The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Harry Forrester leads the celebrations after Rangers clinched their return to the top flight with a 1-0 Championship win over Dumbarton at Ibrox last night.
Championship: Title won at Ibrox with victory over Dumbarton
Rangers will be playing top-flight football next season after clinching the Ladbrokes Championship with an arrow 1-0 home win over Dumbarton.
After re-emerging at the bottom tier of Scottish football in 2012 in the wake of their financial meltdown, the Govan club’s trek to the Premiership ended with a second-half goal from right-back James Tavernier in front of a packed but often subdued Ibrox.
The Gers fans, who have stuck by the club in huge numbers throughout the lower league campaigns, deserved to cheer long and loud into the Govan night although it was less than thrilling fare they were served up.
Last season’s failure to get out of the second tier was embarrassing for a club whose wage bill has dwarfed every team they have played in the three lower leagues, but boss Mark Warburton ensured the remit he was given when he arrived last summer was achieved.
The former Brentford boss and his players will face much tougher opponents next season, although they will get a chance to gauge their level sooner than that as they face Celtic in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on Sunday week, following the Light Blues’ Petrofac Cup final against Peterhead at the national stadium.
An organised, dense Sons defence coped comfortably with a one-paced Rangers attack, with keeper Jamie Ewings making comfortable saves from Harry Forrester’s drive and Tavernier’s free-kick from wide on the left, which was drifting into the top corner.
Rangers stepped up the tempo at the start of the second half.
Ewings made a fine double save, first from midfielder Billy King’s drive and then from another Forrester effort.
In the 50th minute, as the home side kept up the pressure, he was eventually beaten when Tavernier, from close range, converted a pass from Jason Holt.
The tension-easing counter had the Gers supporters in full voice for the first time and the home side began to push with sustained menace for the first time.
Meanwhile, Hibs came from a goal behind to beat Livingston 2-1, with Anthony Stokes and Martin Boyle cancelling out a Jordan White volley for the visitors.
Rangers: Foderingham, Tavernier, Kiernan, Danny Wilson, Wallace, Forrester (Shiels 78), Halliday, Holt, King, Miller ( Clark 86), McKay (O’Halloran 63). Dumbarton: Ewings, Saunders, Buchanan, Wright, Docherty, Taggart, Routledge, Fleming (Donald McCallum 83), Lindsay (Gallagher 61), Waters (Cawley 67), Nade. Att: 48,568. Ref: Steven McLean.