PENNY ARCADE
Accies fall guy Alex gets ropey Rangers out of a spot of bother as his double clanger hands Gerrard vital away win
THE Penny finally dropped – and it led to Rangers finding retail therapy next to an out-of-town shopping centre on the outskirts of Hamilton. However, the credit rating of the Light Blues still took a dive as they put it all on the plastic of the Hope CBD Stadium. This was seven minutes away from becoming a woeful away day for a team that’s developed a worst record on the road in recent times than Dastardly and Muttley. However, two acts of folly from Accies defender Alex Penny handed Steven Gerrard’s side two spot-kicks in two minutes and James Tavernier’s double from 12 yards handed them their first league win away from Ibrox since February. An injury-time fourth from Alfredo Morelos, adding to Ryan Kent’s opener on the stroke of half-time, gave this scoreline a respectability for Rangers that was an affront to the effort Accies put into a tetchy clash that saw nine players booked, five for the visitors.
The scoreline was more flattering than a filtered Facebook profile pic and you had to feel for Steven Boyd whose screamer after 79 minutes handed Accies an equaliser their aggression merited, yet he was still denied a story to tell his grandkids.
Rangers’ persistence was rewarded on the back of Penny’s poor decision making as Tavernier scored his six and seventh spotkicks of the campaign but this was a functional performance from Rangers rather than flamboyant.
The three points will be
enormously welcomed but their title-chasing credentials have still to be fully established, even as they moved above Hibs and on to the shoulder of Hearts, Celtic and Kilmarnock.
Rangers played a peculiar brand of risk-free football, which was pedestrian rather than punchy as Jordan Rossiter made is first start of the season but failed to spark their creative side.
He wasn’t alone and Gerrard took a significant gamble that almost backfired by waiting until the 78th minute to make his first substitution in a game in which his side played with an alarming lack of urgency, tempo and movement in the middle of the park.
Rossiter wasn’t alone in playing within himself and it’s on days like
this Rangers must be thankful for the energy of Ovie Ejaria and the workrate of Kent who raced on to a Morelos pass five minutes before the interval to lash the opener behind Gary Woods.
In truth Accies had created the game’s best chances before the opener and Aaron McGowan volleyed narrowly over after 16 minutes after a cross from fellow full-back Scott McMann found him unmarked at the back post.
A minute later Darian Mackinnon went closer still, arriving ahead of flat-footed Lassana Coulibaly to fire a first-time effort inches past Allan McGregor’s post off a Fredrik Brustad cross with the Rangers defence again stretched.
Accies had a strong penalty claim waved aside when Tavernier appeared to wrestle Mickel Miller to the ground in the box but the winger jumped up to deliver a cross that was narrowly nodded over by McGowan. Rangers fans were looking for a response from their side after their last pitiful performance on the road, that 1-0 defeat at Livingston, but they were hardly being inspired.
Indeed it took Rangers until the 31st minute to get their first effort on target and Accies keeper Woods looked none too convincing as he bundled a low 25-yard shot from Ejaria around his left-hand post.
Accies barely deserved to go in at half-time a goal behind, even if Rangers had enjoyed the bulk of possession, and Gerrard’s side played a dangerous game of keep ball for long spells in the second half that was composed but lacked any sort of cutting edge.
Accies had fired sufficient warning of their danger before Boyd’s wonder strike, as the sub cut in from the right to fire a brilliant, curling left-foot shot into the postage stamp corner of McGregor’s net.
Miller had earlier turned Nikola Katic, who looked so uncomfortable on the surface he was the first Rangers player hooked as they tried to hang on, but the Accies winger poked his effort wide under pressure from Connor Goldson.
Rakish Bingham also got in behind the Croatian defender and forced McGregor to beat away his effort and Katic was slower to react than James Keatings whose follow up half volley whistled inches past.
Ejaria had brought out a fine stop from Woods with a curling drive after an hour and Tavernier also went close with a low effort a minute before Boyd’s wonder strike which spooked the life out of the under-performing Gers.
It was difficult to see where Rangers would have found inspiration to go on and win the game had it not been for the carelessness of Penny.
He made a hash of cutting out a low cross from Daniel Candeias in 83 minutes and the ball clearly struck his arm as he ushered it out of play. Tavernier slotted his spotkick confidently into the top corner – and he went straight down the middle two minutes later as he took his total tally for the season to eight.
He was afforded that attempt off the back of another Penny error when he clipped the heels of Morelos when the striker was going nowhere but wide inside the box.
The Colombian appeared to be playing with a niggling hamstring injury Gerrard insists will cause him no problems ahead of the Europa League clash with Spartak Moscow on Thursday.
He was involved in two of his side’s first three goals in a match in which he was booked for a bust-up with Mackinnon and was clearly targeted by Accies players amid concerns for his suspect temperament.
However, he had the last laugh when he broke on the counter in injury time, combining with best pal Candeias before slotting a shot high into the net from 16 yards.