Rangers picked up their third Premiership win in a row on Boxing Day and made it 14 games unbeaten in the division, although their latest victory was far from straightforward.
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It took until the 65th minute for substitute Alfredo Morelos to break Kilmarnock’s resistance at Ibrox, the Colombian netting the only goal of the afternoon. [via Sky Sports]
The visitors frustrated Steven Gerrard’s side for long spells, with the home team’s dominance reflected in them having 19 shots to Kilmarnock’s three.
As noted in the match report on Sky Sports, the visitors’ goalkeeper Laurentiu Branescu “began his time-wasting just 10 minutes in” and was later reprimanded by referee Steven MacLean for delaying the taking of a goal kick early in the second half.
Alex Dyer’s team were “happy to sit in”, as mentioned on Sky Sports, and the Kilmarnock caretaker manager showed little contrition for his team’s approach afterwards, telling BBC: “We knew what kind of game it was going to be. It was just about us having discipline and sticking to a game plan and hopefully we would create a couple of opportunities – which we did do.”
However, these Rangers fans on Twitter were far from happy with their opponents’ style of play:
No wonder nobody wants to watch Scottish football. From the first minute till the goal Kilmarnock done nothing but waste time. Embarrassing.
— aaron. (@_aaron1872_) December 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/Cjnovo992/status/1210227233299816449
Struggling to see how we score here. Kilmarnock are an embarrassment.
— Carly (@Cxrly__) December 26, 2019
Kilmarnock playing with the flat back 9, making it very difficult to break them down.
Morelos for Kamara I'd say
— Craig (@craig_m0808) December 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/cccammy1/status/1210236400915927040
https://twitter.com/Pena_Cartel/status/1210249730598539264
https://twitter.com/Ohiobear1872/status/1210248004797632520
Happily take a scruffy 1-0 win when we struggle to break down a team that plays every man behind the ball. Teams like Kilmarnock would get football stopped. Such a boring style of football.
— ᒪᎥᗩᗰ (@LiamWATP) December 26, 2019
Rangers fans, do you think Kilmarnock were excessively negative at Ibrox? Have your say by commenting below!
