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00:00tie it is Rangers against St. Johnson. Let's head straight up to our commentary box with
00:05Rory Hamilton and Michael Stewart. Well thank you very much Emma, good afternoon everybody and the
00:11knockout road to Hampden Park starts at Strangely and up the National Stadium itself for Rangers
00:18and St. Johnson with both sides harbouring dreams of returning here on Sunday the 15th of December
00:26to try to claim the Premier Sports Cup. Unfamiliar settings for this time of the season then but
00:33both clubs know their surroundings well. Rangers the holders start their defence
00:39of the title against the Perth side who claimed a momentous cup double here just over three years
00:48ago and an intriguing day of Premier Sports Cup action so far after a couple of shocks
00:55in the three o'clock kickoffs already now but the first all Premiership tie in the second round draw
01:04Philippe Clement makes four changes from Tuesday night's defeat to Dinamo Kyiv.
01:10Rivaniel Mas is out injured while Tom Lawrence is suffering from illness
01:14so into the team come Dujan Sterling and Rabih Matondo for their first starts of the season
01:19Vaclav Cerny starts in place of Ross McCausland following his first goal for the club
01:24against Motherwell last weekend and up front Danilo returns
01:27to play for the first time since suffering a knee injury in December
01:37Craig Levine's only alteration is enforced as Aaron Essel is suspended following his
01:43red card in the group stages in the defeat against Aloha Athletic. Graham Carey replaces him
01:49the entire defensive unit are new arrivals with Josh Rea in goals and Lewis Nielsen, Kyle Cameron
01:54and Jack Sanders providing the protection across the back three. In attack
02:00Benjamin Kipioka and Adama Sidibe have already netted 10 goals between them so far this season
02:10well there is the Brazilian Danilo who suffered first of all a cheek injury
02:17cheekbone fracture last season before coming back and then the knee injury as well
02:25missed so much in last season he's only played 21 appearances for Rangers
02:32but now starting ahead of Cyril Dessers who is on the bench
02:39the responsibility of the Brazilian to bring the goals to this Rangers side
02:46the four teams are already through and as Rangers and St Johnson do battle for a place
02:51in the premier sports cup quarterfinals this afternoon has already shown that shocks can happen
02:58the holders start their title defense right now Diamonde just runs that one over the tux line
03:09Michael Stewart alongside me and Michael so often at this time of the year there is a sense of
03:17optimism and positivity is there a danger here for Rangers that if things don't go right then
03:25the word crisis could come into effect? I think obviously for a club the size of Rangers that
03:31is there's always luck in in the background if the results are not particularly great and
03:37it knocked out the champions league is hugely disappointing and everything that
03:41flows from that the consequences that it's having on the transfer budget that
03:47Philippe Clement can have at his disposal to try and strengthen the team and
03:52the guy's obviously talking pre-match about the the wealth of experience that has
03:57has left the squad as well so look there is there's a lot of turnover and a lot happening
04:01at Rangers at the moment the most important thing for them is that they start winning football games
04:05and they can try to calm things down a little bit
04:11there's certainly been discontent amongst the supporters for
04:16performances both on and off the pitch
04:21not best pleased about their temporary home either at Hampden Park but needs masks with Ibrox
04:28you've got to say as well those those situations that have occurred off the park couldn't have
04:34really happened at a worse time and you just got to hope that they can get those things sorted
04:41quickly they can get a bit of a level playing field again for them to to try to progress and
04:46move forward while St Johnston are in pretty good shape well here's Kimpioka that looks to fire that
04:52one across it comes off John Suter and Johnston Sidibe down just outside the
05:01six yard box he challenged Jack Butlin for the ball
05:08I'll tell you what that looks a little bit sore for the two players they're clumsy you can see
05:13Jack Butlin throwing his arms out thankfully Sidibe's back up but
05:18it looked like it could have been very painful
05:26person takes the corner for St Johnston
05:31will be hoping to take plenty of inspiration from 2021 when they came here albeit with
05:40no supporters inside Hampden Park and to claim a league and Scottish Cup double
05:47well if they're going to do well today then you'd imagine that that front two are going to have to
05:54perform well they caused Kilmarnock last week all sorts of problems Kilmarnock just couldn't handle
06:01the pace and power of it Sidibe and Kimpioka I've got to be honest when they came at the
06:06back end of last season they did not look anything like the threat that they are now
06:11they certainly have improved big time
06:18and if Rangers are not at it then they could cause them some problems
06:27Rangers playing their third game of the week at Hampden Park James Tavenier trying to force that
06:33one through but it clipped the heels of Kieran Dowell the victors their only victory so far this
06:40season coming against Motherwell here and this man Haslam Cherny got a wonderful second goal
