Dedicated to the late Stephen Hughes (Hibees … 0 GERS … 1)

And so the catch-up game goes on successfully, and The Rangers continue to crank up the levels of agony The Bears must endure as we watch our team continually dragging itself back to within touching distance of first place. I see those sickening Nazi-sterile GAP Christmas adverts on TV these days but I don’t think of over-priced denims and ridiculous jumpers infected with a putrid, contrived lifestyle - I think of a seemingly endless cycle of Celtic going eight points clear and us having 24 hours to knock it back down to five. Mind the gap - then mend the gap, for gawd’s sake.

Last week Stephen Hughes only avoided a subbing due to a freak injury sustained by Mikel Arteta, just as Steph’s number was held up by the fourth official. He then scored the goal which finally broke the deadlock against Aberdeen. Lovenkrands’ two goals in the final minute of that game were the marzipan on the proverbial sponge.

Today, however, Stephen was almost certain of playing the full ninety or NINETY THREE AND A BIT minutes, thanks to our usual bog roll-length injury list, and the goal he eventually guided into the Hibs net was more of a basic nutrient … more of a last-brussel-sprout-on-the-plate job … more of a non-poisonous-leaves-in-the-middle-of-the-jungle-where-yer-plane-crash-landed-three-days-ago kind of thing … more, shall we say, GUT-WRENCHINGLY BLOODY VITAL than Peter’s tastily tardy brace of eight days previously.

The sweetness this week was all in the strike our skinny, silky, pasty-faced 21-year-old midfielder executed to guide the ball home in the NINETY THIRD minute (Did I mention how late it was we scored?). He’d done it all before with the Scotland Under-21s against Lithuania - same amount of injury time, same stale-mate being useless to his side, same area of the box, same distance, same angle on the goalie. That night in Perth he hit it low, today he hit it medium-high but I’m so glad he’d had the practice.

After the home game with Dundee and the away matches in Copenhagen, at Tannadice and Rugby Park, there was SLIGHTLY more belief in the ranks that The Gers would finally pull this game out the No-Score-Draw bag but, by and large, this was one seriously unpretty, unconvincing performance from our heroes.

It would have had 0-0 written all over it when Ian Murray blasted over from three Stefan Klos-filled yards in the first half and when we missed an array of chances through Shota, Peter L and Mikey M, but for the fact we’ve slowly come to expect spirit will eventually triumph over lack of obvious class in Alex McLeish’s Rangers teams. (Please note, that’s a “lack of obvious class”, as opposed to “an obvious lack of class” - these guys keep hanging in there and that’s all the entertainment I ever need from Rangers)

We deserved the win over the piece. Hibs had the better of the first half but we left them for dead in terms of possession and impetus in the second. That we looked stretched
and disjointed on many an occasion was down to two main factors and one sub-factor:

Hibs are coming close to perfecting that midfield-flooding tactic they employ under Bobby Williamson when hosting The Gers at Easter Road - they always sprinkle it with ankle-snapping intimidation and they’re gettin’ beter at it all the time. The loss of Ian Murray, their midfield driving force, killed the home side in the second half. And, of course, there is the steadily expanding membership of the Murray Park Treatment Table Club - no Moore, de Boer, Arteta … you know how that one goes. The little extra twist of adversity is brought about by the after-effects of a huge mid-week effort in a foreign land which resulted in defeat.

So, while it wasn’t a performance which inspired great admiration among the aesthetes, it was an effort which swelled the heart. Winning Ugly is a phrase very much en Vogue when talking about the current champions of a certain oval-shaped ball game - our chariot may have swung a bit lower than we’d like today but it nevertheless took us to a very sweet destination.

Thanks again, Mr Hughes.

GERS: Klos, Ross, Khizanishvili, Berg, Ball, Capucho (Burke 57), Ricksen, Hughes, Lovenkrands, Mols (Ostenstad 69), Arveladze.

UNUSED SUBS: McGregor, Emerson, Vanoli.

YELLOW CARDED: Mols, Ross, Lovenkrands.

SAVIOUR: Hughes 90.

CROWD: 11,160

REF: Stu Dougal