Glasgow Rangers claim points in Dingwall with first half strikes for James Tavernier and Kemar Roofe but Malky Mackay's Ross County side emerges with credit for second half show
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Ross County 0
Rangers 2
Attendance 6,540.
(Scorers: Roofe 22, Tavernier 26)
By Peter Mackay
Ross County were unable to build on their recent momentum as Michael Beale’s Rangers defeated the Highlanders 2-0.
The hosts stood firm in the second half, but ultimately a moment of brilliance from James Tavernier coupled with a clever Kemar Roofe finish was enough for Rangers to pick up three points on the road.
The Staggies had the two earliest chances in the match but Jordan White and Josh Sims couldn’t make the most of their strikes in the opening moments after some loose possession from Rangers in the midfield areas.
Cyriel Dessers could, and probably should, have put Rangers into the lead on the 10 minute mark, but a great low save from Ross Laidlaw denied the forward his goal.
A great driving run forward from Victor Loturi saw Simon Murray slipped in one-on-one with Jack Butland. He fired his shot low, but it was too central to beat the former Manchester United stopper.
White picked up the resulting shot and walked the ball into the net, but an alleged foul on John Souttar saw the action stopped.
It took just 22 minutes for Rangers to open the scoring through Roofe.
A remarkable finish saw him volley home when he was being held tightly by James Brown who was doing his best to up-end a forward starting his first match in 16 months.
Despite that, he maintained a clean contact with the ball and Laidlaw couldn’t stretch to prevent the away side from taking the lead.
Just four minutes later, a loose touch from George Harmon opened the channel for Rangers captain Tavernier. He drove inside and fired a lovely curling strike into the top left corner leaving Laidlaw with no chance and doubling the Glasgow side’s advantage in the process.
Sam Lammers nearly had the third for Rangers just before the half-time mark as his ambitious strike was incredibly turned around the post by Laidlaw.
County made a substitution on the stroke of half-time along with a switch in shape.
On-loan defender Will Nightingale replaced Harmon to alter Malky Mackay’s side to a 5-3-2.
The change nearly paid dividends early on as Yan Dhanda’s pinpoint cross left White with what looked like an easy-headed goal. White made clean contact but could only head wide, when he should have brought his side back into the tie.
The quick wave of Ross County attack was soon pushed out by strong Rangers possession.
Josh Reid replaced Ryan Leak in a direct swap, with summer signing Reid deputising at left centre-back. Just moments after the substitution, Rabbi Matondo rocketed a strike towards the top corner, with Laidlaw pulling out another brilliant save for the Staggies.
The game continued in the same vein as the hard-worked home keeper pulled out another superb save to deny Abdallah Sima. It should have been three goals for the visitors, but no one was able to latch onto the end of Matondo’s low cross which rolled right across the goal before being cleared by Josh Reid.
There was almost a last consolation goal for the home side and Dhanda’s perfect cross to the back post was turned behind before a County connection could be made with the ball.
A magnificent dribbling run from Matondo then saw him tripped on the edge of the box. The resulting free-kick could only be fired into the wall by Rangers skipper Tavernier.
That was to be the last action of significance in a match in which County couldn’t cause the upset they craved in their second meeting with one of the big Glasgow two in just three weeks.
Next up for the Staggies is a difficult away tie against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Teams:
Ross County: Ross Laidlaw, Connor Randall, James Brown, Jack Baldwin ©, Yan Dhanda, Josh Sims, Victor Loturi, Simon Murray, George Harmon, Jordan White, Ryan Leak. Ross Munro, Kyle Turner, Jay Henderson, Jordan Tillson, Alex Samuel, Eamonn Brophy, Dylan Smith, Will Nightingale, Josh Reid.
Yellow cards: Baldwin 12’ Lundstrum 91’
Rangers: Jack Butland, James Tavernier, John Lundstrum, John Souttar, Connor Goldson, Cyriel Dessers, Todd Cantwell, Sam Lammers, Kemar Roofe, Borna Barasic, Nicolas Raskin. Subs: Robby McCrorie, Ryan Jack, Tom Lawrence, Jose Cifuentes, Rabbi Matondo, Abdallah Sima, Dujon Sterling, Leon Balogun, Danilo.
Referee: David Munro
Substitutions: Harmon off, Nightingale on (45) Loturi off, Turner on (56) Leak off, Reid on (65) Murray off, Brophy on (70)
Lammers off, Matondo on. Roofe off, Sima on. (60) Cantwell off, Danilo on. Dessers off, Lawrence on (73) Raskin off, Jack on (83)
