Rangers 2 - 1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle: Relief for Rangers as Caley wilt to late goal

NOT so much a victory for Rangers as an act of escapology the like of which would have had Harry Houdini scratching his head in puzzlement before asking, “How the hell did they do that?”

game that began sleepily then scaled the heights in terms of drama and all-round mayhem. Caley Thistle had two penalty claims turned down, at least one appearing legitimate. They also had a Richie Foran goal ruled offside when the Dubliner might well have been onside as he nutted a 71st-minute header past Allan McGregor. The Rangers goalkeeper spent much of his second half in an apoplectic fit at the state of the defending in front of him. Rangers survived, Kyle Lafferty lifting the siege on their goal and stroking a riotously acclaimed, but scarcely deserved, winner with seven minutes left to play, but Ally McCoist’s opening remarks in the aftermath told you much about the kind of day it was. “Oh dear me,” said the Rangers manager.

McCoist’s obvious relief wasn’t just down to coming out the right side of the two penalty claims and the Foran incident but also because of some other moments that would have had his heart racing on the touchline. Inverness took ownership of this game when things were levelled at 1-1, creating chance after chance and spurning each one. With 13 minutes remaining, the excellent Foran, playing in an unusual position in front of his back four but having an impact all over the park, put a ball through to Billy McKay who promptly took it around McGregor but then hit the outside of a post with his shot.

Moments later, with the waves continuing to crash in McGregor’s direction, Jonny Hayes waltzed through one-on-one with McGregor and again the chance was wasted. Once more the ball was taken around the goalkeeper but Hayes’s shot didn’t have enough on it and Lee Wallace managed to hook it off the line. A minute after that, another meltdown in the Rangers defence – Steven Whittaker’s bad day getting altogether worse when he gifted McKay a point-blank shot on goal. McKay shot straight down McGregor’s throat. Breathless stuff. Ibrox was still seething when Rangers got the winner, a ball in from Steven Davis being dummied cleverly by Nikica Jelavic, a moment of great self-awareness that allowed Lafferty in to batter in a goal that had the old stadium in giddy raptures.

This was a barmy conclusion, thrilling and utterly unpredictable given the nonsense we had to sit through for the opening spell. The first half was garbage. No other word for it. Forty five minutes of rubbish. Rangers had one chance when Ryan Esson saved from a Whittaker header and that was it as far as the insipid hosts were concerned. Alejandro Bedoya was playing away on the right side of the midfield but he may as well have been lolling about at the back of the stand for all the ball he saw. Soon enough he was taken off.

Inverness were solid. They had more than their fair share of possession and even if they didn’t do a whole lot with it, they looked comfortable in the game. They fizzed some crosses into McGregor’s penalty area and might have got some joy had Kyle Bartley not nudged one of them out of the path of McKay just after the half-hour mark. Bartley was playing centre-half instead of Doran Goian who was absent with a fever.

Inverness had one penalty claim – and then another. The first was an appeal for handball against Jelavic towards the end of the first half, the second that big shout from McKay over a tug on his jersey by Bartley early in the second. “I don’t think the first one was a penalty,” said McCoist, “but I was a wee bit worried about the second one. When I saw big Terry’s reaction I thought they have a penalty here.”

The second Inverness penalty claim seemed to be the catalyst for change, the scare Rangers obviously required to get their finger out, which they duly did. Lee McCulloch had come on at the break for Edu and only eight minutes of the second half had elapsed when Bedoya was replaced by Lafferty. Suddenly, Rangers began to motor. Even before he opened the scoring, Carlos Bocanegra had caused Inverness some bother with a shot that was cleared off the line, then in the 55th minute when Wallace’s corner was chested on to him by Jelavic, Bocanegra completed the job when whacking it past Esson.

Rangers then had several moments when you thought they could put the game out of Inverness’ reach soon after. Lafferty was one-on-one with Esson and pushed his shot wide, then Papac was unlucky with a shot off Esson’s crossbar. As McCoist later admitted: “It could have been 3-0 to us, but then it could have been 3-1 to them.”

When Andrew Shinnie came on as a second-half substitute, Inverness really began to scare Rangers. Gregory Tade caused them trouble, too. It was Tade’s skinning of Whittaker and excellent cross that allowed Shinnie to steer in the equaliser that stunned Ibrox.

The place rose in protest as the fans thought Foran should have kicked the ball out of play earlier in the move to allow the injured Jelavic to get some treatment, but Jelavic was on his feet by the time Foran played it forward.

The finale was set. And what a finale. The closest of close shaves for Rangers and the most sickening of near misses for the visitors.

The gap at the top stretches to seven points, just.