Rangers 1 Hearts 2: Lack of focus

IF life were like the movies then Saturday would have turned out a lot differently for Rangers.

Allan McGregor would have diverted Jamie Hamill's spot-kick around the post rather than straight back to the Hearts player. Suitably galvanised, Rangers would have pushed for a late winner and, after a shot off the crossbar and another denied by a remarkable fingertip save from Jamie MacDonald, the Tynecastle goalkeeper, Lee McCulloch would have embarked on a mazy run in the dying seconds, beating four men before finishing emphatically.. Amid the rapture, the entire Rangers squad would have then been engulfed by the jubilant Ibrox crowd, sweeping them all to safety and away from the clutches of the administrators like in Escape to Victory. Or something like that.

Of course, life rarely turns out that way. Instead there was just another defeat to endure, another low blow to add to the others. When your luck's out, then your luck's out. Rangers have been poor at home this season but it doesn't take a giant leap of imagination to see a connection between the club falling into administration and the team then losing successive games in front of their own fans.

Only a shrink, or the players themselves, could tell you what exactly went through their heads as they ran around the Ibrox pitch trying to forget the traumatic week they had just endured, and not thinking about what might lie ahead. Football people always tell you that "when the referee blows his whistle to start the game you forget about everything else" but the players would have to be soulless robots not to have been affected by recent goings on. They undoubtedly wanted to beat Hearts on Saturday as it will have been the last time some or many play for the club. Perhaps that desire, though, to chase down a lost cause, to track back with your runner, to stay fully concentrated when defending set plays just wasn't there. And, given the circumstances, who could really blame them for that?

It must, however, be also noted that this is not a vintage Rangers team. Perhaps Hearts, fired up in the second half following the introduction of Craig Beattie at half-time, would have won the game anyway, even if their opponents weren't in financial peril, just as Kilmarnock had done the time before and Dundee United the time before that, just weeks before the extent of Rangers' problems were laid bare. Perhaps there had been a sign way back when Hearts drew at Ibrox on the opening day that Ally McCoist's maiden season as manager wasn't going to pan out as he would have hoped.

Injuries and suspensions have further highlighted the paucity of McCoist's resources. Salim Kerkar, Ross Perry and Andy Little have all done admirably when called upon in recent weeks but all were fringe players under Walter Smith, surplus to requirements. There was also a debut on Saturday for Rhys McCabe, a 19-year-old who showed some neat touches alongside Steven Davis in central midfield and who instantly commanded the respect of the Ibrox crowd by knocking Hearts' Ian Black off his feet. Whether that was his first and last game will be down to the administrators today.

Rangers toiled for large spells on Saturday, most notably in the second half as Hearts recovered from losing a late first-half Davis goal to seal a win courtesy of Black and Hamill's penalty rebound. It prompted one fan to wonder aloud "if this is how they perform with their strongest team, what is it going to be like when a number of them are sacked?"

It is perhaps, then, a blessing in disguise that Rangers' season is effectively over. Out of both cups, Celtic within touching distance of the title and with little prospect of emerging from administration in time to qualify for Europe next season, there is little to play for beyond trying to stave off Motherwell to ensure a second-place finish that would bring in an additional £900,000. That thought may have crossed the minds of the administrators as they look to fill a £4.5m pounds shortfall before the end of the season.

McCoist will undoubtedly have made the case that it would be better to keep as many of his star performers as possible. The administrators, though, have a duty to preserve the business. They may see players on the biggest salaries and decide it prudent to remove them. Or they could decide those with only months remaining on their deals and with little re-sale value and decide there is little point in retaining them. All should become clear imminently.

The Rangers fans can at least feel they did their bit. They packed out Ibrox for a second match in succession, and offered belligerent defiance throughout the contest, the decibels rising most notably following both Hearts goals. At full-time they did not spare referee Crawford Allan for awarding Hearts' spot-kick but for their vanquished heroes there was only a rousing cheer for their efforts. There would be no happy ending to this particular story. It rarely turns out that way.

Taken from the Herald