At a ground where they were beaten twice last season, Mark Warburton’s new-look Rangers won emphatically to chalk up their eighth victory in a row since his arrival, although their success was influenced significantly by the hotly disputed dismissal of Derek Lyle, the Queen of the South striker, just after the interval.
Warburton matched the feat of Bill Struth 95 years ago with his latest win, achieved thanks to a couple of penalties from Martyn Waghorn, after Andy Halliday had given Rangers a first-half lead, and goals from Jason Holt and Barrie McKay. Aidan Smith netted a late consolation.
Lyle’s red card just two minutes into the second half after an altercation with Rob Kiernan, the Rangers defender, weighted the encounter heavily in Rangers’ favour.
Both players went head to head and the striker leaned forward but referee Bobby Madden — under instruction from Crawford Allan, the fourth official — issued a straight red card and Kiernan escaped any punishment. Madden issued eight more yellow cards.
After that it was a training ground exercise for Rangers, but both managers believed the officials had overreacted.
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“It was very, very harsh,” Warburton said. “I will speak my mind, although I know you have to be very careful when you speak about match officials. But for me it was a big call right at the start of the second half.
“I didn’t see anything more than two guys throwing handbags at each other. Two yellows or one would maybe have done it.
“It was important for us to maintain standards. To not take liberties, to keep doing what we do best and move that football about. The record is great for the players.”
James Fowler, the Queen of the South manager, concurred with Warburton’s verdict on the red card.
“It was the fourth official who gave it,” Fowler said. “If it was aggressive behaviour with Derek standing his ground when a player walks towards him, then I don’t know.
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“If he [the referee] had given two yellows then I don’t think either player would have had a complaint.”
Rangers would almost certainly have won the match anyway. They were ahead when the red card was issued after Halliday produced a tidy finish after excellent work from Barrie McKay, who was Rangers’ best player.
From then onwards it was damage limitation for the Dumfries side, a difficult ask these days against an ultra-confident Rangers side full of attacking flair. The lead was doubled soon afterwards when Andy Dowie barged Dominic Ball, who was about to tap the ball into the net, yet somehow escaped a further red card. Waghorn drilled in the resulting spot-kick and added another penalty with 15 minutes left when Iain Russell handled Halliday’s free kick.
In between, Holt had netted from his own rebound and McKay earned his reward for a good showing with his first goal of the season. Smith, one of Queen of South’s substitutes, netted a late breakaway consolation.
● James Keatings, the former Hearts striker, marked his full debut for Hibernian with the opening goal in their 2-0 win against Raith Rovers at Easter Road on Saturday. Jason Cummings added the second.
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Ratings
Queen of the South (4-4-2): R Thomson — A Dowie, D Brownlie, C Higgins, J Marshall — A Harris, M Millar (sub: K Hutton, 65min), K Jacobs (sub: J Pickard, 65), I Russell — R Conroy (sub: A Smith, 54), D Lyle. Substitutes not used: J Atkinson, L Kidd, O Moxon, P Heffernan. Booked: Millar, Dowie, Brownlie, Jacobs, Pickard, Russell. Sent off: Lyle
Rangers (4-3-3): W Foderingham — J Tavernier (sub: F Aird, 71), R Kiernan, D Wilson, L Wallace (sub: D Ball, 32) — J Holt, A Halliday, G Zelalem — K Miller (sub: N Oduwa 65), M Waghorn, B McKay. Substitutes not used: L Kelly, N Law, D Shiels, R Hardie. Booked: Tavernier, Kiernan