Rangers vs Kilmarnock. Scottish Premiership.
Ibrox Stadium.
Ryan Jack winner moves Rangers 13 points from title with 14th win from 14 Scottish Premiership home games this season; Kilmarnock lose second game under new manager Tommy Wright; Joe Aribo goes close to late second
Saturday 13 February 2021 20:38, UK
A Ryan Jack strike moved Rangers another step towards the Scottish Premiership title with a narrow 1-0 win over Kilmarnock at Ibrox.
The midfielder fired in a terrific volley from 25 yards in the 38th minute of a lacklustre first half at Ibrox.
The Light Blues created more chances soon after the break but could not stretch their lead and thus could not relax against a sturdy Killie side until the final whistle.
Nevertheless, after dropping two points at Hamilton last week, Steven Gerrard's side, without suspended strikers Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe, got back to winning ways to move 21 points ahead of second-placed Celtic.
Celtic do have two games in hand, with the reigning champions playing at St Johnstone on Sunday.
Tommy Wright was taking charge of the struggling Ayrshire side for the second time and it was club's seventh defeat in a row but he will be pleased with aspects of the game.
Gerrard shuffled the pack again and brought back Leon Balogun, Jack and Steven Davis with fit-again Jermain Defoe and Scott Arfield back on the bench.
Rangers dominated the ball but struggled to create opportunities.
Killie, whose new signing, former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty, was not in the squad but who had Youssouf Mulumbu and Aaron Tshibola back in midfield, defended tenaciously.
Gers skipper James Tavernier did have the ball in the net in the 18th minute after taking a Cedric Itten pass but the offside flag had already gone up.
Rangers kept probing and pressing with some patience but Killie's rearguard held firm.
In the 27th minute, after Kilmarnock defender Clevid Dikomana tripped Itten 25 yards out, Ianis Hagi came close with a decent free-kick.
It was another set-piece which brought the goal after Tshibola conceded a free-kick 40 yards from goal.
The Killie defence failed to deal with Tavernier's delivery into the box and when Tshibola hooked the ball clear it went only as far as Jack who returned it with a powerful volley high past Killie keeper Colin Doyle for his second goal of the season.
The home side might have doubled that lead moments later when Ryan Kent broke but his left-footed drive was tipped over by Doyle for a corner that came to nothing.
Seconds later, Rangers claimed for a penalty when Tavernier went down in the box under pressure from Rory McKenzie but referee Don Robertson played on.
Doyle saved an angled drive from Kent within seconds of the restart and minutes later the Killie keeper made a fine save from a similar effort, pushing the drive round the post for a corner, again defended by the visitors.
Rangers were breaking with much more purpose and only a fine block by Aaron McGowan prevented Joe Aribo testing Doyle with a powerful drive, while Itten's shot on the turn went straight to the Rugby Park number one.
Rangers should have clinched the points in the 85th minute following a swift counter attack as Kent left Aribo with only Doyle to beat, but he failed to evade the keeper who got a touch, again the corner proving fruitless.
Then a Killie claim for a penalty - when Balogun tangled with Killie substitute Danny Whitehall - ignored and Rangers saw out the four minutes of added time.
What the managers said
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard: "The players should be really excited now and embrace what's in front of them, go and be the best version of themselves.
"If they do, they have a wonderful opportunity to turn this season into a success. We are going to try and attack every game that's in front of us. We want to commit to every game, we've got the numbers in the squad and the quality to do it.
"My focus hasn't been too much on Antwerp up until now. I've watched a few games but I'm going to watch an awful lot more between now and Thursday.
Kilmarnock boss Tommy Wright: "I was disappointed at the goal on two points; one, we should clear our lines better and two, it was handball, after the header it hits the Rangers player's hand.
"The official should see that. It was a great finish from Jack, we can't do much about that. Whilst there are positives in terms of the effort and work rate and the shape we had was good, ultimately there is huge disappointment that we didn't do enough in the final third."
