second half, off another Morelos delivery, as he took his tally for the season to 15 goals, one behind the former HJK Helsinki starlet. However, if Rangers harbour any ambitions of silverware success this season, never mind laying down a challenge to Celtic in the next three months, they must be better at the back.
Hearts boss Craig Levein looked over it all from the directors box ahead of his side’s visit to Ibrox on Saturday.
The stingiest boss in the league must have gone from gasping at the poverty of the rearguard displays from both sides to smacking his chops at the damage Kyle Lafferty and Co could wreak to this Rangers back four on Edmiston Drive.
Accies exploited the lack of match sharpness of Russell Martin, for example, while central-defensive partner David Bates lost focus at times and gave the impression his mind is wandering to the lack of a breakthrough on a new contract.
Martin Canning’s side also shipped four to the Light Blues in South Lanarkshire earlier this term but games against Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen will not define their season.
However, they must also tighten up if they are to give themselves the best chance of beating the drop and maybe even a relegation play-off, which looks their fate.
They started brilliantly when Darren Lyon fired them into a lead after just five minutes, curling a low left-foot shot into the corner of Wes Foderingham’s net after former Accies starlet Greg Docherty took a swipe at an attempted clearance.
They needed cool heads but took only cold feet as Rangers restored parity five minutes later. Morelos bullied the life out of Xavier Tomas on the right before squaring for Murphy to slide a shot home from six yards.
It went from bad to worse in 18
minutes when the Accies defence stood off Windass on the left-hand side and allowed him too much space to work the ball on to his favoured right foot.
His shot from the edge of the box was powerful enough yet Accies keeper Gary Woods reacted as if he’d been forced to deal with a cannonball as he allowed it to spill from his chest before he stumbled back and pushed it into the roof of his net.
That was that, we all thought, but Accies were on level terms midway through the first half.
Former Gers winger David Templeton accepted a pass to feet with his back to goal, swivelled too easily past Martin at the edge of the box and fired a shot into the corner of the net.
The match was played on plastic and beginning to resemble a five-a-side fixture as chances were created at will, particularly at the Accies end of the pitch. Morelos had earlier hit the bar but made no mistake when Kenny van der Weg’s misplaced pass in midfield was worked out to Murphy on the left.
His initial shot was pushed away by Woods but the on-loan Brighton wideman knocked the loose ball inside for Morelos to finish from close range.
Eyebrows may have been raised at the space Rangers were being afforded but their fourth, 10 minutes before the break, was a strike of exceptional creativity.
Skipper James Tavernier picked out Murphy with an incisive pass down the inside right channel and he immediately turned the ball infield where Windass had timed his run to perfection to net.
The tempo in the second half unsurprisingly dropped, as did the number of defensive errors, as Rangers won the right to play the game at training-ground pace.
Docherty volleyed a shot off the bar and Bates screwed the follow-up header wide from only six yards while Windass also fired a low drive towards the inside of the post that Woods did well to save.
However, Rangers put the game out of sight in 72 minutes when the Hamilton defence were again caught napping and Daniel Candeias released livewire Morelos on the right with a quick throw.
The striker’s low cross along the face of goal was inch perfect for Windass to complete his hat-trick but Accies still found one last hurrah.
There were only two minutes left when Lewis Ferguson made a rare foray into the Gers box and his shot hit the hand of Martin as ref Bobby Madden pointed to the spot on the decision of assistant Douglas Ross.
Dougie Imrie fired his spot-kick high down the middle of Foderingham’s net, giving the score a reflection that did not reflect the ease with which Rangers ultimately won.
There was much to admire about Gers in the final third but they must improve at back