Rangers FC Secure Narrow Win at Ibrox Stadium Against Hibernian

Fresh from the impressive 2-0 win away in Sweden against Malmö FF to begin their UEFA Europa League campaign in style, Rangers FC returned to Scottish Premiership action at home against Hibernian.

Philippe Clement made four changes to the starting eleven, with Jefté coming in at left back for Kasanwirjo, Raskin replacing Diomande in midfield, McCausland in for Bajrami on the left wing, and Igamane starting instead of Dessers up front for his first Rangers start.

Rangers FC Line-Up

First XI: Jack Butland, James Tavernier, John Souttar, Robin Pröpper, Jefté, Connor Barron, Nicolas Raskin, Václav Černy, Tom Lawrence, Ross McCausland, Hamza Igamane

Bench: Kelly, Sterling, Kasanwirjo, Balogun, Fraser, McKinnon, Dowell, Bajrami, Dessers

On the Pitch

Rangers kept the majority of the possession through the match, at 67%, but it was an end-to-end affair with both teams 18 shots each at goal. However, only seven of the 36 combined were on target.

There was little to excite either fan base in the first half until Tom Lawrence drifted in from the left in the 34th minute, and curled an absolute beauty from the edge of the box into the top right corner beyond the reach of Josef Bursik. Celebrations had to wait for a lengthy offside check from VAR but the goal stood in the end, and Rangers led the tie 1-0.

John Souttar was judged by VAR to have handled the ball in the goal-mouth scramble from a Hibernian corner, and the visitors were awarded a penalty. It was taken by Mykola Kukharevych in first-half injury time but saved easily by Jack Butland, down to his right.

Good chances were wasted by both teams in the second half but the host of substitutions were perhaps the next most remarkable thing. The win keeps the Gers third in the league table, five points behind Celtic and Aberdeen, both of whom maintained their 100% starts to the season.

Match Reactions

Philippe Clement spoke to RangersTV after the match:

“The clean sheet is massive. We brought in Jefte who is new, Nana Kasanwirjo has come in and we have a new pairing at centre-backs with John and Robin Propper.

“It is not just defensively, we also have Connor Barron who is new in front of them. They haven’t played together too long, but with the organisation Jack hasn’t had to make many saves.

“But when he did he came up with a massive one and that is a top goalkeeper who keeps his concentration in the big moments.”

“The first half we played well and we deserved the lead, although we could have scored more,” he added. “In the second half it was more difficult, you could see the freshness going out of the legs of several players.”

“Tom has scored a lot of goals already and that is important for the No10. We lacked that at times last season and Tom is making good steps physically to play more games.

“He has been very important in the first few weeks of the season. He has the ability to do it with his left or right and from long and short distances.

“You could see it was a well controlled finish which I like to see.”

Captain James Tavernier spoke exclusively to RangersTV:

“It was important to get the win, with the timeframe that we had from the Malmo game it was short for recovery, but the lads put everything into the game. We know our performance could've been a little bit better, but it is about that consistency of winning games by any means necessary.

“It was an important win and another clean sheet as well. Big Jack produced a great save for the penalty so when asked for he's always delivering for us so credit to him and credit to the subs that came on today.

“You want to play the best football you possibly can, every time you step foot on the pitch. We didn't show that today, but we have got to win any way possible, so we did that today, got another clean sheet and we look forward to the next game now.”

Up next for Rangers is the UEFA Europa League when they host French side Olympique Lyonnais, currently 11th in Ligue 1, on 3rd October before the visit of St. Johnstone to Ibrox on the 6th. The team has built momentum recently, and two wins from two home games will be crucial and expected.