A Tale Of Two Halves

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Rangers were forced to turn to their resilience to earn victory against Queen of the South at Ibrox.

The visitors led twice through Gavin Reilly and Iain Russell, but determined Rangers had enough poise to prevail.

Marius Zaliukas made it 1-1, then David Templeton's shot brought the scores level again at 2-2 just after half-time.

Bilel Mohsni's header and Kenny Miller's late strike secured Rangers' third league victory of the season.

The occasion was framed, though, by discontent. There perhaps could not have been any other response from the Rangers fans after the board announced to the Stock Exchange last Friday that they were seeking to raise £3.7m from an open offer of shares to existing shareholders to pay bills and meet working capital needs.

The offer is not being underwritten, so its failure would leave Rangers International Football Club unable to meet its financial obligations. Emergency funding could then be sought - and Dave King continues to insist that he wants to invest heavily in the club but is being rebuffed - but administration would be the consequence of failing to generate any funds.

The underlying financial problems are long-standing, but the current alarm has been caused by a drop in revenue since 15,000 fans did not renew their season tickets. Many supporters remain angry at the way the club is being run, and that disaffection is now having an immediate impact on its operation.

Red card protests in the bottom tier of the Broomloan Road stand in the 18th and 72nd minutes - along with chants of "sack the board" - were expressions of that discontent. There was booing at half-time, too, although that was in response to the team's flaws, since Rangers went into the interval trailing 2-1.

It was typical of the first-half, for instance, when Mohsni miss-hit a pass out of defence, prompting grumbles of anger from the home fans. His response, though, was to shout back at them.

Rangers defence remained unsteady, and Queens twice took the lead following simple passes that caught the home back-line square. The first saw Daniel Carmichael square for Reilly to score, and the second was similarly constructed, with Reilly moving the ball infield to Russell, who finished crisply.

The goals came either side of Zaliukas's equaliser, when the defender sent a looping header over the Queens defenders and goalkeeper and in off the underside of the crossbar from a corner kick. It was Zaliukas who was at fault when Queens restored their lead, being caught out of position, and he was replaced at half-time by Ian Black, with Lee McCulloch moving into defence to accommodate the midfielder.

Templeton also came on at the interval, for the ineffective Arnold Peralta, and the winger scored with his first touch. Having received the ball from Kris Boyd, Templeton took advantage of stumble by Holt and his firmly struck, curling shot evaded the reach of the diving Alexander Clark in the visitors' goal.

Without ever performing emphatically, Rangers took control of the game. Queens were complicit, though, since they defended poorly at another corner kick. On this occasion, Lewis Macleod's delivery was met by a stooping Mohsni, and the ball seemed to squirm through a group of defenders who might have unsighted the goalkeeper Clark.

Half-chances were sporadic as the game approached the end, but Miller showed that his instincts remain sharp when he scurried through onto Kris Boyd's header and finished deftly past Clark.

The goal secured the victory, and some comfort for the home fans. They will have felt badly in need of it after another challenging week for their state of mind.

An injury ravaged Queens team had Rangers on the rack in the first half and were unlucky to go in at the interval 3-1 up after a Lyle shot slipped past the post.

The Doonhamers were caught cold just after the break when Holt stumbled and let in Templeton to score with a fine strike. Queens heads went down after this and Rangers seized the momentum to run out comfortable winners.

Lyle has a nasty wound in his head and has 7 stitches inserted but with the International break coming up, we hop he will be fit for the next match against Falkirk along with some of already existing walking wounded.

Lineup, Bookings (1) & Substitutions (5)