By David Herd
After a dismal end to 2024, Rangers fans have experienced something of a rollercoaster since the New Year. The euphoria of dismantling Celtic was followed by more abject misery on away league business at Easter Road and Dens Park, but since then there have been definite signs of better times ahead. The last-gasp defeat at Old Trafford was hard to take, but solid home wins domestically and a welcome victory on the road at Tannadice were followed in midweek by qualification for the last 16 of the Europa League when the injury-ravaged Rangers team showed wonderful resilience to beat tricky Belgian opponents and then get the luck they deserved as other results fell their way. Not long ago, the support was in a dark place, and the manager seemed to be a dead man walking. Now, with what looked like a reasonable set of domestic fixtures in the coming weeks and a couple of welcome midweeks off, there has been a sudden outbreak of positivity within the bluenose ranks.
That positivity had the chance to continue with a home game against Ross County, a team who had never won at Ibrox in their short history, and one who were smashed 6-0 earlier in the season during the temporary exile at Hampden. The cold fact remained at kick-off that there was still a chasm at the top of the table to the leaders, and the reason for that has been the inability of Rangers to string any meaningful run of league wins together. The best run so far this season is a miserable four wins on the spin, achieved at the start of December. This mini-revival had included a comfortable 3-0 win in Dingwall, and coincided with the manager ringing the changes in attack, with Ianis Hagi coming in from the wilderness and Hamza Igamane given the opportunity to show us the incredible talent we had sitting in reserve. Time will tell if either player starts next season still wearing the royal blue, but that is a debate for another day. For today, it was all about Rangers equalling that winning run of four games, on the back of victories in the last three league games against St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Dundee United. This still represents baby steps of progress to where we need to be, as to put it in context, Philippe Clement enjoyed a run of nine wins in a row last season, while this season the team at the top of the table’s longest winning streak has been seven, and they have done this twice.
Most Read on FollowFollow.com The FollowFollow.com Friday Preview – Hearts at Home Dessers Departs – A look back at Cyriel In The Eye Of The Storm – Rangers 0-0 Celtic
Consistent wins are the only recipe for success, and most definitely the only way to deliver title 56, whenever that will be. But one thing that often underpins such success is consistency in team selection, but with a seemingly endless injury crisis hanging over Ibrox, as well as a hectic fixture calendar, the manager has rarely had the opportunity to keep changes to a minimum. Today, there was never going to be an unchanged line-up, particularly in defence. The makeshift back four from midweek is one that Clement will never want to pick again, and he couldn’t anyway after Leon King suffered concussion in the opening minutes after finally getting the nod to start a game. Captain James Tavernier may have surprised many of us by successfully filling in at centre back on the Europa stage, but with greater available domestic options plus the welcome return in midweek for John Souttar, it’s very unlikely that a player who has started once at centre back in nearly 500 appearances will be in a hurry to play there again in his remaining time at the club.
In the end, the 46,973 crowd inside the stadium saw a starting eleven that contained three changes from the European heroics. Tavernier returned to his familiar right back beat, with a brand new centre back partnership of Souttar and Nsiala, meaning Propper got a rest on the bench. The other change was on the left of the attack, with Hagi taking the place of the so-far inconsistent Bajrami. Meanwhile, County, who saw results go badly for them yesterday with St Johnstone and Kilmarnock both winning, also made three changes from their last match, a home draw against Hibs. Manager Don Cowie wouldn’t be expecting to make the long trip north after the match with any points, but his side had won their last two away games at Pittodrie and Rugby Park to give him a small ray of hope.
Domestically, Rangers have been close to perfect at home this season, with just the draw against Dundee United in November preventing a 100% record in league and cup. No matter the changes, the Ibrox crowd were expecting a routine and convincing win to keep that impressive record going. By half-time, their expectations had already been met.
