A late Marley Watkins strike gave Kilmarnock a win they fully merited against a lacklustre Rangers outfit.
The hosts looked the hungrier throughout the contest in Ayrshire, as an out-of-sorts Rangers failed to capitalise on the draw between Celtic and Aberdeen on Saturday.
Here are the talking points from a buoyant and blustery Rugby Park...
KILLIE GRAB DESERVED WINNER
For all that the fallout from this game will mainly be about Rangers, Kilmarnock deserve the lion’s share of the credit for making the Ibrox side look so ordinary.
From the off, they wanted it more, and there more than a few in black who clearly didn’t fancy a blustery day down in Ayrshire on the plastic.
Killie had the better chances, the better structure and the clearer plan, and they deservedly took all three points.
Rangers will of course be disappointed with the softness of the late goal, as John Souttar – excellent of late – failed to deal with a ball over the top, but it was a just reward for the perseverance of both the Killie side as a whole and their goalscorer Watkins.
Rangers almost nabbed a leveller in stoppage time through substitute Hamza Igamane, but his effort slipped wide, and Kilmarnock were more than worth their victory.
FLAT RANGERS LOOKED LIKE THEY DIDN’T FANCY IT
It isn’t often that Rangers are hoping to take advantage of the top two cutting each other’s throats to cut the gap at the top of the table, but that is exactly what they were looking to do here after Aberdeen’s storming comeback to claim a point at Celtic Park on Saturday.
You might have though then that they would come blazing out of the traps, but the visitors were flat during a lacklustre first half, with the only positive from their point of view that they weren’t behind at the interval.
The Killie players looked sharper and hungrier, and there didn’t appear to be any discernible plan as to what Rangers were trying to achieve when they did have the ball, save for the odd long diagonal in behind on their right.
The second half was a bit better, but with the prize on offer and the chance to put themselves right back into the mix at the top of the table, their fans would have been justified in expecting much better than they got.
In the end, remarkably, the gap to the top two is even greater than it was at the start of the weekend.
CYRIEL DESSERS THE LIGHTNING ROD FOR FAN IRE
One of the main problems for Rangers in the opening 45 was their inability to make the ball stick up top, with Dessers a peripheral figure.
In fairness to the striker, the ball rarely came in his direction, but when it did, he was often up against both Stuart Findlay and Robbie Deas, who dominated him with ease.
As a result, Rangers couldn’t link the play, and the likes of Vaclav Cerny, Tom Lawrence and Nedim Behrami may as well not have been on the park for all the influence they were having. When Dessers did have one chance to spring them on the break from a Killie corner, he nearly caused a mutiny behind the goal as his slack pass found the only home defender within 40 yards of the three breaking Rangers men.
Clement must have given his attacking players quite the earful at the interval, and there was an immediate improvement from Dessers in particular, getting a shot away that Robby McCrorie had to tip wide, before he squeezed an effort off the bar at the back post from the resultant corner.
He drifted out of things again though, and his withdrawal with 20 minutes to go after another heavy touch saw a chance slip away drew ironic cheers from the Rangers fans, rather telling the story of his afternoon.
KYLE VASSELL GIVES ROBIN A PROPPER HEADACHE
Of all the battles that Killie edged in the game, none were quite so obvious a mismatch than the tussle between the Killie captain and Propper, with the centre back not coping with the physicality and nous of Vassell at all.
Time and again Vassell won the 50/50 against the Dutchman, teeing up a couple of chances for Watkins that he should have done better with, particularly when he nicked the ball away from Jack Butland and was denied by some good last-ditch defending from Souttar.
When he crafted opportunities for himself, he also couldn’t quite find that finishing touch, and when you factor in two glorious chances that Matty Kennedy passed up in either half, as well as a Deas headed goal that was ruled out for offside, it looked as though the hosts would be left with a rueful feeling that they hadn’t quite made the most of a great chance to pick up three points.
They got there in the end though, and Propper will certainly be glad to see the back of Vassell for a while, with the centre back’s withdrawal for an injury he picked up while fouling the striker rather fitting, and something of a mercy for Rangers.
FAN PROTEST A SIGN OF DISCONTENT
It’s never usually a good sign when supporters are digging out the bedsheets and spray paint, and the visiting fans packed into the Chadwick Stand made their feelings plain on the direction (or lack thereof) of their club just after the break as they unfurled a series of critical banners.
The message read: ‘No chairman, no CEO, no director of football operations, no clue, one scapegoat’, referring presumably to the strongly worded statement aimed in their direction from interim chairman John Gilligan after the club were sanctioned by UEFA last week over the use of pyrotechnics in their European fixtures.
There were no fireworks from Rangers here, either on the park or off it, just a clear dissatisfaction with the way the club is being run, and with the breakdown in relations between the support and the Ibrox hierarchy.
This result and performance will have done nothing to improve matters.
