Sport

Confident Rangers make short work of final hurdle

Kilmarnock 1 Rangers 5: THERE IS little point in using 90 minutes to clinch a championship when you can do it in seven

EWAN MURRAY at Rugby Park
Mon May 16 2011 - 01:00

Kilmarnock 1 Rangers 5:THERE IS little point in using 90 minutes to clinch a championship when you can do it in seven. Such an approach served Rangers well in Kilmarnock, a blistering opening from the visiting team securing a third title in succession for their departing manager Walter Smith.

Afterwards, Smith made a plea to the new Rangers owner, Craig Whyte, to spend money on the playing squad when Ally McCoist steps into the managerial frontline. “The new owner is aware that the club needs quite a large level of investment into the team,” Smith said. “He’s also aware that if they don’t get that they will not continue the success they’ve had.

“[The previous owner] Sir David Murray needed to find the money every three to four years – and it’s now needed again. The team needs a boost. I think he [Whyte] would be blind if he didn’t realise that . . . Unless there is a significant investment in the team then the team will stagnate. They can’t continue to do what they have been doing.”

Smith will not admit it, but his 10th championship win was probably his sweetest after racing Celtic all the way and Rangers’ closing tally of 93 points represents an impressive achievement.

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After 47 seconds Kyle Lafferty latched on to a Steven Davis flick-on and lobbed Cammy Bell to send Rangers in front.

Four minutes later Gregg Wylde fed Steven Naismith, who clipped home from 18 yards.

As Lafferty scored again the referee could legitimately have halted the contest on humanitarian grounds.

The SPL had made great play about the dispatch of a helicopter carrying their trophy; given the timing of Rangers’ opening goals, a push-bike would have made it in time. Jelavic hit the fourth with a sublime, curling free-kick shortly after the interval.

Lafferty completed his hat-trick after dancing through the Kilmarnock defence before the hosts claimed a consolation via a deflected James Dayton free-kick.

KILMARNOCK: Bell, Fowler, Pascali, Clancy, Hay, Dayton (Fisher 81), Bryson, Aubameyang (Gros 76), Kelly, Taouil, Silva (Sissoko 54). Subs not used: Letheren, Berntsson, Agard, Pursehouse. Booked: Fowler, Fisher.

RANGERS: McGregor, Whittaker, Bougherra, Weir, Papac, Naismith, Davis, Edu, Wylde (McCulloch 71), Lafferty (Healy 89), Jelavic (Diouf 81). Subs not used: Alexander, Fleck, Foster, Hutton. Booked: Lafferty, Jelavic.

Referee: Craig Thomson (Scotland).