McCoist fielded 6 of his summer signings and the big debate beforehand was whether the hosts could gel together quickly as a team. Judging on the opening 50 mins, the answer would have to be no.
Rangers dominated possession during the early stages without looking like scoring. Stevie Smith, who started due to Lee Wallace's midweek injury, made several threatening crosses for Daly and Clark which they failed to convert. As the game went on Rangers possession and goal threats dwindled and Arbroath started to gain confidence.
In fact, the longer the first half went on the more disjointed Rangers looked. At one point in the game it looked like McCoist had fielded a team of his favourite misfits, with many players playing out of position to secured their place in the team. Little and Peralta both struggled out on the left and right hand side of midfield when Rangers had a natural winger in Templeton warming the bench.
Darren Smith put Arbroath ahead when he chipped Bell and the ball landed just under his crossbar. It was a special finish and the ball seemed to take an eternity to drop underneath the cross bar.
This goal proved to be Rangers wake up call as the equaliser quickly followed. A Stevie Smith cross was deflected to Mohsni who calmly side footed the ball into the net. Rangers then took the lead when Law's corner was headed past the Arbroath keeper by the surging Lee McCulloch. The Rangers captain quickly added to his tally when the ball broke loose from a Rangers corner. The 30 yard screamer crashed the roof of the net leaving the Arbroath goalkeeper with no chance.
Little made it four when he drilled a shot low into the net before McCulloch completed his hat-trick via a Peralta cross.
The scoreline believe it or not flattered Rangers and McCoist will have to motivate his team better in future matches as they did not come alive until going behind in the match.
No comments:
Post a Comment