Rangers 4-0 Falkirk 08/11/2014 SPFL Championship

Match report from the official site:

Rangers 4-0 Falkirk



LEWIS Macleod played a starring role as Rangers put four past Falkirk at Ibrox – three second half goals dismissed the visitors as Gers took their unbeaten run to eight.

The young midfielder finished off a superb week, following his Scotland call up, with a goal and an utterly creative display on the pitch.

Nicky Law, Kenny Miller and substitute Nicky Clark all added to the Light Blues tally as Ally McCoist’s side brushed past the Bairns.

Rangers showed their intent for the afternoon when, with a couple of minutes played Lewis Macleod whipped a low ball into the box from the left. He was endeavouring to find the waiting Kris Boyd, but the ball just evaded the striker on the penalty spot and was cleared for a goal kick.

All McCoist’s side started the brighter and with six minutes gone David Templeton, back in the starting line-up tried a shot from the edge of area. The winger digging the ball out of the wet ground to curl the ball towards Jamie MacDonald, but the left footed strike was held well by the keeper when it arrived at him.  

A minute later Kenny Miller broke into the six yard box to collect a nice flick on from Lee Wallace, only to have his low shot saved by the Jamie MacDonald.

Falkirk had their first chances of the game with ten minutes gone, Luke Leahy breaking free down the left and cutting inside. His run eluded the Rangers defence and his cut back found David Smith, whose strike was then blocked by Darren McGregor, outstretched on the grass.

McGregor was called into action again as the away side had another chance - Rory Loy darted into the penalty box and attempted a dangerous looking shot from the right. The Light Blues centre back was there to throw himself to the ground for a second time to thwart the former Rangers man.

Rangers reacted well to Falkirk’s pressure and their first real chance of the game came just a minute before they scored. Macleod threaded a pin point ball through Falkirk’s defence into the feet of Miller and the striker cut inside with the ball at his feet, before unleashing a shot straight at MacDonald.

There were 24 minutes gone when Nicky Law opened the Gers scoring, McGregor sending a ball skimming along the by-line from the right into the Falkirk box. The ball was deflected back into the path of the onrushing Nicky Law and the midfielder was there to poke the ball home from close range and make it 1-0.

Macleod was looking, as ever, impressive and on the half hour mark he played a ball over to the right for Templeton to run onto. The winger cut inside to bomb forward but saw his shot go just wide of the upright.  

The away side had the first chance of second period, a header saved by Simonsen’s right palm after Smith had launched a free kick from wide out on the right.

On 55 minutes a Gers ball reached the six yard box only to be met by both Miller and Templeton coming from different directions. The latter took the lead and took the shot on which bounced weakly towards the Falkirk goal following the mix up.

Rangers continued to push forward; Macleod tried to take a shot on from 25 yards out but scuffed his effort, the ball bounced free to Boyd who ran into similar difficulties. Templeton was storming onto the edge of the box and took the stray ball on, launching a volley straight at the Falkirk keeper.

With his first action of the game Jon Daly in a flowing break away move , weighted a ball perfectly into the box for Macleod. The 20-year old was bombing into the area and Daly waited for perfect moment to unleash his cross, his ball landed onto the head of Macleod who planted his header beyond the helpless MacDonald.

After scoring the second Macleod was the architect for the third five minutes later, the youngster played a deft ball along the ground from the top right corner of the area. His pass curved behind the Falkirk defence to find Miller sliding in at the back post. The Scotsman didn’t take a touch and launched the ball into the bottom right corner.

Miller’s goal was well deserved given his performance up front, and he was given a terrific ovation from the Ibrox faithful when he was withdrawn for Nicky Clark moments later.

Clark acted immediately to make it four with nine minutes left to play as Daly continued to make an impact off the bench. The two substitutes combined as the Irishman cut a ball back to Clark running in on goal. The forward man made no mistake as he hammered his strike into the back of the net.

RANGERS: Simonsen, Foster, McCulloch, Wallace, McGregor, Templeton (Smith 71â€), Black, Law, Macleod, Boyd (Daly 68â€), Miller (Clark 77â€).

SUBS: Robinson, Faure, Mohsni, Shiels

GOALS: Law 24â€, Macleod 69â€, Miller 74â€, Clark 81â€

YELLOWS: Foster 89â€

FALKIRK: MacDonald, Shaughnessy, McCracken, Vaulks, Taiwo, Alston (Bia-Bi 70â€), Smith, Sibbald (Cooper 58â€), Grant, Leahy, Loy

SUBS: Bowman, Grant, Maybury, Shepherd, McGeever

YELLOWS: Vaulks 29â€