A baptism of fire for the new management team of Charlie Christie & Donald Park. Caley Thistle’s 11 game unbeaten SPL run ended at home to Rangers with the game live on Sky TV. TV pictures showed that Caley Thistle were desperately unlucky on two occasions – one Rangers goal was illegal and a penalty should have been awarded to the home side late in the game. They were however rescued on several occasions by fine saves from Mark Brown.

Ian Black missed the game through suspension and was replaced by Liam Fox. For Rangers, Barry Ferguson was absent due to a broken nose sustained in a training collision with Marvin Andrews.

Rangers put the Caley Thistle defence under pressure from the off and were rewarded in just six minutes. Chris Burke made a strong run and his defence-splitting pass reached Thomas Buffel on the left of the box. Buffel sent a square ball into the centre and Kris Boyd scored from six yards.

Craig Dargo set the home stands alight when he equalised in 13 minutes. A Ross Tokely long ball through the centre ran kindly for Dargo and he hit low past Ronald Waterreus from 12 yards.

A curling corner by Peter Lovenkrands from the right and a diving “header” from Marvin Andrews made it 2-1 in 27 minutes but TV evidence later showed that the ball actually came off Andrews’ arm. The goal stood and Rangers pressed to kill off the game. A great save by Mark Brown from Buffel just before the break kept the score at 2-1.

Half Time 1-2

The game seemed to go beyond the home side in 58 minutes when Peter Lovenkrands came into the box from the left and was sandwiched – the referee pointed to the penalty spot and Boyd made no mistake.

Home heads went down for a while then a Dennis Wyness goal in 72 minutes set up a lively last period. Barry Wilson hit goalwards from 18 yards and Waterreus dived to his right in the direction of the shot – Dennis Wyness reacted quickly and headed the ball into the unattended part of the goal from six yards.

A minute later there was controversy when a Wilson ball across goal was nearly turned into his own goal by the arm of Ian Murray but Waterreus made a tremendous save. Penalty claims were turned down but once more TV pictures showed this to be a harsh decision.

Alan Hutton blocked a Wyness header from 12 yards in 74 minutes. Three Lovenkrands corners in a row, with eight minutes left, put pressure on the home defence but all were cleared.

Full Time 2-3

Despite a strong finish Caley Thistle could not manage an equaliser and Rangers took the points. Caley Thistle remain sixth.