Rumour Mill: Stuart McCall | Kris Commons

Rangers manager Stuart McCall was left ruing more dropped points last night. Picture: SNS

Stuart McCall still optimistic after Alloa draw

Rangers manager Stuart McCall was optimistic about a strong end to the season despite his side being held to a 2-2 Scottish Championship draw with Alloa at Ibrox.

“Nobody will give us hope on Sunday going to Hibs, but I saw a lot of performances that we can take a lot from.

“Naturally, you look at the result, and I accept it’s not good enough. But there is still a long way to go in this season and there will be no defeatist attitude from anyone in that dressing room.” (Sky Sports)

Kris Commons admits he misses playing against Rangers

KRIS Commons has revealed that he hopes Rangers find a way out of their current Championship predicament to earn top flight promotion via the play-offs this season.

“The games with Rangers are the best games,” said Commons. “They draw the best crowds, a large TV audience for people around the world. It makes people want to get out of bed in the middle of the night in Australia. My mates down south don’t know much about Scottish footbal but they want to see that game.

“I love playing in them. There are a lot of fans who are on the fence whether it’s right or wrong, but I love them.” (Scotsman)

Commons blasts Guidetti and Forrest over Cup fall out

Kris Commons admits seeing two of his teammates fight for the ball like a couple of school kids took some of the shine off lifting the League Cup.

The air has been cleared and Commons is adamant it won’t happen again – even if it takes a game of bingo to sort out the spot kick running order in the future.

He said: “It probably put a little dampener on the way we won. The manager bases a lot on team spirit and team bonding.

“We are meant to have this good unit as a team and not individuals but clearly at the end of the game it looked as though people were doing things on an individual basis.” (Record)

Aberdeen anger fans over fixture switch

Aberdeen pulled the TV plug on their scheduled Premiership fixture against Dundee at Dens Park next Monday night and managed to upset many of their fans.

With two players chosen for Scotland duty next week - Mark Reynolds with the senior squad, Lawrence Shankland in the under-21s and Niall McGinn involved in the Northern Ireland set-up - the Dons agreed for the game to be played this Saturday as BT Sport confirmed they would still televise it with a 12.15pm kick-off.

This has angered many fans groups as they struggle to re-arrange travel arrangements.

Ian Ramsay, secretary of the Fraserburgh Supporters’ Club, said: “I spent up to 18 hours trying to find people to fill the seats on the supporters’ bus left vacant because of call offs, it was a nightmare. It was very short warning,” (Herald)

Gordon Strachan explains why he selected James Forrest

Strachan has defended the decision to choose the Celtic star over team mates Griffiths, Armstrong and Mackay-Steven, claiming Forrest can do things his teammates can’t which makes him unique.

“He has ability to do things that other people can’t do, he can eliminate players and in today’s modern game, that’s so beneficial,” said Strachan.

“The art of beating people is something, which is still a real plus.” (HITC)

News in brief:

• Alex McLeish looks set to be sacked by Genk at the end of the Season. (Herald)

• Jackie McNamara last night called for referee Calum Murray to show consistency in tonight’s crunch Scottish Cup quarter-final replay with Celtic as the fall-out from last Sunday continues. (Herald)

• Arnold Peralta has blamed Ally Mccoist for his nightmare spell at Rangers and called him a ‘fussy coach’. (Sun)

• Marcus Fraser has been awarded a new two-year deal by Ross County. (Express)

Rumour Mill: Stuart McCall | Kris Commons | Aberdeen