Scottish Premier League - Round-up: Novo puts Rangers through

Eurosport - Wed, 14 Jan 15:53:00 2009

Nacho Novo eased the pressure on Rangers after a turbulent week by helping them to a 2-0 win over St Johnstone to book a fifth-round meeting with Forfar in the Scottish Cup.

FOOTBALL Nacho Novo Rangers striker 2008 - 0

Rangers again looked unconvincing against a team who ran them so close in last season's semi-final, but managed to bring the second-tier side's 14-game unbeaten run to an end.

Stuart McCaffrey provided a much-needed boost just before half-time when he bundled into his own net before Novo came off the substitutes' bench to secure the victory late on.

This match should have been all about Rangers beginning their defence of the Scottish Cup, but was dominated by events off the park instead, with the club's finances firmly in the spotlight after admitting they needed to sell one of their top players this month.

Kris Boyd looks set for the exit door after a bid was agreed with Birmingham. The move has so far stalled over personal terms but skipper Barry Ferguson, goalkeeper Allan McGregor, Pedro Mendes and Madjid Bougherra are other names in the frame for a possible January departure.

Travelling fans made their feelings against chairman Sir David Murray known ahead of kick-off with a banner declaring 'David Murray Must Go' while Saints took the opportunity to wind up their visitors by blasting out cash-related tunes such as 'Money's Too Tight to Mention' and 'Money, Money, Money'.

Forfar booked themselves a money-spinning tie against Rangers with a crushing 6-1 victory over Forres Mechanics.

Five goals from the fourth-tier side ended the contest before half-time and they wrapped things up after the break as they completely outclassed the Highland League outfit.

Graeme Gibson started rout after only two minutes and an own goal from Forres' Bruce Milne two minutes later left the visitors with a mountain to climb.

They looked to have thrown themselves a lifeline when Ryan Green pulled one back in the 23rd minute but, within 60 seconds, Stephen Tulloch restored the two-goal advantage.

Ross Campbell made it 4-1 with a close-range effort just after the half-hour mark and Kevin Gordon got on the scoresheet two minutes before the interval.

Gordon grabbed his second of the game and Forfar's sixth in the 54th minute with a stunning volley from outside the box.

Jim Hamilton ensured there was no Scottish Cup shock for his former boss Jim Duffy as his two goals handed St Mirren a 3-1 victory at Brechin.

Hamilton netted either side of the break, with Dennis Wyness also on target to cancel out Neil Janczyk's leveller.

That was enough to see Scottish Premier League club Saints through to the fifth round and make for an unwanted debut in charge of Brechin for Hamilton's old Dundee coach.

Sporting Life / Eurosport

Comment 3 - 22 of 22

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  1. POINT 23 PROUD OF YOU WISH THIR WAS MORE FANS LIKE US­ WATP THE REAL GERS FANS ANYWAY

    From JAMESM WATP, on Thu 15 Jan 11:14AM

  2. i have been a rangers fan my hole life and as much as­ it pains me to agree with a celtic fan point 14 has got­ it right.im old enough to remember what it was like to­ be a RANGERS fan back in the dark days of the late 70s­ and early 80s and it wasnt fun...but since david murry­ took charge we have never dropped out of the top three­ in the last 20 years we the rangers fans have had more­ trophees than any brittish club so what if it looks­ like celtic might win 4 in a row there is still a long­ way to go this season but what about the rest of the 16­ years where we have had a 9 in a row how many doubles­ have we had trebles last and not least 170.000 RANGERS­ fans went to manchester last season how many of them­ where singing murry must go...

    From connor.95, on Thu 15 Jan 9:18AM

  3. mr nice a k a pual g

    From zzgus f, on Thu 15 Jan 1:28AM

  4. Valium sales rocket in govan..undertakers up th wall..

    From zzgus f, on Thu 15 Jan 1:27AM

  5. NEXT !

    From nice_mr_mofo_bastard, on Wed 14 Jan 5:23PM

  6. LOL I HATE TO IMPART MY VASTLY ACRUED KNOWLEDGE TO A­ COMPLETE AUTOMATON BUT IN THIS ISNTANCE ITS JUST FAR­ TOO GOOD AN OPPORTUNITY TO RUB UR SILLY LITTLE FACE IN­ THE MUD AGAIN.LOL PUNCTUATION HAS NO BEARING ON GRAMMAR­ MY TINY TINY LITTLE MINISCULE CHUM.GOOD TRY THOUGH­ CUPCAKE. KEEP THE FUNNIES COMING LOL

    From nice_mr_mofo_bastard, on Wed 14 Jan 5:22PM

  7. NO MAN IS GREATER THAN THE CLUB YOU SUPPORT, SO GET­ BEHIND YOUR TEAM AND LIFT THEM ON TO GLORY, AND BRING­ THE GOOD DAYS BACK TO IBROX

    From ANGELA C, on Wed 14 Jan 4:26PM

  8. 13 - Nah! That's Frank Sinatra's job!

