Rangers ease to victory at Ross County to close gap on Aberdeen

Rangers eased past Ross County with a 3-0 victory to close the gap on second-placed Aberdeen to two points and signpost a huge week in Philippe Clement’s tenure.

Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane drove in a terrific opener after just six minutes with his fourth goal in four games before Brazilian attacker Danilo doubled that lead in the 37th minute when Staggies keeper Jack Hamilton was far too slow to clear his lines.

Rangers dipped after the break but skipper James Tavernier hammered in a third in the 86th minute to move them two points behind second-placed Aberdeen, with a game in hand, and 11 adrift of leaders Celtic.

The Light Blues host Tottenham in the Europa League at Ibrox on Thursday night with knockout stage hopes still very much alive – although Danilo and Romania midfielder Ianis Hagi are not in the European squad.

Rangers then face their Old Firm rivals in the Premier Sports Cup final at Hampden Park on Sunday where Belgian Clement is looking for his first win over the Hoops at the sixth attempt.

The home side started the day – and finished it – in eighth place with one win in five games and boss Don Cowie made five changes, with keeper Hamilton, captain Connor Randall, Scott Allardice, Michee Efete and Alex Samuel all returning.

Clement made just one alteration to the side that started in the 6-0 thrashing of Kilmarnock in midweek, midfielder Connor Barron coming in for Mohamed Diomande.

Samuel threatened early for the home side when he flashed a shot from the edge of the box over the bar with Rangers winger Vaclav Cerny doing likewise at the other end soon afterwards.

Igamane showed them how it should be done when he combined down the left with left-back Jefte before firing a drive from the edge of the box which dipped over Hamilton and into the net at the far post.

The game settled with the Staggies gaining a foothold.

Hagi and Danilo came close with drives before a deflected shot from County midfielder Noah Chilvers was well saved by keeper Jack Butland with Rangers eventually clearing the danger from the corner.

Hamilton had to move swiftly to prevent a miscued header from County defender Eli Campbell possibly going into his own net before he rushed out to save at the feet of Cerny who had been played in by Danilo.

The former Feyenoord striker got his rewards for his hard work when he closed down Hamilton and blocked an attempted pass, squeezing the ball in from a tight angle, giving the visitors a solid interval lead.

Jordan White and James Brown came on at the break for Chilvers and Efete as Cowie looked for a way back into the game in the second half and the home side almost levelled in the 58th minute when Butland made a crucial save from an Akil Wright header.

At the other end, Hamilton made saves from Cerny and Igamane, twice, but the visitors did not carry the same threat, with the usual raft of substitutions from both sides disrupting the flow of the game.

Hamilton saved a long-distance drive from substitute Nedim Bajrami before Tavernier thundered in a shot from the edge of the box to give the scoreline more gloss but they will need to do more against Spurs and Celtic.

Clement: Important victory – players understand their roles better

Rangers boss Philippe Clement told Sky Sports:

“I’m satisfied because the team in the last couple of weeks is showing where we want to get to. It’s a really important victory. Not only for the three points but also for the way to score the goals and not to concede, and to have the domination of the game like I want to see.

“It takes time to have this connection between players and you see now that they start to understand their role much better, whoever is playing, whoever is coming in, and things start to gel together really well.

“This is the football that our fans want to see and the way they want to see away games.”

Cowie: We didn’t take moments

Ross County manager Don Cowie told Sky Sports:

“Disappointed with the scoreline. I felt at 1-0 it’s important to keep at that for as long as possible when you’re playing against a top-quality team. Frustrated to concede the second goal in the manner in which we did and it makes it really difficult.

“We spoke at half-time about getting an opportunity to try and get back in the game. Akil [Wright] has a great opportunity from the corner with the header. He feels he should score.

“Those are the moments when you play a top-quality team, you need to take them to give you that opportunity and belief to try and get something out of it.”

What’s coming up in the Scottish Premiership?