Rangers 2 - 1 Dunfermline Athletic: Jelavic seals unconvincing win

IT COULDN’T be said that things aren’t going Rangers’ way. They might once more have failed to in any way convince, but the fact is they won for the first time in three outings courtesy of an own goal from Alex Keddie and a penalty that was softer than a marshmallow.

With Celtic due to meet Dundee United at Tannadice this lunchtime, they have bumped up their lead in the Scottish Premier League to seven points.

That was, Ibrox manager Ally McCoist admitted, the point of the exercise – or the three points of the exercise. And after having more openings than their past two scoreless matches put together, they almost were penalised for their inability to turn domination into goals when they fizzled out in the second period and first Andy Barrowman, with a volley at the back post, and then Keddie with a free header from a corner, passed up opportunities to snatch an equaliser.

The Rangers manager praised his wide men Sone Aluko, the stand-out, and Greg Wylde, for doing their jobs and providing a platform for Nikica Jelavic to miss all sorts, in all sorts of ways. Not that the Croatian’s woes worried the manager on a day he took his tally for the season to 12. “I’m not overly concerned,” he said. “Strikers are judged on goals and he has scored some important ones. I don’t think it would be right for me to start criticising him for missing one or two. He’s had better days in front of goal, but I’d be a little more concerned if he wasn’t in a position to take these. He’s never far away from the goalmouth action.”

The net-rippling moment Jelavic did provide came thanks to a 28th-minute spot-kick awarded by referee Steve Conroy after adjudging that Aluko had been touched when he weaved his way into the box past Martin Hardie. There was no evidence of contact on television replays.

It seemed to put Rangers out of reach of their visitors, seven minutes after the Fife team had gone behind in cringeworthy fashion. A pass-back from John Potter put goalkeeper Paul Gallacher under pressure and in his haste to clear he smacked Keddie with the ball, only for it to rebound straight past him. There must be something about playing in Glasgow that doesn’t agree with Keddie, since a fortnight ago he scored an own goal in the 2-1 defeat at Celtic Park. “This time there was nothing I could do about it, though,” he said. “If it had hit me on the belly it would have just dropped down but it hit my hip.”

Whatever Dunfermline’s deficiencies, they never chuck it, and within a minute of going 2-0 behind had hauled themselves back in contention after a Joe Cardle was picked out on the left by an raking, diagonal ball from Hardie. The winger then cut inside nimbly before lashing in a low drive that beat Allan McGregor at his near post.

Rangers went into yesterday’s encounter in the highly unusual position of requiring to win to avoid a three-game run without a win for the first time in more than two years. Indeed, even having lost to Kilmarnock last week on the back of the scoreless draw at home to St Johnstone, they were on their poorest league run since then. McCoist’s team selection betrayed the fact that he had patently been exasperated by certain aspects of recent performances.

The failure to score across 180 minutes, and barely look like doing so, carried a penalty for Kyle Lafferty. His relegation to the bench meant a rejig for the Rangers formation with Greg Wylde and Aluko posted on the flanks in a 4-2-3-1 formation in an effort to stretch a Dunfermine side who can look severely stretched against more capable opponents.

The biggest suprise in terms of the home personnel’s line-up, however, was the inclusion of Norwegian attacker Thomas Bendiksen, who earned his home debut after showing up well in the midweek friendly loss in Hamburg. Playing off Nikica Jelavic, the game seemed to be played all around him. And for large parts of the opening half that was true of McIntyre’s men. They were given an absolute runaround for 20 minutes.

Rangers supporters may bemoan a couple of key injuries – chief among them Steven Naismith – but they can still mix up their thin-ish squad, if they feel the need.

You have to feel for the newly promoted side on that score for that has been denied entirely to McIntyre. Yesterday, as he has been forced to do for practically the whole season, he was without six players through injury who would have been first picks. Maybe the presence of these would have made no difference to the struggles they endured simply trying to avoid a mauling early on.

Jelavic, within seconds of the first whistle, and then a couple of minutes later, misplaced more than makeable goal-earning headers. Rangers’ attacks came in waves and it was more by accident rather than any design on the part of Dunfermline they kept coming to nothing.

Aluko’s wiles made him the home side’s most creative player and it said much about his temperament that he showed no inhibitions despite being given much grief over his doziness that played on Kilmarnock goal-scorer Manuel Pascali the previous weekend.

That apart, he has been an enlivening presence in blue, and heaven knows there aren’t too many of them around right now.