The Thistle Archive

Rangers eased to victory in their first Glasgow derby against Partick Thistle for eight years. Thistle held their own for the opening half hour, but Niko Kranjcar crashed the ball high into the net after good work from Barrie McKay. Seven minutes later, midfield colleague Andy Halliday curled in the second. That was enough for Mark Warburton's side to secure a win that moves them up to fifth place and remain seven points behind leaders Celtic. Thistle stay stuck at the bottom of the Premiership after a run without a victory of seven games. Rangers have now gone 24 meetings [ed: it's 23] with the visitors from Maryhill since January 1993 without suffering a defeat.

Croatian midfielder Kranjcar has failed to be convincing since joining Rangers in the summer, but this was a performance scattered with moments of aplomb. Even though the 32-year-old does not have the physical capability to impose himself on a game for 90 minutes, he still has the skill and awareness to be an influence. His first effort on goal came after four minutes, but with Rangers manager Mark Warburton watching from the stands as he served a one-game touchline ban, the home side were nervous until Kranjcar opened the scoring in the 33rd minute. After a smart exchange of passes with Jason Holt, he expertly made space in a crowded penalty area to lash the ball high into the net. His last involvement was to rifle a free-kick high over the bar, but there was an impact to his overall play. Krancjar's goal was only the third time this season that the Ibrox side has opened the scoring in a Premiership game. That would have been pleasing for Warburton, but more significantly his side managed to deliver a clean sheet. Only Motherwell, Kilmarnock, Hamilton and Inverness Caledonian Thistle had conceded more goals than Rangers before kick-off and the goalkeeper, Wes Foderingham, had only kept one clean sheet in the league this season. There were moments of alarm, with the goalkeeper having to stop a Ryan Edwards header, and also good fortune. After the break, Chris Erskine scurried through on goal and his shot bundled beneath Foderingham, but the ball did not have enough pace to roll over the line before it was cleared. Rangers were two goals ahead by then after Halliday converted a Martyn Waghorn cross with a low, composed finish.

Alan Archibald's side has not won a Premiership game since the beginning of August and, although the Thistle manager has been satisfied with performances in recent weeks, the slump in results will be worrying for him. Thistle are capable of assured football, but they lack decisiveness in the final third. They were the league's lowest scorers before kick-off and there is a growing sense that their good play is undone by a failure to create clear chances. The defence survived further scares, with Waghorn just failing to convert a Barrie McKay cross and Holt twice trying his luck with shots, but Thistle remain a side that needs an immediate flip.

Rangers assistant manager David Weir:

We've spoken the last few weeks about performances and not getting the result - and I think today it was probably more about the result than it was about the performance. Ideally, you get both, but if we're being honest, the result was probably more important. It was different being on the touchline. It was unusual. I was in contact with the manager via the phone. But we're very similar in our thoughts and we know the team well enough to know what's going well, what's not going well, what we need to be better at. Our views are very similar. Hopefully he'll be back on the touchline next week and I'll enjoy being back on the bench.

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald:

You have got to score goals when you get chances and we never took our chances. I thought Chris Erskine's shot was going in. He had one similar last week he took it on his right foot. But this is why we are in the position we are in. We don't put away our chances.

bbc.com

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