Bigots-R-us hammer daego-wop-kraut-forinur asylum seekers (GERS … 3 AK GRAZER … 0)

Bayern Munich and Valencia do, in all fairness, represent slightly trickier opposition than AZ Alkmaar and Auxerre. However, even though those two sides went on to play each other in the following seasons Champions League final and there’s nothing to be ashamed of in losing narowly to each in our fnal two Champions League games of 99/2000, the memory of so many Scotland and Rangers teams failing to get out of any kind of group - World Cup finals, European Championships and club Europe - has me fretting already.

Yet, when we think about it, Ragers tonight swept aside the kind of opposition which even as recently as THIS SEASON was giving us palpitations. How often have I moaned about Rangers being unable to keep a clean sheet in Europe - especially under McLeish - and how we always, but ALWAYS, concede an away goal?! Yet now we’ve all virtuallly forgotten what it’s like to see that Rangers defence breached by anyone. We’ve gone three straight games in the Uefa cup without losing a goal, while scoring nine for ourselves. I took this win in my stride tonight and have already moved on to worrying about the next game - that is as big a compliment as we can pay McLeish for what he’s effected over the past few months.

In seven days time we take on AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands and a point against the other team in our group with six points would see The Gers definitely in Europe after Christmas for only the third time in twelve seasons. In all honesty, it would be pretty difficult for us not to now make it through in at least third place, but the emotional scars of so many days and nights on the calculator, trying to make draws and meagre Goals For columns stretch to a possible scenario where my team makes the next stage of a big comeptition, has taken its psychological toll. So I won’t wont talk about our Holland trip til next week.

Let’s just say, instead, that tonight was lovely. Beating the potentially tricky AK Grazer by 3 goas to nil was more than I’d hoped for but, by the end, very much what our players deserved.

The whole night had a kind of “warm-down” feeling after the carnage of Saturday and the nervous excitement generated by the CIS game 15 days ago. The night air was more mild for a start - nothing was biting tonight as it did on Saturday lunch-time and the sight of that cabin behind the Broomloan/Govan corner still selling briefs at 7:43 (as I hared past with my chicken supper still digesting) announced that there would be no mania on or off the pitch for this game.

Rarely can there have been a time at The Palace where a European match in November was less important than League Cup and League Championship ties played in the same month. The champions of Austria at The Brox is an exciting prospect for anoraks like myself and a proud night for our club to be hosting the winners of such a historic football nation’s league and cup double. Yet the two seminal wins over Celtic have drained us all emotionally - this evening saw The Rangers family reconvene to realise that, yes, we really did win BOTH games of that long-awaited double-header. Yes, The Rangers really are back again and this kind of game againts European welterweights should really be a canter.

It was.

The first half performance was conducive to the atmosphere in the un-full stands or vice-versa: Only Bob Malcolm in for Alex Rae saw a difference from Saturday’s starting eleven but the punters were just content to sing a song or two, slag Martin O’Neill (in a sectarian, racist way, of course - we know no other way!), adore our players for what they’ve done rather than what we want them to do and just generally get the feel of the place again with no trouble-seekers in hoops on the ptch to deflect from the game as a contest.

It was actually somewhat lost on us that we should be worrying about tonight’s result , until the cheaply-stripped Graz side (like a 1FC Nuremberg uoutfit from the mid-eighties) broke down the left wing and played a man through the middle, one-on-one with Stefan. Determined to gain vengeance for that 1978 World Cup match in Cordoba, the German smote his fellow Teuton’s attempt with a brilliant piece of anticipation and blocking.

A Bob Malcolm long-ranger which brought a camera-friendly save from Graz’s Shakthar Donetsk-stripped goalie was our best attacking effort of the half. By the interval the Bears and Bearettes were slowly realising that our team weren’t really loking like scoring. Mind you - we weren’t looking like losing a goal either. Only one World Class save from Stef tonite?! McLeish wants to have a word with that guy, perhaps dock his wages. Boumsong is so good you can’t beleive it sometimes. And then he’s so good he makes it look as if it’s never been done any other way. He’s going to Newcastle - I just know he is - because a guy like that CANNOT want to be in the SPL for any othe reason than a quick move down south. Can he?

Boumsong was our man of the match, I thought,. Utterly outstanding and, sometimes, turning on the style and panache too. There’s been a grace and elan about him since his first kick of a ball for Rangers - Baldesar Castiglione’s definition of sprezzatura personified - but tonight he cranked it up a notch. Grazer AK weren’t just thwated in attack, they were made to look foolish by a “stopper” with the dribbling skills of the best winger their club could afford.

In the second half, as with so many games this season, we turned the screw slowly but unerringly. Novo finsihed off in a carbon copy of Hartson’s goal in Barcelona last night - except Nach was onside and Dado didnae get a knock-on from Nando’s great free-kick. 58 minutes gone and the deadlock was broken. My thougts tuned to late equalisers which would ruin our recent defensive brilliance in the most disastrous circumstances. No fear, Big Dado caused havoc in a packed box again and eventually both Shota and Hamed put the ball over the line at the same time.

I know we’re sharing the goals around the team this seasn but have you ever seen two players score half a goal each? How cool would it be if, when they announce the leading goalscorers in the Uefa cup this season, Shota wins it by 0.5 of a goal.

Novo was tremedous all night. He’s never anything else. I wan’t a pint of whatever he drinks because sleep would suddenly become unnecessary - I’ve never seen such energy. This energy - the energy which is denying Morientes and Raul any sleep as they fear for their place in Louis Argone’s national side (Why not? Apart from Nach’s unbelievable current scoring run, the Spaniards seem to love a bigot these days and, as Martin would tell them last night, all Rangers players are bigots) - he used when haring down the by-line in injury time and, as Ibrox rocked to a feel-good sing-song, Hamed smashed the low cross into the roof of the net to claim a WHOLE goal, all to himself.

They didn’t even take centre again and, as everyone started wandering off down the tunnel the moment the baw hit the rigging, for a moment I wondered if the final whistle had gone before Hamed’s strike and maybe we’d only won 2-0 But no fear - as the Red and White men from Graz went over to acknowledge their fans in a singularly un-protective manner, it was clear we’d done the double on the town of Graz at Ibrox. Sturm went down 5-0 here in eh Champions league a few seasons back and now Ak have also failed to breach our home rearguard while we eventually ran all over theirs.

Then I got in the car - no celtic fans to negotiate tonight so I was parked even closer to The Palace than usual - and Radio Scotland’s Jim Traynor was whining about Novo doing stuff off the ball, yet again … ach, it just wouldnae be the same of there wasn’t something to moan about!

Rangers - youse were fu**ing BRILLINAT tonight and youse’ve been fu**ing brilliant for this entire month. Well done, Gers - we LOVE ye!

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Published:
11.26.04 / 2am
Category:
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