Walter Smith praises consistency as Rangers go 13 points clear

Published on Tuesday 9 March 2010 22:19

WALTER Smith last night paid his Rangers players the kind of tribute he feels they have been unfairly denied by too many others as they moved another step closer to retaining the SPL title.

• Rangers Steven Whittaker celebrates after scoring the opening goal. Picture: SNS

Their 2-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park stretched their lead over Celtic at the top of the table to 13 points with 10 matches remaining. Remarkably, Rangers have now lost just one league game in the last 12 months.

"It is a fair achievement," said Smith, returning to his theme of earlier this week.

"For a team that doesn't get a lot of credit for doing a lot of things, the level of consistency they have displayed over the past year has been fantastic."

While he was ultimately satisfied with last night's victory, however, Smith admitted to concerns over the level of his team's display before goals from Steven Whittaker and Kenny Miller at the start of the second-half secured the points.

"We were poor in the first-half," said Smith. "Kilmarnock were the better side and we were slow to start. We had a turnaround at the start of the second half, though, and had by far the best of the game for 25 minutes when we managed to get the goals. We saw it out after that."

Kilmarnock manager Jimmy Calderwood was deeply frustrated after watching his side slip to a third successive defeat which leaves them just six points clear of bottom of the table Falkirk.

"I thought we were in the ascendancy for the first 50 minutes of the game before Rangers scored," said Calderwood. "We more than matched Rangers and had the best chances. But we just didn't react at their opening goal and fell out of the game which was really disappointing."

Match report:

Kilmarnock 0 - 2 Rangers: Rangers ruthlessly efficient as they seek early confirmation of SPL title