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Wed 14 Jan 2:34PM

  9. nice_mr_mofo_bastard

    You've a cheek to talk about­ anyone, considering you put full stops at the start of­ sentences, obviously have no grasp of grammar, and­ can't type a paragraph without being a bigot.

    STFU­ you f'in hypocrit

    From fitzpatrick991, on Wed 14 Jan 2:23PM

  10. As a Cetic fan I must admit the calls for David Murray­ to go are bang out of order, That man has done­ everything for your club and is still doing everything­ for your club. What you would rather see your club go­ into administration just to keep one or two players­ there?

    It wasn't "David Murray must go"­ when he was spending millions bringing players like­ Gascoigne, Laudrup and all the others to your team, but­ now that he needs to balance the books and get your­ club out of a reported 23 million pound debt you call­ for his head? what a bunch of unloyal edjit's, get­ a grip of yourselves.

    When things are going good for­ you, you run your mouths mistaken in the belief that­ your "simply the best" yet the minute­ something that you don't like happens its toy's­ out of the pram, he bought your success for you and now­ that he and Rangers don't have the money to buy any­ more success theres people calling for his head, going­ mental about it, you call yourselves supporters! learn­ what that word means.

    From fitzpatrick991, on Wed 14 Jan 2:19PM

  11. STEVIE B ???? NAE COMEBACK ??

    From JAMESM WATP, on Wed 14 Jan 2:16PM

  12. Johnbhoy Walton .please dont embarrass yourself by­ attempting to formulate a simple sentence or even to­ merely spell correctly.Literacy is not a trait­ associated with you and your type .There are remedial­ classes available to all priest pleasing ,rancid­ guiness drinking hobbits on helium .Right next door to­ the Hamish Alan Centre for the homeless ,­ apparently.Have a nice day

    From nice_mr_mofo_bastard, on Wed 14 Jan 11:54AM

  13. Excellent to see the extremely gifted and level headed­ Fleck being given another chance on the big stage.All­ the top teams in England ,Spain and italy have tabled­ bids or had the boy scouted in the past year .Amazing­ to think we (Scotland ) could at last have a truly­ world class played in our midst's after such a long­ long time.great result against a more than decent wee­ team in St johnstone.I look forward to winning it again­ this year .

    From nice_mr_mofo_bastard, on Wed 14 Jan 11:47AM

  14. NOW NOW HUNBAGS DONT GET CARRIED AWAY KEEP THINKING IN­ YOUR HEAD IS IT GOING TO BE 4 IN A ROW FOR THE CELTS

    From Timabhouy, on Wed 14 Jan 11:28AM

  15. celtic have announced a 5 year deal with Nike. ­ Rangers have announced a­ similar with woolworths EVERYTHING MUST GO ­ HAIL HAIL its going to be 4 in a row

    From johnbhoy, on Wed 14 Jan 11:07AM

  16. Paragraph 2 - RANGERS LOOKED UNCONVINCING. Is this the­ same Rangers that's gonnae "cruise" to­ 52? Only if the cruising is the type done in the Al­ Pacino movie of the same name, I think!

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Wed 14 Jan 8:18AM

  17. @#$%*. It doesn't look right when it's­ censored.

    From Chris F, on Wed 14 Jan 4:39AM

  18. I can only assume they tried to sell you then, Steph?
    I­ suppose they were just supplying the demand for @#$%.

    From Chris F, on Wed 14 Jan 4:29AM

  19. ..." Tell all the gers you know that its gonna be­ 4 in a row...they've been told by the BANKERS to­ sell all their W4NKER5 "...

    From steph_hewitt2001, on Wed 14 Jan 4:00AM

  20. Good win for the Gers against an in form St Johstone­ side. It could have been a real banan skin for Rangers­ but they made it through. Another Hampden success­ beckons, bring on the mighty Forfar!!!!!

    From Allen H, on Tue 13 Jan 11:53PM
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