Fright comes before the fun
Relief for nervy Rangers as Parkhead trip awaits
IT felt, in the first half, as if the weight of the scoreboard pressure might bear down and crush any lingering Rangers hope of snatching the title from Celtic’s grasp.
The opening 20 minutes alone were a nerve-shredding test of bottle. Enough VAR checks to test an abacus, an own goal from James Tavernier at one end, a missed penalty from the Ibrox skipper at the other, a red card for Kilmarnock central defender Joe Wright.
It turned out fine in the end. Rangers secured the three points which tees up another test of character next weekend. A bigger one, it has to be said, than a Kilmarnock team trying to plug the gaps with ten men for 65 minutes.
Brendan Rodgers put the cat amongst the pigeons after his side’s win over Hearts on Saturday. You assume the Parkhead boss had a glint in his eye when he vowed to turn up for the Old Firm showdown this Saturday and have some fun.
Mind games and wind-ups are all part of football’s rich tapestry at this time of year and neither this performance nor Philippe Clement’s accusations of ‘disrespect’ are likely to prompt any sleepless nights in the Rodgers household. Nonetheless, victory narrowed the margin to three points with three to play. When Celtic glance in the rear view mirror, Rangers are still there, shaking a fist.
Three points and five goals clear with three to play, Celtic are entitled to fancy themselves. They’ll have home advantage, all the fans, their key players are back on song and they know how to win leagues.
In contrast, Rangers had already lost Abdallah Sima, Rabbi Matondo and Connor Goldson before Leon Balogun joined the ranks of the walking wounded by limping off with a muscle injury at half-time.
In a list of potential title saviours, Ben Davies would have been lower than a snake’s belly button on the list. The central defender was wheeled out for his first appearance since the Europa League win over Betis on December 14 when he replaced Balogun.
Bundling in the crucial second goal after 62 minutes, the former Liverpool defender’s first Rangers goal was huge. A stunning strike from Tom Lawrence nine minutes later was followed by the stoppage-time close-range header from John Souttar which narrowed Celtic’s goal advantage to five with three to play. With a striker a good deal less infuriating than Cyriel Dessers, they’d already be ahead.
While Rangers had everything to play for, Kilmarnock’s motivation level was harder to predict here. Six points clear of St Mirren, they’d pretty much sealed fourth place in the league — and a place in Europe for the first time in five years — before a ball was kicked. Just how up for this would Kilmarnock be? How up for it did they have to be?
When they scored with their first attack of the game in just 12 minutes, there was an answer of sorts.
A Killie breakthrough hadn’t looked likely. After two minutes, referee David Dickinson was sent to the monitor for the first time for a handball check against Killie’s Corrie Ndaba. Did the ball strike his arm? Probably. Would a penalty have been an unduly harsh punishment? No question.
The offside flag which chalked off a John Lundstram finish after six minutes was right as well. None of which improved the mood or bearing of the home support when Killie nicked the lead with a soft own goal.
Liam Polworth’s swinging cross towards the back post didn’t give winger Matty Kennedy many options. The best he could do was turn the ball towards goal and hope for the best.
The strategy paid off when the ball squirmed away from Jack Butland, struck the hand of Tavernier and trundled over the line.
When Kilmarnock scored, the atmosphere inside Ibrox flicked like a light switch.
The home support could have no real complaint over the VAR intervention which led to a penalty and Killie being reduced to ten men after 19 minutes.
There was some unpacking to be done with this one, though. When Fabio Silva ghosted in behind the away defence and flicked the ball towards goal, Dujon Sterling was odds on to bundle it over the line. Joe Wright’s hand blocked it from doing so.
VAR first had to decide if an offside flag against Dessers in the attacking phase of play should save Kilmarnock’s skin. When the onside was given on VAR’s say so, Killie were done for.
After another trip to the pitchside monitor, Dickinson gave the penalty and showed a red card to a dumbstruck Wright. The handball rule remains a subjective shambles.
Redemption eluded Rangers captain Tavernier. While he struck his spot-kick powerfully to the right of Will Dennis, the keeper produced a terrific save.
A goal to the good, Kilmarnock still had a pretty major problem. Defending their lead with 11 men for over an hour would have been hard enough. Doing it with ten before a baying home crowd felt like pushing water up a hill.
Defender Robbie Deas was sent on to replace winger Danny Armstrong while the two attackers — Kyle Vassell and Marley Watkins — stayed put. Eight minutes of added time at the end of the first period reflected the infuriating number of VAR delays, but felt like an act of torture.
There’s no saying how the Rangers fans would have reacted
had the half ended with Killie a goal to the good. As it transpired, Silva just beat Lewis Mayo to a looping Lundstram cross to score neatly into the bottom corner and finally break Kilmarnock’s dogged resistance with the last kick of the half. The question was hypothetical.
After saving the Tavernier penalty, Killie keeper Dennis will feel he might have done better with Lundstram’s bouncing half volley, spilling the ball to the unlikely figure of Davies to score with a close-range finish.
As soon as they had their noses in front, Rangers were home and hosed, adding two more goals in the final 18 minutes.
Lawrence turned Mayo inside out before cutting back inside and smashing a quite outstanding strike into the top corner of the net from 20 yards.
Ridvan Yilmaz returned to action to ease the injury worries — slightly — before Rangers scored their second added-time goal of the game when Dennis failed to deal very well with another thundering Lawrence strike.
Souttar’s quick reaction sent Rangers into this weekend with three points, but no real illusions over the size of the task ahead. The fun starts here.