Scottish Football News

Rangers produced another lacklustre display in their opening SPL fixture against Falkirk on Saturday, but managed to secure their first victory thanks to an Andrius Velicka goal soon after Falkirk’s Michael Higdon missed a penalty within minutes of the second-half starting. 

The penalty miss proved costly as the Lithuanian striker, who ironically counts Rangers’ midweek conquerors Kaunas among his former clubs, struck to get Rangers off to a winning start in the SPL opener.  Suspensions and injuries among Rangers’ squad allowed for new signing Madjid Bougherra to make his Rangers debut in the centre of defence alongside Kirk Broadfoot. Andrius Velicka and Kris Boyd were given the nod up front and started in a front two pairing with Jean-Claude Darcheville and Daniel Cousin on the substitutes bench.

Ex-Celtic defender Jackie McNamara made his Falkirk debut alongside Lee Bullen, while manager John Hughes watched from the stand as he served a touchline ban.

Rangers started their SPL campaign at the Falkirk Stadium brightly as they sought to erase the pain of their midweek Euro exit. Another Rangers new boy, Kyle Lafferty, was particularly keen to impress as he marauded forward on occasion from his deep starting berth.

However, after surviving early Rangers pressure, it was Falkirk who began to threaten more as the first-half wore on. Indeed, John Hughes’ Falkirk, who are always keen to play football really began to menace the Rangers rear-guard with 40-year old veteran playmaker, Russell Latapy orchestrating things in midfield.  Falkirk’s first real chance came when Michael Higdon struck high and wide after 17 minutes, but it was the first of several attempts by the Bairns as they took the game to last season’s SPL runners-up.

Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor, who enjoyed a fine previous season before being injured has looked decidedly low on confidence throughout pre-season and started the game in a nervy manner, which was never more evident after he took a wild swipe at a Christian Dailly backpass and missed the ball completely.  Luckily for him, there was no Falkirk player in proximity to take advantage.

Rangers did threaten despite the Bairns enjoying the bulk of possession in the first half, and Kris Boyd featured heavily midway through the half; having a shot blocked by Darren Barr after a defensive mix-up and making a nuisance of himself from a corner moments later.

Falkirk, for all their possession and neat football, struggled to create any clear-cut chances and Scott Arfield blasted over from outside the box.  Falkirk’s build-up play was a joy to watch, but clearly they lack a cutting edge in front of goal.

It was the Glasgow visitors who ended the opening period on the front foot, with Steven Whittaker especially bursting into life, testing the rearguard with a delightful shimmy and shot.  It failed to bulge the net and the two teams finished the first half locked together at 0-0.

Into the second half and Whittaker was again involved right from the restart as Rangers sought to break the deadlock. Having gone on a lung-bursting run, he could have and should have done much better with a wayward shot when he could have instead played in the unmarked Andrius Velicka. 

However, Whittaker was also the villain at the other end moments later as he scythed down Falkirk’s Kevin McBride after a cutting passing move, which saw the referee award, a penalty to the home side.  Up stepped Michael Higdon and he looked a good bet to bag the first goal of the SPL season.  However, he struck the spot-kick poorly and McGregor pulled off a great save, diving to his left to keep the penalty at bay and turning the ball out for a corner.

Despite the miss, the hosts tried to respond through Russell Latapy’s free-kick and an audacious Scott Arfield volley, but Rangers would take some heart from the penalty miss and soon began to look a little more settled and came back into the match.

The goal came just after the hour mark, and just as Rangers were preparing to substitute Velicka with Jean-Claude Darcheville.  However, as the French striker stood on the touchline, Kyle Lafferty drove into the box, ripped the ball across the face of goal and Andrius Velicka was there to bundle in the first goal of the season from close range.

The goal was very much against the run of play, but the Rangers continued to press, with McCulloch sending a long-range effort wide.  Soon, though, Falkirk were pushing to restore parity, with Arfield using his support to one-two his way into the box. Dailly, though, was able to get a toe on the ball before the youngster could pull the trigger.

At the other end, Boyd could have finished off Hughes’ men, but his looping header clipped the post and went out, with Olejnik beaten all ends up.

Falkirk again played some nice football, spraying the ball around well, but still they couldn’t find the route to goal. As was the story for much of last season, too often have Falkirk played their opponents off the park but received little rewarded for their toils and today was no exception as the game petered out into a 1-0 win for the visitors.

Rangers boss Walter Smith will hope this win will go some way to rebuilding the shattered confidence of Wednesday night, but for Falkirk boss John Hughes, he clearly needs firepower up front, and will surely hope the injured Steve Lovell can provide.

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