Boyd and Gazza steady the jerking knees (Pars … 0 GERS … 2)

Gazza. Gascoigne. “Bamba” Gascoigne?

Anyone? Bamber Gascoigne - University Challenge. No-one having that one? Naw? Okay.

No worries. Who gives a shit what nickname he goes by at East End Park but Dunfermline Athletic’s strapping centre-half, Souleymane Bamba, tonight turned the ball into his own net to finally turn a game and hopefully a season in Rangers’ favour.

I wouldn’t like to say this evening’s match in Fife was The Rangers season in miniature because that would imply we have to be dire for the whole first half of 2006/2007, instead of just a few weeks - but the slow start, moribund opening exchages, confusion on the terraces over team selection and gradual imposing of Rangers domination, increasing infusions of cohesive passing, a breakthrough owing to our pressure and then a thoroughly thrilling and spectacular finish to guarantee ultimate victory … that, ladies and gentlemen of the Red, White and Blue, would be a very acceptable microcosm of Paul Le Guen’s debut campaign.

We were 65 minutes into this CIS League Cup tie before Bamba screwed his attempted clearance of an Alan Hutton shot into the postage Stamp top corner of the Pars net but our re-hashed team had been comfortably on top for the preceeding twenty minutes. That was a whole 18 minutes longer than we’d been on top against Hibs three days agao. Jim Leishman’s men had taken far more plaudits from their 1-0 defeat at Parkhead at the weekend than we earned at Easter Road - rather, they’d taken less criticism - and we struggled to even manage a draw on the same pitch against the same opponents in our August SPL fixture, but tonight we ened up producing our most comprehensive away win of the season so far. Improvement, Bears and Bearettes - improvement.

Kris Boyd’s 73rd minute clincher was an emblem of this dominance - a neat packaging of an otherwise boring match into a solid confidence-booster for everyone Rangers.

What a strike! He turns big Bamba Gascoigne about thirty yards out and, as the ball spins down, Boyd volleys it into the roof of the net. Emphatic brilliance to end a night of tentative improvement.

Le Guen made massive changes to teh starting line-up and I think we were supposed to be worried and maybe even outraged. “why is he doing this??” cried the BBC. Well, with only 23 Dunfermline Fans in the stadium, the meeja had to create an atmosphere somehow. Nevertheless, the simple answer seems to be that Pee Pee Le Guen does not consider the CIS Cup one of his priorities. Maybe Ferguson, Buffel, Sebo, Rodriguez and Svensson were being punished for Sunday’s defeat. But Hemdani and Papac playing at centre half, both for the first time, would be too great a risk even for an angry manager. Le Guen simply wanted half his team rested before Parkhead and he wanted to try a few more things in a game he clearly felt was worthy of experiments.

Charlie Adam and Nacho Novo returned. Gavin Rae got a run out in the main holding role. It wasn’t spectacular fare before Boyd’s winner and it wasnt in any way entertaining before Mike McCurry’s half-time whistle. But, overall, it was only our second away win of the season and it was a massive improvement on Easter Road. You wouldn’t want to go to The Piggery with any delusions of grandeur - but you would want a wee gee-up in the tank after our failure to launch against Hibs.

Now we can all think about who we want added to the starting line-up for Saturday rather than who we think should be dropped. It’s a subtle difference but such small improvements each week will do us just fine.

Maybe some Bluenoses have missed their chance to be loyal to Le Guen in bad times, thus costing them an extra notch of personal satisfaction when we win the SPL. The reserves just tanked an SPL outfit on the road - It may just be that the opportunities to be a foul-weather friend to Monsieur Paul have begun to evaporate.

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Published:
09.20.06 / 10pm
Category:
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