Defeat no surprise to Ally McCoist

RANGERS manager Ally McCoist condemned his players for their lack of pace and creativity as their 25 game unbeaten run in the SPL came to a halt at Rugby Park yesterday.

McCoist offered no excuses for the 1-0 defeat by Kilmarnock which means Rangers’ lead at the top of the SPL over Celtic, which stood at 12 points just eight days earlier, has been slashed to four.

Though dismayed by his team’s performance and the result, McCoist indicated it had come as no huge surprise in the wake of recent faltering form.

“It was a sore one, but we maybe should have seen it coming,” said McCoist. “Kilmarnock played very well and we didn’t do nearly enough. We didn’t play at the tempo we should have, or needed to, to get the three points.

“I felt we started okay, for the first five minutes or so, but then we lost our way. We stopped pressing them high enough up the pitch. A draw might have been a fair result, but I’ve got no complaints. We are not creating enough chances or playing the game at a high enough tempo at the moment. It’s a bit more complicated that that, but that’s the basic problem.”

McCoist is more concerned with the immediate task of restoring his team to winning ways than he is with the radically altered perceptions of a championship pursuit, which many observers had previously written off as a one-horse race. “Contrary to what a lot of other people thought, I didn’t think we had won the title a week or so ago,” added McCoist. “I’ve always said there will be twists and turns over the course of the season. Nothing gets handed out in November.

“The lead is down to four points now, but I’d rather it was in our favour than against us. But I’m not going to lie, it is a bit disappointing. I don’t see it affecting the confidence of the players. We have lost our first league game of the season today and while it’s disappointing, we will do our jobs and try to find the reasons why we lost. You always have a lot of thinking to do between games and this week will be no different.”

Sone Aluko, making his debut for Rangers following his signing last week, was at fault for Kilmarnock’s winning goal 10 minutes from time when he played scorer Manuel Pascali onside. But McCoist was generally satisfied with the former Aberdeen winger’s contribution before he was replaced by John Fleck with five minutes remaining. “I thought Sone did fine,” said McCoist. “He was one of the brighter players in our team. For a debut, he did fine.”

To add to McCoist’s woes, Kyle Lafferty was forced to limp out of the action before half-time after sustaining a back complaint. The Northern Ireland international will be fully assessed today with McCoist anxious to avoid the lengthy absence of another forward in the wake of Steven Naismith’s season-ending knee injury. “Kyle is heavily iced at the moment and we are just hoping it is not too serious,” said McCoist. “He has a spasm in his lower back and we will send him for a scan. It would be a real blow for us if he was out for any length of time, because we don’t have too much cover in that department.”