Kilmarnock 1 - 0 Rangers: Ally McCoist suffers first SPL defeat at Rugby Park

ON a day which will live long in Rugby Park folklore, Ally McCoist tasted SPL defeat for the first time as Rangers manager and ended the weekend with his team’s advantage at the top of the table shorn to four points.

Manuel Pascali’s goal 10 minutes from time earned Kilmarnock their first home win over Rangers since 1994, ending a sequence of 33 games without success on their own patch against the Ibrox club.

It was an outcome which Kenny Shiels’ men merited against unimaginative opponents whose current leaden form must be a significant concern for McCoist. On a day when they were seeking to emulate the all-time club record of 15 consecutive away league victories, set back in 1929, Rangers followed up last week’s goalless draw at home to St Johnstone with another performance badly lacking in guile and penetration. In truth, it would have been quite inappropriate for the legendary side of Davie Meiklejohn, Bob McPhail and Alan Morton to have been matched by this vintage.

Having held a 12-point lead over Celtic at the start of play just eight days earlier, Rangers have seen their great rivals take full advantage of their slip-ups to re-energise a title race which many observers believed had already turned into a coronation procession.

With the second Old Firm showdown of the season on 28 December at Celtic Park looming ever larger, McCoist now faces a challenge to prevent his team’s current problems extending from a mini-slump to a damaging and sustained loss of momentum. While Kilmarnock’s supporters rightly savoured the moment yesterday, the emotions of the Rangers fans could hardly have been in starker contrast to the party mood they enjoyed on their last visit to Rugby Park in May.

Rangers briefly hinted at the kind of vibrant start which had seen them blow away their hosts in the early minutes that day, when the title was clinched on the final day of last season in swashbuckling style.

Less than a minute was on the clock when Steven Davis found space on the right to deliver a low cross towards Nikica Jelavic in the penalty area but the Croatian striker was unable to connect properly and Kilmarnock were able to clear the danger.

In terms of providing an indication of what was to follow, that immediate threat from Rangers was utterly misleading. They struggled to find any telling fluency during the rest of an often ragged encounter.

Kilmarnock, despite their plans being disrupted after just seven minutes when Dutch midfielder Danny Buijs limped off with a hamstring injury to be replaced by Danny Racchi, were supremely well organised and maintained a level of tactical discipline which offered Rangers very little encouragement.

With Liam Kelly providing additional security as a holding midfielder in front of the outstanding central defensive pairing of Pascali and Mo Sissoko, the home side were able to nullify Rangers as an attacking force for lengthy spells. It allowed Dean Shiels and the tireless Gary Harkins to help central striker Paul Heffernan ensure Rangers had to spend time on the back foot.

It was a disappointing Rangers debut for Sone Aluko, the Nigerian winger ultimately culpable for Kilmarnock’s winning goal when he failed to react in synch with his team-mates and played Pascali onside.

In fairness to Aluko, he was otherwise one of the champions’ brighter performers, although there is an element of damnation with faint praise in that observation on a day when Rangers were so palpably poor.

A training ground injury to Carlos Bocanegra meant a defensive reshuffle for McCoist with Ross Perry making his first appearance since August. The 21-year-old’s intervention prevented Pascali getting a header on target from a Shiels corner in Kilmarnock’s first threatening moment in and around the Rangers penalty area.

Kilmarnock had a couple of half-hearted penalty claims waved away by referee Alan Muir in the first half, when Heffernan and then Harkins tumbled in the box, with Rangers seeing a perhaps more substantial shout also turned down on the stroke of half-time when Aluko went down in a goalmouth scramble.

That they were the most noteworthy incidents of the opening 45 minutes said much about the overall paucity of much of the fare.

Rangers were forced into a change of their own just before the interval, Kyle Lafferty leaving the field with a back complaint to be replaced by young English striker Kyle Hemmings.

While the substitute was lively, notably in a smart exchange with Aluko which saw the winger’s shot cleared off the line by James Fowler, Rangers remained incapable of placing their hosts under any sustained pressure.

Instead, it was Kilmarnock who gradually looked more likely to break the deadlock and Allan McGregor had to make a fine one-handed save to deny Heffernan after the Irish forward had been sent clear by Garry Hay’s fine pass.

McCoist sent Alejandro Bedoya on for the labouring Maurice Edu and the newcomer almost snatched the lead for Rangers in the 79th minute, flicking an Aluko pass against Cammy Bell’s right- hand post.

Just 60 seconds later, Rangers found themselves behind. A Shiels corner from the left was cleared as far as Hay, who lofted the ball back into the penalty area. The Rangers players moved out in an attempt to leave Pascali in an offside position, but Aluko’s tardiness meant that the Kilmarnock captain’s looping header over Allan McGregor was unquestionably onside.

Kilmarnock defended stoically in the closing stages to hold on to a famous result, although Bedoya should have salvaged a point for Rangers in the 89th minute when he drove a shot straight at Bell from around 12 yards.

It left Rangers to come to terms with their first league defeat on the road since they lost at Celtic Park in February and the realisation that the championship race is very much on.