Rangers moved into second place in the Scottish Premiership with a 5-1 win over Kilmarnock at Ibrox, cutting Hearts’ advantage at the top of the table to three points.
The night started well for Danny Rolle’s Gers until news broke that Celtic’s game at Aberdeen had been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. This gave them the chance to overtake their rivals and move into second place, closing in on the Jumbos.
It also got better within 5 minutes. Killie’s Dominic Thompson clumsily brought down Jaydee Gassama and as the Rangers man tried to control a clean pass to his feet, referee David Dickinson awarded a penalty and showed the left-back a straight red card.
James Tavanier made no mistake on the spot, but the expected storm that followed did not materialize. Mikey Moore looked brilliant when cutting in from the left on a number of occasions, but otherwise there was a distinct lack of urgency or creativity.
James Tavernier scored the opening goal from the penalty spot.
Even though it was down to 10 people, the visitors were expected to be at least level by intermission. Greg Quilty charged in from the right and turned the ball back to Bruce Anderson, who somehow managed to thread a shot into the front and back of the goal, making it look like a goal would be easy.
Bojan Miovski scores the decisive second goal.
Rangers breathed a sigh of relief when Bojan Miovski’s low shot after an exchange with Mohamed Diomande doubled their lead just before time expired, but it seemed to take the wind out of their sails.
Oliver Antman hits Rangers’ fourth goal
January signing Andreas Skov Olsen made it 3-0 after 16 minutes with a stylish finish after Moore’s square ball, but an otherwise solid second-half performance was dampened by Jack Butland’s consolation for Quilty after a missed clearance.
Mikey Moore celebrates after scoring his fifth goal
But the Rangers quickly made you think, “I wish we hadn’t done this.”
Debutant Tour Romance opened the scoring for Oliver Antman with his fourth goal in the 90th minute, with Antman turning provider before Moore scored with a great performance.
Rolle still relaxed about Rangers’ title hopes
Rangers head coach Danny Rolle told Sky Sports:
“Five great goals. It was also good to see some players score goals and get minutes. I’m happy for the group. They’re working hard to win the game, the game and the game. We knew before the game it wasn’t going to be an easy game.”
“I am very positive about this first situation, the pens, because after the Hibs game we talked about exactly these runs and in this case Gassama made exactly the attacking runs that we needed more of.
“Anyone who plays football knows what it means to have 10 players behind the ball. You have to break them down, you have to have patience. And we created good chances, had a lot of possession, took a lot of shots and created chances to score more. But 5-1, this is a good step, no more.”
“We’re feeling really good right now. We know we have 13 games left and we still have a long way to go, but my group has been outstanding and deserves a lot of praise.”
McCann: I feel this result is unfair.
Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann told Sky Sports:
“There was a lot to like[about our performance]. I really felt we were better in the first half when we had 10 men. We gassed up a little bit in the second half because we were still asking them to bomb forward. “We have one or two players coming back from injury for last weekend’s game, which they deserved, and we asked them to go again because they were just tired.
“There were some pivotal moments in this game that I think went against us. Dom Thompson didn’t see Gassama coming. Gassama will probably slow down a little bit and initiate contact. It’s very tough because I don’t think every foul in the box should be a red card. But I understand the laws of the game. Then we reacted brilliantly.”
“But the biggest moment of the game for me was when it was 1-0, when James Tavanier had already gotten a yellow card and we had the ball up top and the striker Tyrese John-Jules went on goal and he shoved him all the way. There was definitely contact there, and it was as big a contact as it was with Thompson. But they still say it wasn’t enough contact. I don’t understand what that means.”
“I spoke to the fourth official tonight and I have to say he was fantastic. When I asked him why it wasn’t a red card, the explanation I got from the referee was that there wasn’t enough contact. It was natural contact. Instead, it came from behind. James Tavernier was in a goal-side position and there was contact from a player on the turn, and he was in the on-goal, whether it was a yellow or a ball.” Red, James Tavernier should have already been sent off with a yellow.
“I think it’s a little unfair to see that scoreline. I told them in the locker room that they should be proud of themselves because they never gave up. They never, ever got separated. They were a complete team tonight. There was spirit in that locker room and I think they had courage. I was very encouraged to move forward.”
