Glasgow Rangers 5-1 Hamilton Accies: But What Did We Learn?

Finally, after five attempts this season, I am home from Ibrox with a smile on my face, finally having witnessed a Rangers win, thanks in part to Kyle Lafferty.

The Gers ran out 5-1 winners over a rather poor Hamilton Accies in front of a half-empty Ibrox Stadium but it was a game that dispelled a couple of myths.

Myth No. 1: Barry Ferguson and Pedro Mendes can’t play together is one...well, not according to today’s performance.

The pair linked up continuously with Barry as happy to pass to Pedro as Pedro was to Barry. Their slick forward passing and 1-2’s in the midfield were a joy to watch for those who turned up to see it.

The captain is looking more and more his old self in the past few games and the fact he performed well alongside Mendes today should go a long way to silencing the anti-Barry section of Rangers support.

Myth No. 2: Walter Smith will never start Aaron Niguez.  Not much explaining needed here, he just did. The youngster was hardly gold dust, however, and struggled when things got physical in a similar way Chris Burke used to.

Many fans have been saying “he [Niguez] should have been starting months ago,” but I think it was clear today why he hasn’t. The Spaniard struggled to stay on his feet and even against a 10-man opposition {due to Hamilton’s injury nightmare] he rarely had a go at his man.

He also drifted too much for me, if Rangers are going to play Steven Davis at right mid, who constantly drifts, then we need some sort of constant width, at least until the ball is at his [Niguez] feet.

I’m sure all concerned were happy with his first start as was I. However, he’ll need to hit the gym or sharpen up his pace if he is to be a Rangers regular, but there is no doubt he is a talented player.

Before we carry on, it is important to remember we played most of the second half against 10 men and Hamilton’s defending was utterly dreadful thanks mainly to them losing key players in the first half through injury.

The performance

The first instance of woeful defending came on 15 minutes when Steven Whittaker looked, for a second, like the lad who scored in Lisbon. Sadly for him, his goal won’t pull the wool over most fans' eyes.

Other than his left foot strike, he did no more or no less than Kirk Broadfoot in a usual 90-minute shift.

David Weir’s suspension is likely to mean a run of three games for the right back as Broadfoot is moved inside. You have three games, mate, to show us we don’t need a new right back for next season.

Rangers weren’t immune to defensive lapses themselves, and Hamilton’s equalizer on 24 minutes was a case of where’s Alan?

McGregor was looking a tad sheepish as Hamilton spun away in celebration after Rocco Quinn had all day to pick his spot from just inside the box.

That is two serious blunders in the space of four days for McGregor and his two centre backs. Let’s hope Kirk is no-nonsense in his three games as Madjid Bougherra appears to be getting a bit big for his boots.

His fancy flick as ten man Hamilton chased the ball was totally classless and he is lucky Lee Cattermole wasn’t on the field. It could have been a case of being carried off instead of walking off.

Now Kyle Lafferty may have scored two in this game, his first coming on 35 minutes but is he really the answer? The man has a first touch of a rapist and murdered much of the good work done by the midfield today.

How a man so tall can be so useless in the air is also puzzling, Michael Owen is 5-feet-nothing, yet he scores regularly with his head. We actually need Miller flicking the ball on for him which really defeats the purpose, does it not?

Having said all that, he did score two goals and did plenty of running for the cause which made him look like a footballer at times, which is more than can be said for Kris Boyd, who again came on and showed us how it shouldn’t be done.

Neither player is the answer to be honest. The £3.5 million spent on Lafferty was a waste of money as we may play crap football with Boyd in the side but it isn’t going to get much better with a target man who can’t control or head the ball.

At least we know why Walter was playing him wide left; it is the only position he doesn’t have to use his head. Even when playing upfront, Lafferty spends most of his time in the channels trying to get balls into the box. I honestly think he dreads being the one in the box.

Barry Ferguson has his own ideas about blooding youngsters it would seem, force the youngest player on the park to take the penalties.

Niguez would have been grateful for the opportunity [which he took on the second attempt on the stroke of halftime] but Barry’s own season figures could be doing with a few penalties in the goals scored column, wouldn’t you say?

Steven Davis looked like he was weaving in and out of static columns as he scored Rangers fourth on 54 minutes.

There wasn’t a single tackle and there is no point in Hamilton pointing to injuries and then the scoreboard as even if they had lost four key players, it doesn’t make them immune to putting foot in.

Finally, we are back to Lafferty who scored his second of the game with 10 minutes to go. Ferguson was the architect with a lovely reverse ball, which was met at the touchline by Whittaker and finished off by the Northern Ireland international.

But it is a sad day when two goals can’t mask what was an average performance by an average professional.

The man sitting next to me summed it up late in the game as another ball strayed from his first touch, when he said for what seemed like the 18th time:

 “Oh...Kyle... Kyle... Kyle...”, in a sarcastic, increasingly droning tone.