Following last week's abysmal performance at home to Annan Athletic, Rangers travel to Elgin, who beat Peterhead 1-0 last time out, having previously suffered a run of five consecutive defeats. Needless to say, Rangers will be looking for a massive improvement.

Rangers won their previous visit to Borough Briggs 6-2, with goals from Andy Little (2) Lee McCulloch (2), Lewis Mcleod and Kyle Hutton.

Neil Alexander speaking ahead of Saturday's fixture:

We'll Turn Pain To Gain

PROUD professional Neil Alexander believes a solid victory at Elgin on Saturday will soon consign the horror of last week’s defeat by Annan to the history books.

No-one has been more hurt by the 2-1 reverse at Ibrox than the former Scotland goalkeeper and he completely understands the widespread condemnation of the team by fans and pundits alike.

Having played at the highest level for Rangers, Alexander understands the demands and therefore feels the disappointment more than most.

However, while accepting the criticism he feels this young, thrown-together Rangers team should be cut a little bit of slack in the grand scheme of things in that they will go and achieve the main objective which is winning the SFL 3 title.

He told RangersTV: “We are bitterly disappointed because it was a terrible result for us at the weekend but we must move on.

“We have a massive game on Saturday and we know it will be tough up at Elgin but we need to bounce back and we are confident we can do that.

“We know we didn’t play well last Saturday but we will put it right in training this week and get it right this Saturday.

“Sometimes complacency creeps in – although I would like to think it didn’t. We are so far ahead and it is virtually job done but we are not over the line yet.

“We have a fairly inexperienced team in terms of winning championships and we all know that last Saturday was not good enough from start to finish.

“It’s not acceptable for Rangers players to perform like that but hopefully we can win this weekend, things will be forgotten and we can move one step closer to winning the league.

 â€œI have high standards and I take pride in keeping clean sheets but at the moment we are not even looking like doing that.

“We are giving the opposition chances right, left and centre and we are conceding goals that in years gone by we would not have conceded.

“It’s a head-scratcher. What are we doing differently? What are we not doing right? So that’s why we will work hard in training, we will watch videos and make sure we change things and cut these things out.

“The thing is we need to score at least twice in matches to win games because we are conceding and teams gone by didn’t have to do that.

“It’s a brand new team; they are still young and inexperienced. The manager has built this team to win the Third Division and we are on course to do that.

“It’s a long process and you have to see that over the course of the season the boys have done very well.

“We know last week was bad but it’s easy to kick them when they are down but hopefully if we can win on Saturday things will be forgotten and we get closer to our aim.â€

 

http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/3528-well-turn-pain-to-gain

Team news:

ALLY MCCOIST has made four changes to his starting XI for today’s SFL clash against Elgin City with Kyle Hutton suspended.

After last weekend’s disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Annan Athletic the manager has switched to a 4-5-1 formation as the Light Blues look to return to winning ways at Borough Briggs.

Lee McCulloch moves back to join Emilson Cribari in the heart of the defence with Chris Hegarty and Lee Wallace featuring at right and left back respectively in front of Neil Alexander.

With David Templeton still out Sebastien Faure, Robbie Crawford and Ian Black will play in the engine room with Andy Little starting on the right wing and Fraser Aird returning to the team on the left flank.

This leaves Fran Sandaza up top as the lone striker albeit he will be hoping for plenty of service and support from an attacking midfield five.

On the bench Rangers have Scott Gallacher, Kane Hemmings, Kal Naismith, Anestis Argyriou and Barrie McKay.

ELGIN CITY: Malin, Niven, McMullan, Crighton, Duff, Cameron, Gunn, Millar, Leslie, Nicolson, Moore

SUBS: Harkins, Morrison, Beveridge, McLean, Black

RANGERS: Alexander; Hegarty, McCulloch, Cribari, Wallace; Little, Black, Faure, Crawford, Aird; Sandaza

SUBS: Gallacher, Hemmings, Naismith, Argyriou, McKay

48 mins gone, and still 0-0. Rangers really need to up their performances, they've been lacking passion lately and seem to think they only have to turn up to win.

A win is a win is a win, but a 1-0 victory thanks to a penalty at the home of the club with the worst home record in the division can hardly be described as satisfactory.

 

I don't know if it's so much that the players think they only have to turn up as that it's difficult to get yourself motivated in the circumstances, when even though you're running away with the title, you have no idea what division you'll be playing in next season, and thanks to the SFA's restructuring you may well have to go and do it all over again next season, in the same division, against the same teams.

 

Here's the match report from the official Rangers site:

 

Elgin City 0-1 Rangers



SUPER skipper Lee McCulloch was the matchwinner as his 70th minute penalty ensured Rangers returned to winning ways against Elgin City at Borough Briggs.