06:48from the side to make the point safe in the end there's Macpherson looking forward to Kimpioka
06:54out comes Suter
07:00and it was an inspired victory for Craig Levine's side down at Rugby Park last weekend again taking
07:05advantage of a side playing in European competition
07:14kicked through their group as well in the
07:17group phase of the tournament topping their table with three victories just one
07:24defeat that caused a little bit of concern against Alo Athletic
07:28and it's certainly a big turnaround of player for Craig Levine who
07:39was appointed in November just a month after Philippe Clameau arrived on these shores
07:47the first job was to keep St. Johnson up last season he did that and now looking to build some success
07:55you can see in the middle of the park when the Rangers start to come forward that
08:00Lewis Nielsen there he is he's right on top of Diamondi there
08:06he's meant to be playing at the back i don't think it's a case like he's almost man marking
08:11Daniel sorry Diamondi in the middle
08:14Robbie Matondo it will come to Jeff Day who was dismissed here rather controversially i have to say
08:22on Tuesday night but he's won a corner here for his side it was a hugely costly refereeing decision
08:31you can understand why Philippe Clameau is talking about it being the worst decision that he's seen in his
08:37football career i mean it is right up there one of the most ludicrous decisions you're ever likely to see
08:44and unfortunately comes in such a huge game and proved to be so costly
08:50unfortunately comes in such a huge game and proved to be so costly
09:01James Tamenier with the in swinging corner evades everyone Robin Proper
09:06was arriving at the back post the new signing unable to
09:10get a touch on it John Suter felt he was being held
09:14you can just see swinging away from Robin Proper as he's trying to get around that back post and get
09:20on the end of it not a bad delivery at all from James Tamenier but a little bit too late with the
09:27the run he never looked like he was going to be able to get on the end of it and see there again
09:32that set up with St Johnson you can see Nielsen playing in front of the the other two centre halves
09:43so
09:52the champions league euros evaporated into the mount florida night sky on
10:00tuesday bitter blow for rangers as they forced into this
10:06Scroft squad rebuild that's already seen nine players come in over the summer that's given away
10:11by James Tamenier straight to Matt Smith
10:17helped in by Sidibe and only into the arms of Jack Buckland now Ravi Matondo will look to get
10:23Motric down the left-hand side takes on Nielsen and beats him but the man on loan from Harteman
10:33Lothian got back in made the tackle and played it off the Welshman for a goal kick it's absolutely
10:40brilliant defending from Lewis Nielsen it just looked like here that Matondo had left him for
10:44dead but he gets back in gets the block and not only that gets it back off of Matondo and out for
10:51a bye kick he's definitely playing just in front of the centre halves almost looks like it could
10:57be a diamond in the midfield for St Johnston interesting role for Lewis Nielsen he's played
11:05there quite a bit the back end of last season from Parth to Christie he stepped in the midfield
11:10and played a lot in there as you've already just seen he's got a lot of athletic attributes
11:24journey to Tamenier but closed down well by Andre Raymond
11:28Kipioka
11:33to McPherson and now Graham Carey McPherson continuing his run
11:40it's a good delivery as well an important touch from
11:48Rangers as they managed to Sterling in fact that just flipped it off the top of his head and now
11:55Matondo twisting and turning looking to get beyond Jack Sanders Matondo goes down
12:13just as he's cutting inside on Knack Saunders there not enough I just felt as if Diamond
12:19could have slipped that ball through to Danilo quicker he'd got to in behind Danilo he was
12:27making the run Diamond decided to cut back and go down the line when he could have perhaps slipped it in
12:36journey now
12:40Tamenier back it comes to the Czech winger closed off by McPherson
12:45so you can see down this left hand side Kipioka
12:53maintaining a fair bit of width it's not as if him and Sidibe are
12:57playing closely together in the middle of the park it looks like they're trying to get
13:02into those gaps between the center halves and the fullbacks when they win the ball
13:06that's left back the Brazilians action has been seen further forward
13:13with thigh injury for Yilmaz that's the sort of thing that Filipe Coman could really do without
13:22obviously well documented the issues that they've got at the moment trying to recruit
13:25they don't need somebody being out for six weeks to get the ball in the middle of the park
13:30the way it goes by Kyle Cameron Rangers having a good spell of pressure here in
13:35Peripa wins it back before he is caught by Sidibe Tamenier now looks to slip that through
13:44Danilo was on the move well read the ball back to the left hand side
13:51Tamenier now looks to slip that through Danilo was on the move well read by Cameron
14:01Dowell tries to help it back in now the flag goes up
14:05so
14:20around about 500 St Johnston supporters crammed into the corner at Hampden Park
14:35well it's definitely far from ideal Rangers having to play these games at Hampden but
14:41as you said earlier needs must at this stage just it just feels like everything that's
