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RYAN PUTS HIS FOOT IN IT

Hibs defender pays penalty as Roofe fires in late spot-kick to ensure Rangers gain swift revenge

JOHN GREECHAN Chief Sports Writer at Easter Road FOR ALL BREAKING SPORTS NEWS VISIT dailymail.co.uk/ sport

ON a cold night in the capital, Rangers gained at least a measure of revenge on Hampden conquerors Hibs. The late and dramatic nature of last night’s plot twist merely made it all the more enjoyable for those in the away end at Easter Road.

A penalty won by Ryan Kent with seven minutes of the 90 remaining, then calmly despatched by substitute Kemar Roofe once all the shouting had died down, eventually proved the difference in this meeting of keen rivals seemingly determined to annoy the life out of each other in every single encounter.

The fact that Ryan Porteous was the player who committed the foul at the decisive moment, just dangling out a leg to catch Kent as the winger sought to move the ball on to his right foot for a shot from 16 yards, would not have been lost on anyone in light blue.

The big centre-half had enjoyed an excellent game, leaving regular sparring partner Alfredo Morelos looking frustrated as he was replaced by Roofe after 66 minutes.

But sometimes the footballing gods just decree that it’s a player’s turn to suffer. This was his night, in all the wrong ways.

And so Rangers, without ever getting back the Premier Sports Cup final place wrested from their grasp by Jack Ross and his men at the national stadium, could end the night celebrating an important away victory for new gaffer Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

They weren’t brilliant. Certainly didn’t overpower their hosts with all-action football guaranteed to wow the critics.

But they left with three precious points. Regardless of how Celtic fare in the other EdinburghGlasgow clash on the cards this evening, they’ve done their part by putting the pressure on.

Even leaving that aside, the celebrations among the Rangers players — never mind the fans — revealed exactly how much they loved the experience of beating Hibs on their own patch.

The undoubtedly intense nature of this rivalry may not have always been borne out by results, with Rangers’ record on this particular ground barely hinting at the difficulties they’ve faced from time to time.

They hadn’t lost at Easter Road since a defeat here in season 2015-16, when both clubs were in the Championship.

In terms of an actual top-flight reversal in Leith? Nineteen games, stretching all the way back to 2006, represented a pretty impressive unbeaten run.

As ever, of course, numbers don’t tell even a tenth of the story. No one at Rangers would ever describe this as an easy away day. Whatever the final scoreline.

There was absolutely no reason for Ross to even tickle the Hampden plan that had worked so well against Rangers so recently.

With young Josh Campbell given the job of pestering Steven Davis and disrupting the veteran’s attempts to build play, the home side were working to a blueprint that had already proven to be effective. Provided everyone did their jobs.

With Morelos up top and Joe Aribo at No 10, the Englishman flanked by Kent on the left and

Ianis Hagi out wide right, nobody would be left wondering where the Rangers threat might come from.

So Hibs kept a watchful eye on the front four, tracked the full-backs when they got forward. If Connor Goldson wanted to stand in his own half and look to pick a pass, well, they’d let him.

On the few first-half occasions when they actually got dragged into pressing Rangers high up the park, they were left exposed. It was a lesson they’d surely heed.

As ever, there were plenty of sub-plots being played out under the bright glare of the floodlights and a live TV audience.

Morelos was doing everything possible to wind up Porteous, naturally. It’s what centre-forwards do. If he could be late, he’d be late. If he could niggle, he’d niggle.

In terms of actual football, well, the first half was more scrappy than scintillating, with neither side quite managing to click in the final third.

Davis and Martin Boyle exchanged tight-angle efforts that each would have required some outrageous fortune to beat Matt Macey and Allan McGregor respectively.

Other genuine efforts on goal were few and far between. A Goldson header from a corner that was easily held, a Hagi low drive deflected behind — to the relief of Paul Hanlon, who had turned over possession to create the danger.

The best chance of the half came with barely a minute of regulation time left. And it fell to a player who, regardless of his intermittent struggles and indeterminate commitment levels, most Rangers fans would have picked to meet a perfect Aribo cross six yards from goal.

Bang in the middle of the frame, with Macey bracing himself for the inevitable, Morelos somehow managed to nod wide this most tempting of deliveries.

Rangers had worked their way into a position of ascendancy, drawing Hibs out of position and exploiting gaps either side of the home back three. A goal would have been just about deserved. And extremely valuable, in the context of both the contest and its ramifications on the title race.

Before play was suspended to cope with the throwing of first a green and then a blue flare on to the pitch early in the second half (well done all for that stunt), the game had actually threatened to ignite in a more positive way.

Boyle had forced Borna Barisic into a point-blank block with a well-hit low shot, while Kent really should have done better than to fire high and wide with his team on a four-man break.

Goldson deserves enormous credit, meanwhile, for somehow clearing Joe Newell’s low and hard cross after a quick throw-in had caught Rangersd unawares.

Once the smoke had cleared and play resumed following the enforced hiatus, Rangers began to enjoy a little more luck in the final third.

Only the brave intervention of Porteous, throwing his head at a Kent thunderbolt, prevented Macey being tested with a goal-bound effort that might well have beaten the keeper.

Macey had to punch a left-footed effort from the English winger away and behind for a corner just moments later.

In response, Chris Cadden flashed a right-footed shot wide of the near post when three corners of the ground were begging for him to hit the target.

The home fans were rendered mute when, with 83 minutes on the clock, Kent cut inside and went down.

Referee John Beaton having a long, hard think — or maybe just pausing for dramatic effect — before awarding the penalty didn’t help their mood. Nor did Roofe’s cool conversion.

Hibs threw on subs and hurled bodies forward in pursuit of an equaliser. But this wasn’t to be their night.

Until next time, then? Rarely dull, these games. And, as the post-match scenes here reminded us, never treated as anything less than a matter of life and death.

HIBERNIAN (3-4-1-2): Macey 5; McGinn 6, Porteous 6, Hanlon 6; Cadden 6 (Murphy 86), Doyle-Hayes 7, Newell 7, Doig 5; Campbell 6 (Allan 87); Boyle 6, Nisbet 5. Subs not used: Dabrowski, Wright, Gogic, Stevenson, Scott. Booked: McGinn, Doyle-Hayes. RANGERS (4-2-3-1): McGregor 5; Tavernier 6, Goldson 6, Bassey 6, Barisic 6; Kamara 6, Davis 6 (Arfield 66); Hagi 5, Aribo 6, Kent 7 (Lundstram 86); Morelos 6 (Roofe 66). Subs not used: McLaughlin, Patterson, Wright, Sakala. Man of the match: Ryan Kent. Referee: John Beaton. Attendance: 17,209.

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2021-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

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