It was vice-captain Lee Wallace that won the crucial spot kick when he was brought down in the box by Black and Whites stopper Sean Crighton after a powerful run.

But McCulloch showed his leadership qualities by stepping up when his side needed it most and his composed finish sent keeper Joe Malin the wrong way.

At times it looked likely this hard-fought battle would finish goalless as both teams worked hard on a tricky surface but could not convert the few goalscoring chances created.

But with 20 minutes to go the Light Blues made the breakthrough and despite Ian Black’s sending off late on McCulloch’s strike takes Rangers one step closer to winning the Third Division title.

With Kyle Hutton suspended, David Templeton still recovering from an Achilles injury and Dean Shiels expected to be out for the season Ally McCoist made considerable changes to his team for the 90 minutes against Ross Jack’s side.

McCulloch moved back to the centre of defence alongside Emilson Cribari with Seb Faure, Robbie Crawford and Fraser Aird in midfield and Fran Sandaza up top as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation.

Having suffered the huge disappointment of a 2-1 to Annan Athletic at home Rangers looked to start this match positively and they certainly did that.

The league leaders, wearing an all-blue kit and black armbands for Irene Love, looked hungry and determined, knowing full well they would have to match the battling qualities their Moray opponents would display.

After just four minutes a great cross from Lee Wallace found Sandaza but his glancing header was acrobatically saved by Malin.

With the early stages of the match being played in Elgin’s half Crawford then tried his luck with a powerful shot which went wide with the keeper scrambling across his line.

Sandaza looked up for it and he showed great skill to beat his man and get into the 18-yard box. His cutback to Little was intelligent but the in-form Ulsterman could not find the net from close range.

It was proving to be another intriguing contest with both teams giving 100 per cent but on 26 minutes Elgin’s towering forward Paul Millar, believed to be the tallest player in Scottish football, showed too much enthusiasm when tackling Wallace and his name was the first to be scribbled into referee David Somers’ notebook.

With nine minutes of the first half remaining Elgin were given the chance to test Neil Alexander from a free-kick situation after Cribari had climbed on to Millar’s back when challenging for a header. Daniel Moore stepped up and his left foot curler beat the wall and narrowly missed the postage stamp corner to the disappointment of the home fans.

Elgin were now enjoying their best spell in the first half but on 42 minutes Black was left in pain on the turf when Mark Nicolson caught him on the face with his right arm as the pair battled for the ball.

In the end neither team could get their noses in front at the break so it was all to play for in the second period.

With no changes in terms of personnel for the restart Ian Durrant could be seen urging his players to push forward and five minutes in Crawford stung Malin’s palms with a powerful drive which was straight at the keeper.

On 53 minutes a challenge from Black resulted in the ref pulling out his yellow card for the second time and the decision looked harsh with Elgin’s Stuart Leslie making the most of the challenge to win a free-kick and ease the pressure off his defence.

With the rain now lashing down the bobbly Borough Briggs playing surface was getting greasy and before the hour mark a shot from Black from 25 yards skidded off the grass but was well held by Malin.

On 65 minutes, and with Barrie McKay getting ready to replace Sandaza, Little whipped a great cross in from the right but with the Spaniard preparing to head the ball in Jamie Duff managed to get a toe on it.

Crighton's late challenge on Wallace, however, resulted in the ref rightly pointing to the spot and McCulloch stepped up and sent Malin the wrong way with a composed finish to give his side a narrow lead at a crucial stage of the game.

With four minutes remaining Black saw red for a second bookable offence on substitute Gavin Morrison, a decision which enraged boss Ally McCoist.

Nevertheless Rangers held on to their advantage until the final whistle and it was a deserved victory given the hard work the players put in to secure three hugely valuable points.

ELGIN CITY: Malin; Niven, Duff, Crighton, McMullen (Beveridge 90); Gunn, Nicolson, Cameron (Morrison 84), Leslie, Moore; Millar (Harkins 76)

SUBS: McLean, Black

BOOKED: Millar, Crighton, Gunn

RANGERS: Alexander; Hegarty, McCulloch, Cribari, Wallace; Little (Argyriou 90), Black, Faure, Crawford, Aird; Sandaza (McKay 68)

SUBS: Gallacher, Naismith, Hemmings

BOOKED: Black, Alexander

SENT OFF: Black

REF: David Somers

ATTD: 3,633
 

More on today's game:

 

Ally McCoist: We deserved the three points

 

Lee McCulloch: The win was comfortable

 

And on the Ian Black sending off:

 

Ally McCoist: Black decision was harsh

 

Lee McCulloch: Ian must be smarter

http://willievass.photoshelter.com/gallery/160313-Elgin-City-v-Rangers/G0000BeUrwvDtQCA/C0000nbyPqXJkwfY

 

Photos of yesterdays Rangers game at Elgin by Willie Vass above.

 

Thankfully a win.

A few more images from the game: