VIBRANT YET

Rangers show their good and bad side as they blitz Queens but end up just hanging on

ANOTHER step closer to the Championship title and another showcase for both the vibrant and vulnerable faces of this Rangers team.

An 11-minute spell after half-time saw Mark Warburton’s team come on like a hurricane and blow Queen of the South away with a three-goal blitz.

So severe was the storm that three quarters of the Rangers back four were involved in either creating or applying the damage to the Doonhamers’ defence.

There were assists for Lee Wallace and Danny Wilson, while James Tavernier claimed his 12th goal of the season — a remarkable tally for any full-back, far less one who had experienced a goal drought since the second day of 2016.

Yet these are the men who, principally, are paid their wages to defend. Just as at Falkirk a week past on Friday, they contrived to concede on three occasions, albeit this time their advantage was such that they never quite appeared in danger of losing the game.

Wallace has been touted hard for a Scotland call-up, but it was the Rangers captain’s sloppiness that accounted for the penalty from which Iain Russell equalised Harry Forrester’s first-half opener.

Just as the Ibrox fans were revelling in their team’s goal burst, Queens grabbed another on the counter and entered stoppage-time with dreams of a point after substitute Mark Millar had fired home from distance.

Warburton has very clear ideas on the manner in which his players should use the ball, but the freedom they are granted to express themselves leaves them susceptible to punishment. With Celtic and the predatory Leigh Griffiths lying in wait in the Scottish Cup semi-finals, the warning signs are clear.

Meantime, Rangers are intent on clinching promotion as quickly as possible.

Shorn of Billy King and Barrie McKay — both on duty with Scotland’s Under-21s — Warburton made a couple of changes to the team which lost at Falkirk, with Michael O’Halloran and Forrester stepping up.

Rangers scored with the game’s first proper effort on goal. Forrester has proved a handy mid-season addition by Warburton and he scored his fourth goal for the club at the end of a driving run down the right channel. If his low finish was hard and true, credit must also go to Andy Halliday for the back-heeled flick that helped ease his team-mate’s progress into the box.

Rather than press home their advantage, Rangers sat back.

Queens’ penalty was the product of neat play from Gary Oliver, who showed dainty feet to outmanoeuvre Wilson and slide a delicate pass into Russell’s path.

Having failed to catch the attention of national coach Gordon Strachan, Wallace seemed to be calling out to Vern Cotter with the clumsy foul that would have been more at home at Murrayfield than Hampden.

Russell picked himself up and placed the equalising shot low to Wes Foderingham’s left.

It could have been two when Ryan Conroy’s dipping shot from 25 yards beat Foderingham but bounced back off the bar.

Finally stung into action, Rangers twice came close to recapturing their lead before half-time, first when Forrester lobbed over after an impeccable first touch and then through Jason Holt whose rising shot whistled over Robbie Thomson’s goalframe.

Competitive for 45 minutes, the walls collapsed around the away team after half-time. Dead on 60 seconds after the re-start, they were again behind. Wallace’s cross was speculative but Lewis Kidd completely misjudged the flight, allowing O’Halloran to pull it down and arrow a shot into the top corner.

Halliday and Forrester both went close as Rangers submitted Queens to waves of attack and the inevitable third came quickly.

Wilson and Kenny Miller combined to tee up Halliday, who found the net with a hooked overhead kick that appeared only slightly less awkward than the subsequent collision with Forrester as he attempted to celebrate.

Rangers’ fourth saw Halliday and Miller link for Tavernier to sidefoot the ball home.

The 4-1 lead ought not to have been fragile, but Rangers’ defence continues to invite the opposition in and a whirlwind spell concluded with a surprise goal for the visitors, with Oliver claiming a deserved personal reward as he converted at the back post from Russell’s cross.

Oliver’s strike effectively killed the tempo of the match but as it drifted towards a conclusion, Millar gave the visitors the briefest of hope, skipping past a Halliday challenge and burying the ball low behind Foderingham from outside the area in the 90th minute.

Queen of the South boss James Fowler ended the afternoon questioning referee Crawford Allan on why only three minutes of stoppage-time had been added.

As Fowler remonstrated with the official, there was no sign of Warburton, who had raced straight up the tunnel to chew over the reasons behind another unsettling performance.