Dunfermline Athletic 0 - 4 Rangers: Yankee duo handy for Gers

BARELY detectable though they were amid the red, white and blue of Rangers’ customary garb, the stars and stripes were fluttering at East End Park yesterday. Two of their three American players, Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu, set up a win that was every bit as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests. The gap between these sides was as wide as the Atlantic.

From the moment Bocanegra opened the scoring with an early, unchallenged header to the late fourth goal, a second for Steven Naismith, the champions had this one by the scruff of the neck, passing the ball at will, breaking forward in waves and repeatedly stretching Paul Gallacher, the Dunfermline goalkeeper. Had he not saved Alejandro Bedoja’s late shot, it would have been five for Rangers, and three for the USA.

Just three days after their surprise defeat by Falkirk, Rangers devoured their opponents in this lunchtime kick-off. “Just what the doctor ordered,” said Ally McCoist, their manager, who was celebrating his 49th birthday. “The performance was as a good as the result. We got a great reaction. The players looked very, very comfortable. They looked as though they enjoyed it. Even when we were 3-0 up, 4-0 up, we were hunting in packs.”

It wasn’t just the Americans who excelled themselves. Dorin Goian, despite several injury scares – all of which he seems to have survived – was flawless alongside Bocanegra at the back, while Steve Davis was so dominant in midfield that McCoist was raving about him. “I don’t like singling out individuals, but it would be wrong of me not to say what a performance that was,” said the manager. “It was absolutely top class, a real captain’s performance.”

The only negative from Rangers’ point of view was an elbow by Naismith on Austin McCann. Although there was no complaint from the Dunfermline player, or indeed his manager, television evidence suggested that there was a case to answer. “I thought, the way the ball bounced, it was just an accident, but I’ll need to see it again,” said McCann.

All in all, it was a traumatic experience for Dunfermline. “Who’s got the whisky?” asked Jim McIntyre, their manager, when he met the press later. His team gave the ball away in midfield, stood off their opponents and, in the first half particularly, showed little appetite to win headers in their own box. The first goal came after Kyle Lafferty, wearing pink boots, was brought down by Alex Keddie 25 yards out. When Greg Wylde’s free kick, nodded on by Steven Naismith, was pushed away by Gallacher, the resulting corner, again from Wylde’s left boot, picked out Bocanegra in space. The American’s header was all too easily dispatched into the top right-hand corner.

Eight minutes later, Rangers had their second. Nikica Jelavic nicked the ball away as an opponent stooped to make an ill-advised defensive header, laid it off to Edu and watched as his team-mate curled a left-foot shot between post and goalkeeper. It was a sweet finish from just outside the box, but it came with so little effort that the American midfield player could hardly find it within himself to celebrate.

Already, the fear was that Dunfermline were in for a thrashing, with Naismith keen to get in on the act. One shot tested Gallacher, after a cross by Jelavic, and a second whistled by from further out. By the time Jelavic was heading over another corner by Wylde, you wondered how Rangers had toiled so badly in midweek.

Dunfermline’s only sign of life was just before half-time. Andy Barrowman, playing alone up front, had his looping header tipped on to the roof of the net by Allan McGregor, who also had to be sharp with a dive that pushed Paul Burns’ shot round the post, but the real threat was at the ther end. Wylde had a clear chance to make it three, but his angled shot was smothered by Gallacher.

When Lafferty failed to reappear for the second half, his replacement, Juan Ortiz, made an immediate impact. The Spaniard’s weighted ball into the path of Davis enabled the midfielder to surge at the Dunfermline defence and slide a measured pass of his own behind the centre-halves. Naismith seized on the chance, clipping it past the goalkeeper from 12 yards.

The need for caution now gone, Steven Whittaker thrust himself into Rangers’ attacking mix. When the Dunfermline midfield opened up, he explored the space with a diagonal run before thumping a left-foot shot high and wide. Then, when a ball dropped out of the sky some 35 yards out, his meaty first-time volley had Gallacher scrambling to save. Between those efforts, Jelavic had a free-kick tipped over by the Dunfermline goalkeeper.

David Graham might have pulled one back for the home side, but McGregor was down quickly to save his angled shot, allowing Rangers to resume normal business. Davis carried the ball from deep in his own half all the way to Dunfermline’s penalty area, where he slid it wide to Jelavic. The striker had time and space to shoot, but chose instead to set up Naismith for an easy goal at the back post.

It could have been worse for Dunfermline – much worse. Long before Gallacher was tipping over a late free-kick by Davis, McIntyre was surely yearning for the final whistle. “The performance was abysmal,” he said. “And the result matches it.”