Rangers maintained their 100 per cent home record against a dogged Queen of the South team after Martyn Waghorn redeemed his penalty miss with two minutes to go by netting the winner a minute later. Remarkably, it was the Ibrox side’s first headed goal in the 50 they have netted so far this campaign.
Mark Warburton’s men managed to make it 10 out of 10 league wins, but it’s becoming harder each week. A young Queen of the South team frustrated Rangers with some brave defending, throwing themselves at shots and blocking tackles all afternoon and it seemed it would yield a point.
At half-time, it looked even more promising for the Dumfries men when veteran striker Derek Lyle had poached them a surprise lead, but Jason Holt soon levelled for Rangers, who then predictably launched a second-half onslaught.
When Andy Halliday was tripped by Chris Higgins with two minutes left, Martyn Waghorn confidently stepped up to try to add to his perfect seven-out-of-seven penalty conversion record this season. However, visiting keeper Robbie Thomson — whose father Scott had once famously saved a spot kick from Paul McStay at the same venue to win Raith Rovers the 1994 Scottish Cup — added to his family folklore by brilliantly tipping the ball wide.
However, the Rangers striker was not to be denied and glanced a cross from Nathan Oduwa into the net a minute later to give Rangers yet another three points and sicken the Palmerston Park outfit.
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And Waghorn was delighted he’d atoned for his spot-kick disappointment. He said: “It was a rollercoaster of emotions for me and everyone else in the stadium. To go from the disappointment of missing the penalty to the highs of winning the game, it was strange. But that was a massive three points for us.”
Of the penalty miss, he added: “A couple of things happened — I changed my mind and although I hit it well, the keeper’s gone early so it was just an accumulation of things. But it’s in the past, I won’t dwell on it. Everyone misses penalties, I’ll score more, I’ll miss more, I know I’ll score the next one.
“It’s nice to chip in with a variety of goals and whatever way they come, the three points at the end of the day is all that matters. I just thought that there’s another few minutes left at the end of the game, let’s get on with it. You can’t dwell on it too long because it’ll affect your performance and you can rule yourself out of the game if you’re not switched on. Luckily I got the chance to rectify it.
“It shows a great character in the squad that we came from behind. We all know we can score goals and play well so to do it the dirty way — and all credit to Queen of the South for a good game plan — is a credit to our own determination.”
The home side had dominated, but were utterly stunned when Queens took a 36th-minute lead through the simplest of methods. Chris Higgins flicked on Ryan Conroy’s corner at the near post and Lyle was left unmarked to drill the ball home. The irony of it was it was the visitors’ first corner and Rangers had previously had seven — with just about every one of them failing to clear the first man.
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An expectant Ibrox greeted Rangers at the restart and it took an exceptional reflex save from Thomson to keep the scores level when he somehow clawed out a close-range Waghorn effort after Lee Wallace’s cutback.
And the equaliser finally came in the 54th minute. James Tavernier picked out the wide run of Holt with a clever reverse pass and the former Hearts midfielder squeezed the ball past the advancing Thomson from a tight angle in off the post.
Rangers’ final ball kept letting them down and another huge crowd inside Ibrox looked set for disappointment, until that dramatic late twist.
And Warburton had plenty of praise for his side’s character. He pointed out: “That’s the first time this season we have gone 1-0 down in the league so what are we going to do? We had to be patient and keep doing what we do best and I’m pleased to say the reaction was good. We got the goal and had other chances. To then react to the penalty miss and get the goal was tremendous.
“Opponents have good quality and organisation, they are compact, hard to break down and they have men behind the ball. It’s not going to be 5-0 every week, it’s about us being patient and hopefully getting our rewards.”
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The disappointed Queens manager James Fowler said: “With our work rate and some of the play, I think we probably deserved to take something from the game.”
Star man: Robbie Thomson (Queen of the South)
Rangers: Foderingham 6, Tavernier 7, Ball 6, Kiernan 6, Wallace 7, Shiels 5 (Law 58min, 5), Halliday 5, Holt 7, Miller 6 (Oduwa 58min, 4), Waghorn 6, McKay 7 (Clark 76min, 3).
Queen of the South: Thomson 8, Jacobs 7, Hooper 7, Higgins 8, Marshall 7, Conroy 7, Hutton 8, Pickard 7, Harris 6 (Rutherford 87min, 2), Smith 6 (Coogans 70min, 3), Lyle 7 (Oliver 65min, 3)