Rangers 1 Inverness 0: Steven Davis grabs priceless winner at Ibrox

Add to My Stories Steven Davis grabbed the only goal of the game as Rangers scraped past Inverness at Ibrox to edge closer to Celtic at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.The win allowed the Scottish champions to move to within two points of their rivals at the summit, with two games in hand.The other highlight of the night was the return of Nikica Jelavic after almost four months out through injury - just as fellow striker Kenny Miller edged closer to sealing his departure.Miller was missing from the squad amid reports he was set for a move to Bursaspor after Birmingham confirmed he rejected a switch to the Midlands in favour of an 'irresistible' offer from the Turks.

Battle: Lee McCulloch and Inverness's Dani Sanchez clash at IbroxRangers were boosted by the newsthat Steven Whittaker passed a late fitness test following concernsover a bruised toe but Sasa Papac missed out with a groin strain.Madjid Bougherra was suspended, paving the way for Andy Webster to makeonly his second appearance of the season and the first in the SPL.Inverness made two changes from their goalless draw with Motherwell, drafting Eric Odhiambo and Danni Sanchez into the side.Rangers tried to apply earlypressure and managed to carve out the first real chance when KyleLafferty met a Davis cross in front of goal but the opportunity wassquandered when the striker flicked the ball over the crossbar.At the other end, Inverness werethreatening when Graeme Shinnie picked out Richie Foran at the backpost from a corner and his header was touched onto the crossbar byAllan McGregor before the danger was eventually cleared.Vladimir Weiss impressed with adouble at the weekend and could have found the net again in this gamewhen the clearance from his free-kick fell back to his feet only forthe winger to see his lofted effort fall just over the crossbar.Weiss had another crack at goal,this time with a shot from distance! that wh istled inches past theupright. He was then the victim of a challenge which earned Odhiambothe first booking of the game.The breakthrough finally came on thestroke of half-time when Lafferty saw his shot blocked in the box amidclaims for handball before the ball broke for Davis to rifle home fromthe edge of the box.Inverness tried to haul themselveslevel again after the restart and Shinnie punted a dangerous ball intothe box that was punched to safety by McGregor before Rooney couldconnect in front of goal.Ibrox exploded in rapturous applausewhen Jelavic made his long-awaited comeback from injury with an hourgone as he was thrown into the action with John Fleck, with JamesBeattie and Weiss both withdrawn. However, the cheers turned to jeersfor referee Craig Thomson when Jelavic was booked for diving just fiveminutes later after going to ground in the box under pressure fromChris Innes.Rangers continued to push forward insearch of another goal and Shinnie was called into action to clear aLafferty effort off the line. Jelavic came close to marking his returnwith a goal when his stinging drive flashed across goal and narrowlypast the post.The Croatian forward was clearlystill well short of sharpness and he passed up another decent chance,this time ballooning over after meeting a cross from the left fromFleck.Inverness piled forward in numbersin the final minutes but Rangers were able to see out the remainder ofthe game and claim maximum points.

More...

  • The long haul! SPL's fight over change to rage for two months
  • It's all too easy for Smith's men in Ibrox stroll against Hamilton


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ICC appoints umpires and match referees for Cricket World Cup

THE APEX body of cricket, International Cricket Council (ICC) has appointed umpires and match referees for the group stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, which is going to be held between February 19 to April 2 in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The International Cricket Council has appointed Aleem Dar, who was ICC Umpire of the years 2009 and 2010, four-time ICC Umpire of the Year Simon Taufel along with Ian Gould, Billy Doctrove, Daryl Harper, Steve Davis, Marais Erasmus, Tony Hill, Asoka de Silva, Rod Tucker, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Kumar Dharmasena, Bruce Oxenford, Asad Rauf, Amish Saheba and Shahvir Tarapore. ICC also appointed Ranjan Madugalle, Chris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Roshan Mahanama and Andy Pycroft as match referees for ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Here is the full list of umpires and match referees for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 until group stage. Saturday 19 Feb Bangladesh vs India (D/N), Dhaka- Steve Davis and Kumar Dharmasena, Billy Do...
Keep reading

Ki celebration 'prompted by Scottish abuse'

DOHA: South Korea midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng's controversial 'monkey' celebration against Japan was a response to racist abuse from Scottish football fans, a team official said on Thursday. The 21-year-old Celtic midfielder put the Koreans 1-0 up from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute of Tuesday's semifinal, before allegedly pulling a monkey face and scratching his cheek in front of a pitch-side camera. His celebration caused offence in sections of the Japanese media, who said the act was a racial slur on their country, but South Korea media officer Park Il-Ki said it was a reference to monkey chants from Scottish fans. "It was about the unsporting treatment he got in the Scottish league, especially in away games," Park said. "People made noises and monkey sounds in Scotland when he played away games. That was something that he wanted to show people from all over the world. "They call him a monkey, as an Asian, but he wanted to show how strong...
Keep reading

Shehzad lifts Pak to series win

Feb. 3: A maiden century by teenage opener Ahmed Shehzad inspired Pakistan to a 41-run win over New Zealand Thursday to wrap up the six-match one-day series with a game to spare.The 19-year-old cracked 115 off 109 deliveries in a masterful innings in Hamilton as Pakistan posted 268/9 after being sent into bat first in the fifth ODI. New Zealand, who are on a rotten run of form, made the worst possible start to their reply, losing a wicket on the first ball when Jesse Ryder was run out and they never threatened from there.Their innings came to a halt in the 47th over at 227 to give Pakistan an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the series with one match washed out, while New Zealand have now lost 15 of their past 16 ODIs. It was a timely performance from Shehzad, who delivered on the promise he had hinted at in his previous seven international innings, which produced a total of 173 runs.Around him, the other Pakistan batsmen failed to get on top of New Zealand pace attack.Umar Akmals 32 befo...
Keep reading