Forres Mechanics 0 - 1 Rangers: Rangers hang on despite wobbles

THE one commendation that must be accorded the new Rangers is that they are extremely hospitable guests. The sense of occasion at Mosset Park for the sold-out Scottish Cup second-round tie was palpable.

SCORERS:

Rangers - Naismith 14

Referee: C Allen

Attendance: 2,751

If it wasn’t wafting from the 2,751 punters inside a Highland League ground that ordinarily plays host to crowds in the region of 400, it was to be found humming from the hundreds more that watched the historic encounter from all manner of viewing points afforded by houses and hills dotted around the three-sided open ground.

This was two-worlds-colliding cup football in the wonderfully raw and raucous. And, apart from scoring the decisive goal in 14 minutes through Kal Naismith, Ally McCoist’s side did nothing to puncture the fun of the afternoon for the good folk of Forres.

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They felt able to cheer their team off the field as heartily as they had roared them on it. And rightly so. As Rangers goalkeeper Neil Alexander admitted afterwards, his side were “hanging on” at the end – their default position for away games following three draws on their Third Division travels. Alexander was crucial to Forres’ efforts failing to bring them the replay he accepted would have been deserved indeed.

His leg came to the rescue after Kyle Scot looked to have an opportunity to equalise as he stretched to get on the end of a free-kick swung deep into the box. That was on the hour. When Nathan Sharp was dismissed eight minutes later for deliberate handball when already booked, the jig looked to be up for the home team. Instead, they continued to be the team “in the ascendancy”, as their manager Charlie Rowley afterwards noted.

The fact that Rangers seemed simply to stop offering any meaningful contribution within about five minutes of Naismith sweeping the ball in from a Crawford Aird cross from the left resulted in McCoist having to voice well-worn woes. The dismal nature of the display also engendered the feeling that last Wednesday’s Scottish Communities League Cup ousting of Motherwell on their home patch said more about the fecklessness of the Fir Park side than the qualities of the all-new team McCoist has constructed.

It is a team without a defence you would place any store in. The back four appeared vulnerable whenever a hardly venomous Forres attack pressed in possession and it remains a mystery what McCoist thought he saw in signings such as Sebastian Faure – who might have been lucky not to give away a penalty for handball and a challenge only seconds in – or Anestis Argyriou. Of course, Rangers were missing Dean Shiels, Ian Black, David Templeton and Andrew Little at the weekend. These are performers, like Lee McCulloch and some of the youngsters, who are capable of lifting Rangers’ levels as befits a £5m player wage bill. But, to his credit, McCoist didn’t reach for the injury “out”.

“We should be playing better than that even with young boys,” he admitted. “I never said it would be an overnight fix. It is going to be a long road. At the same time, the players should be doing their job. It is frustrating, and it is frustrating that I have to keep getting frustrated.”

That is a lot of frustration. In contrast, there was a dearth of finesse to discuss, where the Ibrox club was concerned. The quality of the Naismith goal, McCoist acknowledged was “out of place” with the way his team played in the Highlands, which disappointed him hugely after how well they played against Motherwell in midweek. The entire Rangers squad spoke with one voice in respect of their rotten road form.

“It is going to take time. I just think that we haven’t really turned up as well as we should have when we have played away from home, but that is nobody’s fault but our own,” said Lewis McLeod. “I would love to put my finger on it but I can’t. I don’t know why it is like that. If I knew I would tell the rest of the boys. I think we do owe Ally a big away performance. I am just delighted to play every week for Rangers, so anywhere is a good occasion for me.”

The midfielder is in a minority on that score. The weekend occasion belonged to the players in home colours. As Graham Fraser articulated. “ We are disappointed we never got a draw out of it but I think the whole team can be proud of what we did today. We did the whole of the town proud. It was probably the best experience most of the boys will get and I think everyone’s just happy we played a part in the game.

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“I was quite surprised at how the game went. After we went down to ten men I thought they would just press us, but they seemed to sit off us and we got chances to go forward and a few chances to get goals. It was a pity we never took them. Before, I didn’t think we’d get as much of the ball as we did. I thought they’d dominate, but we’d loads more chances than I expected.

“We’d good spells of possession. I didn’t expect that to be the case. There wasn’t a gulf in class – we pretty much matched up with them.”

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