Rangers’ Dominant Display: Overcoming Kilmarnock with a Commanding 3-1 Victory

Rangers bounced back from recent disappointments with a solid performance against an inform Kilmarnock side with a comfortable 3-1 win. Goals from 

Rangers got off to a strong start with the first big chance falling to Cyriel Dessers on 7 minutes. Ross McCausland with a good pass into the strikers feet who swivelled in the box and got a low driven short away which clipped the outside of the post and went out for a goal kick.

Cyriel Dessers linked up with Todd Cantwell 2 minutes later when he laid the ball off to Todd Cantwell just outside the box who fired a shot high and wide from outside the area.

Kilmarnock remained resilient and kept their shape well, resisting the pressure that was building from Rangers. They managed to create a couple of chances from a free kick and a short from outside the both, but both were off target. Liam Donnelly was replaced on 18 minutes by David Watson after picking up an injury.

Rangers continued to press for the opening goal, but it was Kilmarnock that had the next big chance in the game. On 29 minutes Connor Goldson stepped forward to intercept an anticipated pass which instead of being played along the group, was played in behind, into the space Connor had vacated by David Watson. Kyle Vassell went through one on one with Jack Butland who made himself big and pulled off the best save of the match to keep things all square.

This seemed to inspire Rangers into moving up a gear. There was some quick and clean interchanges between Ridvan Yilmaz and Todd Cantwell who were both having a strong game so far. The ball was worked out to Cyriel Dessers who played a bending pass from just inside the Kilmarnock half perfectly into the path of Ross McCausland who took a single touch before finishing perfectly into the bottom right corner on 41 minutes, shooting across the goal keeper who could not reach the shot.

Rangers were quick to extend their lead as a fantastic long diagonal pass to Abdallah Sima was flicked up into the air off the chest of Sima, who quickly spun around the defender and volleyed the ball into the back of the net on 45 minutes. Rangers will of hopeful not to be without Sima for too long as he now travels to meet up with Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations.

In to the second half on 59 minutes against the run of play Kilmarnock crossed the ball from the right wing, just outside of the box, the ball struck John Souttar on the elbow with his arm slightly infant on his body. VAR reviewed the decision and after reviewing the incident on the VAR monitor the referee award a penalty. No real complaints about the penalty award, there was little Souttar would have done to get out the way, though worth mentioning this was likely softer than the penalty incident in the auld firm which VAR decided should not be reviewed by the referee at the time of the incident. 

Loosing a goal had the potential to bring some nerves into Rangers and Ibrox. However, these fears where quickly put to bed as on 61 minutes Ridden Yilmaz who was putting in one of his best performances in a Rangers jersey found some space out in the left wing and drove a powerful low cross to the front post. This was met by Todd Cantwell who have made the run into this area and flicked the ball into the net. There was nothing the Kilmarnock keeper could do to stop the move.

The third Rangers goal killed any notion that Kilmarnock could fight their way back into the game and there was little more threats to goal from either team. On 71 minutes Dujon Sterling replaced Kieran Dowell and Fabio Silva made his Rangers and Ibrox debut replacing Cyriel Dessers. 

Dijon Sterling made an immediate impact by adding some physicality in the midfield, winning a series of tackles and impressing with some twists, turns and driving runs. His impact over the last view weeks has been great to see and very much needed as he continues to play a midfield role, despite being a defender by trade.

Silva had some nice touches and won the ball in the air a few times in his short debut. He looks to have the quality and understanding of the game Rangers are sure to benefit from in the second half of the season. His link up play and positional awareness was good, despite only having one training session with the team before this game.

Scott Wright replaced Abdallah Sima and Rabbi Matondo came on for Ross McCausland on 84 minutes. More pleasing to see was the return of Nicolas Raskin who replaced Todd Cantwell on 89 minutes. The midfielder has been working hard to return to playing after a long injury and it was nice to see him on the pitch again ahead of the Winter break and Rangers trip to Spain for their Winter training camp.

Player Ratings

Man of the Match

Our man of the match was Ridden Yilmaz and Rangers TV agreed with us. There were also notable performances from Ross McCausland and Todd Cantwell who no one would have questioned if either of these players had picked up the man of the match.