Chairman David Murray and manager Dick Advocaat jointly unfurled Rangers
49th League Championship flag before today's opening fixture against St
Johnstone - but as events unfolded it proved to be a difficult afternoon
before the champions finally carved out a 2-1 win.
The game kicked off in intense heat with Lorenzo Amoruso and Giovanni van
Bronkhorst back for their first outing of the season and Bert Konterman
making his debut - replacements for Scott WIlson, Allan Johnston and Craig
Moore. from Wednesday - the first two simply left out, Oz being possibly the
latest Rangers player to require surgery, some five months after being
injured at Perth - leaving many questions unanswered once again over Rangers
medical and physiotherapy facilities.
A rain-storm swept Ibrox shortly after kick-off - and the Rangers defence
might possibly use that as an excuse for their hesitancy at the loss of the
opening goal in 14 minutes when Nick Dasovic hooked the ball back from the
goal line for Alan Kernaghan to net his first goal since January 1999.
he pressure thereafter was one-way throughout the remainder of the first
half as Rangers strove to nullify that strike - Andrei Kanchelskis wasting a
good chance when he was clean through on the right at a tight angle,
shooting off Allan Mainšs legs instead of squaring to Billy Dodds who was
clear in front of goal
Frustration crept in amongst the 48, 062 crowd as Rod Wallace wasted two
clear chances - shooting wide in 24 minutes when freed by Giovanni Van
Bronkhorst and heading straight at Main from a Kanchelskis cross in 28.
A cleverly worked free kick by Van Bronkhorst and Albertz saw the German
midfieldersš 25 yard free kick turned away by the Saints goalkeeper.
Rangers had not lost their opening league fixture at Ibrox for some 11 years
and manager Dick Advocaat clearly had no intention of breaking that record,
sending on Neil mcCann as a half-time substitute for Tony Vidmar, giving
Rangers width on both flanks with Van Bronkhorst dropping deeper.
Referee Dougie McDonaldšs performance had left a lot to be desired thus far
and two yellow cards (the first of the game) shown in quick succession to
Fernando Ricksen and Andrei Kanchelskis for fouls on Tommy Lovenkrands and
Nick Dasovic respectively did nothing to ease the ire of the Ibrox legions,
but it was Saints who were protesting bitterly in 55 minutes when Billy
Dodds netted the equaliser from a Barry Ferguson pass, ina quick
counter-attack from a St. Johnstone free kick - the Perth player complaints
focussing on the lone figure of Nick Dasovic who had been stretchered off
seconds earlier but was unable to return to the fray without the refereešs
signal.
Within 60 seconds a flowing move involving Billy Dodds and Jorg albertz saw
the former Dundee United player send Rangers into the lead with his fourth
goal in two games.
Rangers were now motoring and two minutes later a mazy run by Neil McCann
threatened danger yet again until the winger was halted illegally by Dasovic
- referee McDonald again proving inconsistent by taking no action against
the defender. Amorusošs 25 yard free kick was saved Alan Main and St.
Johnstone proved almost instantly that the game was nit yet won and lost
when a Lovenkrands 20 yard effort was turned over the bar by Stefan Klos.
The refereešs idiosyncrasies were going from bad to worse - a quite bizarre
decision just after the hour defying explanation when he awarded the foul
for Bert Konterman in clearing the ball, hitting it off Keigan Parker!
Rangers were looking for a clinching third goal, and should definitely have
secured that when at the conclusion of a flowing move involving Albertz, Van
Bronkhorst and Ferguson, the Scots 12 yard shot was saved by Mainšs legs.
Neil McCann headed wide from a Dodds cross in 67 minutes and then hit the
top of the crossbar with a cross-cum-shot from wide on the left from a Jorg
Albertz pass.
The pressure continued incessantly with Barry Ferguson curling one shot just
wide before again striking Main's legs when clean through on goal in 78
minutes.
As time ticked on the worry was that a breakaway might cost Rangers victory
and the final ten minutes ticked away with many fans on the edge of their
seats as the Light Blues appeared to tire (raising the question yet again of
the pre-season preparation) - a Craig Russell from gary Bollanšs cross being
saved by Klos in 88 minutes, and Fernando Ricksen making a last gasp
decisive tackle inside the box in injury time on substitute Craig Russell.
Rangers manager Dick Advocaat described the 2-1 win as a good result, in
many ways similar tot he opening league game against Kilmarnock last season.
Rangers had played some excellent football he stressed but there was a
definite need for improvement. St Johnstone had made life difficult
throughout the first half but the second was much better. Describing
expectations as increasingly high he underlined that results are always
important at he beginning of a season. Asked about his first choice eleven
Advocaat made the point that with such a large squad everybody is available
fro selection. Pressed if Billy Dodds would be in his first choice team he
described the striker's recent performance as "Not bad, that's what he gets
paid for." LORENZO AMORUSO HAD PLAYED WELL AND BERT KONTERMAN WOULD TAKE
TIME TO ADJUST TO A NEW CLUB, PARTICULARLY AS THIS PAST WEEK HAD BEEN HIS
FIRST IN TRAINING.
St. Johnstone manager Sandy Clark referred to the first Rangers goal as the
crucial turning point of the game but accepted that the new rule was a
difficult one to interpret for referees. He paid tribute to Rangers for
grinding out a result and confessed that his team would play much worse and
winfor much of the season.
Goal scoring hero Billy Dodds underlined that he had no intention of getting
carried away with recent performances - it had been nice to score four goals
in two games but at Ibrox things changed from week to week. Admitting that
a rocky start would have been a considerable boost to Celtic he pointed out
that the first game of any season is always a hard one, teams always making
it difficult for Rangers at Ibrox.
A winning start therefore which is always the main thing in any league
campaign - but looking ahead to next Wednesday's return European tie in
Lithuania the loss of an early goal is a prospect that one would not
welcome.
