VENUE #46 GLASGOW RANGERS Ibrox

SCOTTISH LEAGUE ONE

Rangers... 2

Brechin City... 1

Saturday February 1st 2014

@ Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow

     Starting back to work on Monday for the first time in over two months.  My hip is still a little on the painful side but I'm hoping to work my way back to full fitness, if I can.

     Having to take an overnight bag with me for this journey, I wouldn't have to normally with such a straight forward trip to Glasgow but there are rail works in between Warrington and Carlisle during the time of my return and so I'm staying overnight in Carlisle at a Premier Inn, I'll leave the bag at Glasgow Central railway station for when I'm at the game, it'll cost me a fiver but at least I haven't got to cart it around with me.

   

The Broomloan stand

 Today's game, Rangers Verses Brechin City looks a bit of a formality with Rangers flying high at the top with a 23 point lead over the team in second place and Brechin currently in fifth place and hoping to make the play off places at least.  Both teams were at home last weekend with Rangers entertaining Arbroath who are currently bottom of the league.  Rangers had to come from behind twice before a Lee McCulloch penalty sealed the game for them in the 78th minute.  Ally McCoist makes just one change David Templeton replaces Lewis McLeod.  Brechin also won 3-2 at Glebe park and had to come from behind to do so, they were 2-0 down to Dunfermline Athletic until goals from Derek Carcary and Andy Jackson levelled the score and then Darren Petrie struck and stole all three points in the 89th minute.  Ray McKinnon makes two changes to his squad from that game, Ewan Moyes and Craig Molloy make way for Steven Robb and Allan Walker.

     As expected Rangers started the stronger dominating play with some wonderful one touch and quick passing football that saw Brechin at sixes and sevens at times.  The Hedgemen's keeper Graeme Smith was busy right from the start making saves from efforts by Templeton, Shiels and Daly, but it wasn't long before he was picking the ball up out of the net when after 14 minutes a wonderful curling shot from Dean Shiels from the right went flying past the out-stretched Smith into the top corner.

The Copland Road end

     This filled Rangers with even more confidence and you sort of had the feeling that this could be a rout as Brechin looked powerless to stop the league one runaway leaders and the task got even harder when Jon Daly leapt to glance a Lee Wallace free kick past Smith for Rangers second in the 25th minute and made up for his earlier miss when he shot straight at the keeper.

     2-0 at half time and you wondered how many it was going to end up, I was looking forward to a feast of goals in the second half with Brechin going forward and looking for a way back into the game and leaving themselves short at the back and at the mercy of a Rangers side who are on fire in all departments on the field but it wasn't to be, Brechin gathered momentum and looked a far better side in the second half and with only seven minutes gone reduced the deficit with a spectacular goal from Steven Robb who hit a thunderous shot from 25 yards past Cammy Bell and into the roof of the net.

     This unnerved the Rangers players and supporters but there was worse to come when Bilel Mohsni picked up a second yellow card in the 61st minute for purposely kicking the ball at an injured Brechin player.

     Although a man down Rangers still looked the stronger team but not as dominant as they were in the first half and were lucky in the later stages of the half not to lose a couple of points or three as Cammy Bell had to make some fine saves from Andy Jackson and Derek Carcary.

   

Fans holding banner of Ally McCoist MBE

I did some forward planning before embarking on this journey, instead of taking the subway from St. Enoch's to Ibrox station, I alighted at Cessnock which is a five minute walk from the ground and was a lot easier to get on and off the train for with a crowd of 40 thousand plus the volume of people using the subway was immense.

     When approaching the football ground up Edmiston Drive past all the fast food vans and souvenir vendors you suddenly come across a building that looks like a factory, if it hadn't have been for the fact that it had Rangers Football Club ltd. on the gates I might have walked past it. 

     Built in 1899, Ibrox is a 50, 411 all seated Stadium and is looking some what tired and dated, plans to revamp the joint have been put on hold because of money or lack of it, shall we say, at the moment.  You have the Govan stand and the Bill Struth main stand, (Where I watched the game mid-pitch)), running the touch lines and at both ends behind the goals there is the Copland Road  end and the Broomloan stand of which the right hand corner is allocated to away fans unless they play some side with vast support like Celtic and then the whole of the stand will be put aside. 

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