Why Rangers can be annoyed at Kilmarnock winner as they get unlikely ally
10/20/2024 11:00 AM
Rangers largely had themselves to blame as they slumped to yet another defeat away at Kilmarnock.
Philippe Clement’s side would have turned up knowing a victory could close the gap on both Celtic and Aberdeen who drew with each other yesterday. As it turned out, that proved to be a point that moved both of them further ahead of Gers.
Rangers were lackluster and didn’t offer too much that threatened the home side at Rugby Park and were weak at the back in defending a simple ball over the top from David Watson that allowed Marley Watkins in to score a late winner.
Killie were good value for their win having limited the Light Blues and always looked a threat themselves.
Why Rangers can be irked about Kilmarnock goal
However, Gers players did a have a grievance with the goal that separated them. The ball had gone out of play and appeared to touch home midfielder Lewis Donnelly last.
But after a long delay in which both sides made subs, the throw-in was given to Kilmarnock. Some time passed in between, but it still led indirectly to Watkins’ strike.
Visiting players complained to the officials and they have an unlikely ally in Chris Sutton.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “If I was Rangers I'd be a little bit annoyed by that. But it’s still a throw-in from inside the Kilmarnock half.
“I’ve got to say Watkins is really clever and Kris (Boyd) will appreciate this as a striker. The way he uses his body, you can see he’s offside, just checks Souttar off the ball and gets the strike in.
“And he gets a little bit of luck, just takes a slight deflection off Souttar’s left shinpad past Butland.
“Overall, I think they just about deserved it. They were more effective.”
Derek McInnes’ Kilmarnock vs Rangers assessment
Derek McInnes thought his Kilmarnock side were the “far better” team in the first half and also claimed Rangers utilised the “long ball”, which his side coped with.
He explained: “I thought we were the far better team first half, just looking for the goal.
“Second half was a bit more even and tight but we never settle for a 0-0. We still thought there was that chance. Matty (Kennedy) went through one-one-one and never quite got there.
“But we knew that Rangers squeezing a high line, we could turn them and play on the shoulders and if we timed our runs right we’d get opportunities. And thankfully Marley gets the important goal, which he’s done so often for us.
I didn’t really want to take Kyle Vassell off but our substitutes really helped us out last time out at Dundee. We spoke about keeping the energy, it’s difficult to keep the energy on the press for the whole game.
“But we did think the physical presence of Watkins and Vassell was causing problems. But I do think in general terms we dealt with Rangers’ directness, that longer ball. We were physical with that, got to second balls and we were very competitive throughout.”
