RELIEF AS IBROX MEN ROLL BACK THE YEARS

THE entire landscape of Scottish football has gone through seismic shifts in the time since Rangers last won at Rugby Park. When their players celebrated clinching the 2011 league title with a thumping 5-1 victory — on a grass pitch — it provided the perfect finale for Walter Smith’s second spell in charge. A third successive championship had been delivered.

Positivity abounded. Once the trophy came back to Ibrox, a certain Craig Whyte was pictured clutching it. He had completed his £1 purchase of the club from Sir David Murray just nine days earlier.

Had a time-traveller detailed what would happen next, the men in white coats would likely have been summoned. Administration. Liquidation. And all that came with it.

Last night’s victory wasn’t as significant as 2011. But it truly mattered to the Ibrox club.

For Mark Warburton, this was a first success over Premiership opposition since his appointment. The Rangers manager has often bristled at mention of their League Cup defeat to St Johnstone back in September. Here, at last, was something to stop it being cast up.

Promotion back to the top flight remains the undoubted priority for Warburton. But a significant run in the Scottish Cup can only aid his standing among a support that often chanted his name in Ayrshire.

The Englishman waited for every one of his players as they made their way off at full-time, offering congratulatory handshakes. A home quarter-final against either Dundee or Dumbarton now provides an opportunity to secure a date at Hampden.

Rangers had got their business done early five years ago, scoring three times in the opening seven minutes. Last night, it took two minutes of injury-time to settle the outcome, as Nicky Clark deftly converted Barrie McKay’s corner.

But it was a deserved result. Killie tired over the course of the second half, steadily becoming less of a threat. Swathes of home territory were seized. It only seemed a matter of time. And so it proved.

Lee Clark watched it all from the stand. The fourth permanent manager Killie have had since that day in 2011, he would have gathered both positives and negatives. For caretaker Lee McCulloch, who retained actual control for this match, the chance to do a Rocky Marciano and retire from his post undefeated was lost with Clark’s accuracy.

All in all, it had been a compelling affair. Just as at Easter Road, this was tailor-made for television.

Yet neither game could be broadcast because it would clash with coverage of the Champions League. Presumably that particular piece of legislation will no longer apply in Scotland if the European elite succeed on shutting the door to our clubs.

As it was, the blackout only served to heighten demand. Around 8,000 Rangers supporters were crammed into the stands behind each goal, helping to swell the crowd beyond 13,000.

After all the debate of recent weeks, there was also a clear example of one advantage of a plastic pitch.

So much rain fell over Ayrshire yesterday that a natural surface may have been sufficiently swamped to force a postponement. Instead, the deluge simply lent an additional slickness to the artificial turf.

That is unlikely, however, to have changed the opinion expressed by Rangers centre-back Rob Kiernan, who had condemned the presence of such pitches in the Scottish game, branding them a ‘nightmare’.

Perhaps this angst had lingered in his mind. It was difficult to find another explanation for the error that gifted Josh Magennis possession with 15 minutes on the clock, but he recovered to put in a saving challenge just as the hitman was about to fire. The Killie fans hollered for a penalty. Magennis l ooked up hopefully. Referee Bobby Madden was unmoved.

Madden had already pointed to the spot after just three minutes when Steven Smith toppled Martyn Waghorn, with the visiting striker converting in what would be his last action before hobbling out injured. In a curious quirk, Smith also had to be substituted before the half hour mark. By that point, Killie had long been level, courtesy of Rory McKenzie.

Incident tumbled upon incident. As Rangers dominated possession, Clark briefly left his seat in the stand to ferry instructions down to the technical area.

Yet that pattern only intensified in the second period. Chances came. Chances went. But it was the other Clark who had the final say.