Templeton planning to give old pal Robbie heartache
Jump to it: Nicky Law evades the Alloa defence to flick the ball past keeper Craig McDowall for Rangers’ winner, then (below) celebrates with Jon Daly, who created the chance
SHIVERING in a maroon bobble hat amid a blizzard in Clackmannanshire, David Templeton looked every inch the Hearts fan on Saturday evening as he waxed lyrical about Robbie Neilson.
After recording his admiration for the mentor who helped guide him through his early days in Gorgie, however, the 26-year- old winger pledged to ‘ repay’ the Tynecastle boss by dishing out the first league defeat of his management career.
Templeton has not given up hope of bridging the 13-point gap between his current and former clubs.
And he believes that a first Championship loss for Neilson and Co at Ibrox on Friday night could shatter Hearts’ confidence and leave them vulnerable to dropping more points during the run-in.
‘When I first broke into the Hearts team, Robbie was behind me at right-back and he was probably the biggest influence on me in terms of players at the club,’ said Templeton (below), after Rangers’ victory over bogey team Alloa secured back-toback wins for the first time since early November.
‘It is always the hardest part when you first come through at a club and Robbie was there to help me.
‘He was always good with me, talking me through games. Even in training, he would talk to me about positioning.
‘So it doesn’t surprise me he has gone into management and done so well.
‘This game against is one we have to win. There’s no other way to look at it. They are a good bit ahead of us and we have to win to try to claw it back and then hope other teams can pick up points against them.
‘I’m surprised at their run because I thought that coming up to the difficult festive period they might have dropped points. But they have done really well and are winning games convincingly.
‘They are really confident and are flying right now. But if we can get a win (on Friday), it might put them into a little dip.
‘We can then hope it gives other teams the incentive to do the same.’
At the end of another turbulent week off the pitch, there was at least some good news for Rangers on it as they finally found a way to beat Alloa at the fourth time of asking.
If revenge is a dish best served cold, then the Indodrill Stadium proved a perfect backdrop amid fierce blizzards for the Ibrox side to avenge their mortifying 3-2 exit here in the semi-final of the Petrofac Training Cup in November.
That was a result which effectively called time on Ally McCoist’s tenure but Nicky Law’s close-range finish on 15 minutes on Saturday, after fine work from Jon Daly, ensured that caretaker boss Kenny McDowall s ucceeded where McCoist could not.
But Rangers again toiled badly against a part- time team who boasted the best player on the park in Ryan McCord.
The midfielder once faced Lionel Messi et al in a pre-season friendly while a young player at Dundee United, and the 25-year- old now certainly looks capable of playing at a higher level than the Scottish Championship.
Had it not been for a lack of composure by Alloa striker Liam Buchanan, who lobbed Rangers keeper Steve Simonsen only for the ball to drop wide, the part-timers may have taken an early lead.
Alloa carved out another few decent chances, with Stephen Simmons narrowly f aili ng to connect with a header from close range, before Rangers’ Kyle Hutton diverted a dangerous Buchanan cross over his own crossbar.
Only when Buchanan again failed to hit the target — after Greig Spence’s free-kick had been spilled by Simonsen — were the points truly safe for the visitors following a spell of Alloa domination. If Buchanan was left ruing his two spurned opportunities at full time, Ibrox star Templeton remains haunted by a miss of his own from earlier in the season. ‘ In that first game against Hearts on the opening day of the campaign, we were the better side and I felt we should have won it,’ he added. ‘But I missed a sitter at 0-0 in that one and we ended up losing 2-1.
‘We didn’t turn up at all in our last big game against Hibs (a 4-0 victory for the hosts at Easter Road) but I can assure everyone we will be well up for it against Hearts on Friday night.
‘I hope we can play some good football and get a good win.
‘Consistency hasn’t been there with us this season and that has been our problem.
‘ But the difference f rom our previous games against Alloa this season was that we managed to grind it out.
‘We had chances to make it more comfortable before they started to put the pressure on but when they did, we managed to see it out and take the three points.
‘It is a difficult place to come and any other team in the league would tell you that. When you consider our last few games against them, then it is a good win.
‘I am now hoping, with wins in our last two games, we can hit a good spell of form.
‘The Hearts game will be massive and, if we can get a win, that will give us a lot of confidence. Hopefully, we can then go on an unbeaten run in the second half of the season.’