The opening stages gave little indication of what was to come, neither side looking any real threat in the first fifteen minutes. Perhaps the only scare had been a minor one at the Rangers end when a County free-kick flashed across goal with neither defender or attacker getting a touch. Cross balls have been a weakness for Rangers in recent times, this was a reminder that more work needs done to iron this out of our game. But that incident was soon forgotten, as Rangers clicked into gear. In what looked like a throwback to a 4-4-2 formation with Dessers and Igamane up front, a wonderful raking Nsialia pass in the 17th minute found Cerny on the right wing. He cut inside and delivered a powerful low shot that goalkeeper Jordan Amissah could only parry. Seconds later the rebound was in the net, and it wasn’t either of the two strikers who had shown a poacher’s instinct, it was left sided midfielder Ianis Hagi who was first to react and tuck it away. There was a brief VAR check for offside, which seemed incredible as Hagi looked yards on. The check was even quicker than the farcical one at the League Cup final, the goal confirmed and Rangers on their way.
Just six minutes later and County had a mountain to climb. Referee Steven McLean belatedly awarded a free kick for a foul on Dessers in a promising position around 20 yards from goal. Tavernier, Cerny and Hagi all stood over it, and it was the Romanian who struck it. He also struck lucky, the ball taking a huge deflection off the wall to wrongfoot Amissah who went one way while the ball sailed into the far corner. And good got better in 35 minutes, with another set piece goal. This time Raskin was given the freedom of the County penalty area at a corner, and he found an equally unmarked John Souttar with his downward header. From just a few yards out, the big centre half smashed it high into the net for the third.
In the last ten minutes of the first half, there were more close things around the visiting goal, County relieved it was still 3-0 at the break. The last home match had seen Rangers run up the same margin in 45 minutes against St Johnstone, then ease off and allow the visitors to escape with just a 3-1 loss. Would they be more ruthless this time?
The second half started with Bailey Rice getting 45 minutes more experience, as he replaced Diomande in the midfield, County also sending two new players into the fray as they looked to avoid embarrassment. The opening minutes saw Ricew come close with a fierce shot that was well saved, as Rangers looked like they wanted to inflict further punishment on their Highland visitors. And it looked like they had, when Souttar had the ball in the net after the goalkeeper had fumbled a Tavernier shot, but Dessers was ruled offside as he got to the ball first when it spilled back out. VAR confirmed the decision, after the usual long wait.
The game became somewhat scrappy as the changes continued, Rangers sending on Propper after an hour to give Souttar a rest after an excellent first start since the Tottenham match. Bajrami and Lawrence were the next to be introduced to allow Igamane and Hagi a seat in the dugout for the last 20 minutes, Larence making a comeback after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. And not long after they took to the pitch an unfamiliar cry went around the stadium – “penalty to Rangers”! Dessers was fouled as he tried to connect to a corner, with VAR confirming referee McLean’s decision to point to the spot. This was the first Rangers penalty in the league this season, the 42nd and last league club in Scotland to be awarded a spot kick. Skipper Tavernier hadn’t forgotten what to do from the spot, easily slotting the ball home and sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.
The home crowd got the opportunity to see recent signing Rafael Fernandes for the closing few minutes, replacing Man Of The Match Nsiala, who impressed again and looks a real find. The new man had little to do in the time he was on, but it can only be good for him to get his first taste of the Ibrox experience.
It ended 4-0, Butland coming closer to frostbite than having to make a save. Given the exertions of Thursday night, it was perhaps understandable that the second half would not be at the same level of intensity as the first, and there are absolutely no complaints any time a league game is comfortably won 4-0. The positivity in the stands continues. Assuming County finish in the bottom six this will be their last game against Rangers this season, and considering the aggregate score in the three league games between the teams sits at 13-0, that is something they won’t be too unhappy about.
The gap at the top remains ten points, with attention now turning to the last day of the winter transfer window tomorrow. The manager fielded several questions at the post-match press conference on possible departures and incoming transfers, but played these with a straight bat by saying that he is not the club finance head. He did state clearly that any departures must be replaced by a player of at least the same quality, He also quashed stories that Zack Lovelace was left out today because of an imminent move to Millwall, saying that the player was only missing today due to a toe injury, Time will tell whether there will be movement, as nobody in the press room expected Clement to tell them any club secrets. Despite the words of the manager, most Rangers fans will be expecting some news on deadline day.