Raith Rovers 1-2 Rangers: Cuellar blow as Gers limp to tepid win

Raith Rovers 1
Smith 29

Rangers 2
Novo 70, Cousin 78

THE sight of Carlos Cuellar hirpling from the field only 27 minutes into his first appearance of pre-season would have proved as painful for Walter Smith as the horribly limp victory his team produced in their final warm-up game before their midweek Champions League tie against Kaunus. Over-stretching in a challenge, the Spaniard immediately gestured that he could not go on.

Smith must be fearing the old Ibrox ailments curse is descending once more. In addition to a host of long-term casualties – most notably captain Barry Ferguson – Kevin Thomson did not figure against Raith after twisting his ankle in training and Lee McCulloch was not involved because of a throat infection.

But the condition of the club's player of the year Cuellar is of greatest concern, with a calf problem sustained yesterday now likely to keep him out for a fortnight.

"He will miss Wednesday and could miss the second leg," Smith admitted. "He was an excellent player for us last season and of course we will miss him, particularly after losing Barry Ferguson for so long. But we have strength in depth and cover for him."

At Kirkcaldy that was provided by Kirk Broadfoot, who moved inside from right-back as Christian Dailly was brought on to fill the berth he vacated. Rangers conceded a goal only two minutes later. And for an hour, the trip to Stark's Park was a grizzly affair for Rangers in every possible respect. And to Smith's credit he didn't skirt round that fact. "There were no plus points apart from the fact that now means pre-season is over," he said.

The Ibrox men seem far from being in a state of readiness for their midweek curtain raiser. They were devoid of invention or drive against opponents cuffed 4-0 by Dundee United only last week. Alarmingly, even before Cuellar was forced off, they seemed strangely soft and get-at-able in defence. His withdrawal may well have contributed to Raith's strike, but not as much as Allan McGregor did. He caught a header from Iain Davidson in the air, then saw it squirm from his grasp as he landed and was helpless as Kevin Smith tapped in from close range.

The Rangers manager consistently defended his one man up front formation last season by maintaining that it was not numbers in attacking areas that dictated a team's potency. Yesterday, his forwards proved that point. Kris Boyd partnered Jean-Claude Darcheville and Kenny Miller pushed up from the left but the trio appeared completely out of sorts.

The encounter turned when Boyd and Darcheville gave way to Nacho Novo and Andrius Velicka and further life was breathed into the visitors' ranks when Kyle Lafferty and Daniel Cousin replaced Charlie Adam and Miller in the 76th minute.

Novo made an instant impact when, eight minutes after appearing against his first Scottish club, he fastened on to a through ball from Miller that followed a neat flick from Velicka and beat David McGurn with a confident drive which the keeper got his body in the way of but could not prevent going under him. Lafferty made an even quicker impact. He had only been on the field for little more than a minute when he thundered down the left flank before sending a ball to the back post that Cousin scrambled in. "He showed good pace and helped lift us," noted Smith.

However, there seemed something cursed about the day for Rangers from the moment the teams stepped on to the field. You could hardly tell which side was which… a theme that was to develop over the two hours that followed. Rarely, indeed, can there have been a more blatant example of a colour clash. It was a white-out. With their other change kit yet to arrive, Rangers sported their second strip of white jersey with aubergine arms while Raith Rovers, in their wisdom and to the chagrin of referee Steve Conroy, chose to kit themselves out in half-white, half navy blue strip with navy-blue arms. Conroy swithered about delaying kick-off and asking Raith to sport a suitably different outfit, before reluctantly agreeing to let the issue go. Only until the interval, though, after which Raith re-emerged in an all-navy top.

Off the field too, demarcation proved problematic after the Kirkcaldy club sold tickets for the home end to Rangers supporters on the understanding they would not display colours. That was never going to last and quarter of an hour in, under police instruction, there began an exodus from the home end as Rangers supporters were shepherded to the other side of the ground.

Within minutes, however, the passageways and perimeter areas of the stand were clogged up with bodies as it seemed half the end wanted re-housed. Matters turned farcical when a couple of Rangers supporters being led round got into a shouting match with fans in the main stand and it was decided to order all visiting fans in the home stands back to their seats. Rangers fans could be sitting uncomfortably in their own home stands over the coming weeks.