Livingston 1-3 Rangers extras: Key points and snowballs from the Tony Macaroni as Joe Aribo impresses and Allan McGregor saves the day for Giovanni van Bronckhorst

Joe Aribo, Scott Arfield and Fashion Sakala were on target for the Scottish champions.

Livingston goalkeeper Max Stryjek tries to clear snowballs from his penalty area as the start of the second half of the match against Rangers is delayed. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

Player of the Match

Joe Aribo enjoyed another productive 90 minutes with a goal from midfield, while Scott Arfield justified his promotion to the starting line-up.

But the star turn in Rangers’ midfield was Glen Kamara. The Finnish international was composure personified as he kept his team’s attacking play ticking over, while also providing defensive solidity in front of the back four.

Letdown

While no-one really wants to go into full-on Grinch mode as Christmas approaches, the snowball-throwing from the Rangers fans into the Livingston penalty area as the players returned after the interval lost its sense of fun after about 60 seconds.

It became tiresome to the point of being moronic after that, doing no-one on either team any favours as we had to wait around 10 minutes before the second half could finally get underway.

Turning Point

Allan McGregor may be fast approaching his 40th birthday but the goalkeeper’s reflexes remain as sharp as ever.

Some observers were rushing to suggest his skills are diminishing this season but, following on from his brilliant double save against Sparta Prague last Thursday, he produced another near-miraculous moment in West Lothian to deny Alan Forrest a close range equaliser for Livingston just before half-time. Had it gone in, it might have been a very different story for Rangers.

Ref Watch

David Munro appeared to be a little over-officious with his early booking for Scott Arfield whose celebrations of his opening goal for Rangers hardly seemed excessive or out of order when he went towards the travelling support.

The cautions he subsequently dished out to Alan Forrest, Nicky Devlin and Stephane Omeonga were all justifiable, although the home fans were entitled to their gripes at some Rangers players escaping with only warnings for similar offences.

Gave us a giggle

There was clearly no sense of patriotic fraternity between the Colombian duo of Alfredo Morelos and Cristian Montano. As the Rangers striker took his time leaving the pitch when replaced by Jermain Defoe in stoppage time, he didn’t appreciate Livingston defender Montano’s efforts to hasten his exit.

The comical hissy fit between the pair was the stuff of South American temperament stereotypes.

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