14:46happening at the moment is just like trying to battle through just trying to get through
14:51these early stages to to gain a bit of stability to build from it it's a real state of flux at
14:58the moment with it with Rangers but you can see whether it's the squad sorry or whether it's you
15:03know the issues off the park with the stadium all just seems to be happening at this moment in time
15:08and that can be very unsettling for for the players as well and that's a big job for Philippe
15:13Clement to try to just calm things down a little bit there's often a lot of talk about that of how
15:19playing at Hampden Park will affect the side I mean they know the familiar the the surroundings
15:26well but you can see there is a slight reaction from the supporters this game was being played
15:32at Ibrox certainly if the Dean of O'Keefe game was played at Ibrox it would have been full there
15:37would be I would have thought a lot more people than there are here today for this game had it been
15:43played in Govan you would have thought so absolutely
15:51when you're going to pay rent for the ground it's all
15:58certainly not helping the financial situation when you talk about
16:03you know Philippe Clement will want new players in and it does seem to be a case of
16:08one in one out or one out one in um at the moment there's a few players
16:13he's pretty keen to move on links of Todd Catwell and Yanis Hadji
16:29Josh Ray goalkeeper signed from Airdrie Onions
16:37replacing the excellent Dimitar Mitov since he's
16:42headed up to the northeast and Petaudry to play for Aberdeen
16:48very much coming in as number one Josh Ray ever present so far
16:59Ray pushes it away now Cerny to pick up Danilo waits in the middle for the service
17:08that's well defended by
17:12Cameron
17:16captain's armband
17:21yeah you're right where he did defend that well very well looked like a dangerous moment
17:26like Cerny was just going to drop the shoulder try and hit the byline but
17:30St John's captain Cameron just stood his ground and nicked the ball away well
17:38Jifty heading forward again he had Matondo and a bit of space just couldn't release the pass
17:43comes inside to Dowell and now Tavernier
17:48and it's no real danger to Josh Ray's goal
17:57he's got some records against St Johnson James Tavernier
18:0127 appearances 10 goals 12 assists he's only scored more against Aberdeen
18:16there's the Rangers skipper who got the winner in the final against the Dons last December
18:23as they lifted this trophy
18:27completed the set since their return to the top flight
18:31Scottish Cup Premiership and Premier Sports Cup incidentally in the last decade
18:40Celtic what a glut of trophies but Rangers and St Johnson next best matched on three and here goes
18:48and that will be another goal kick well I mean very much in the same vein as Lewis Nielsen before
18:55this time Jack Sanders does ever so well when it looked like his opponent had got past him
19:03you see there he gets back in brilliantly and it makes it almost impossible for Sterling to
19:06be able to get the ball across the face the goal initially brilliant play from Sterling
19:13showing real desire and energy to burst forward and that's the sort of thing that this Rangers
19:18need sight they need somebody in the middle of the park in particular that's going to
19:24drive the team forward
19:29Dujuan Sterling has shown that he is capable of doing that sort of thing
19:34and they really need him to step up to the plate and continue to add that
19:39dynamism to the Rangers side what's his best position we've seen him in so many good question
19:47I mean I think at the moment you'd put him in the middle of the park for the reasons that I've just
19:53outlined there but you know where for example the captain James Tabernier to leave if they were to
19:59sell him or whatever then I think right back could be a good spot for him as long as you're recruiting
20:04well in the middle of the park as well
20:09Johnson managed to get enough touches in there to initially get it clear but
20:14Jifty's won it back from Smith and now Tabernier again
20:18he gets right under it clips it well over the bar
20:26well you could hear the crowd as well it's twice now
20:30Tabernier you look at the positions he picks up right in the middle of the park
20:33he's got so much space in front of him and normally as you were just outlining so dangerous
20:40particularly against St Johnstone he's had two strikes there and neither of them have been
20:47anywhere near the goal and George Rea's been able to just stand back and watch it
20:53so
21:00Raymond it was a handball by the Trinidad and Tobago international
21:06yeah he's claiming that it happened because Cherny had given him a wee nudge
21:10here is Tabernier off Sanders for another Rangers corner
21:23so
21:30Aberdeen, Dundee, Falkirk and the Spartans all
21:34already through two sides from lower leagues knocking out Premiership opposition
21:42Parks and Ross County falling and Falkirk and against the Spartans a couple of incredible results
21:53to spread the play out to Vaclav Cherny
22:05away from Raymond Cherny he desperately wants it on his left foot we know why having seen
22:09how he can finish last weekend against Motherwell
22:13with the Czech again he was away at the European Championships 55 minutes the draw against Georgia
22:28they only managed a point
22:34shifting
22:39and Matondo, Matondo skips by his man looks for the drag back for Danilo
22:45Carey can pick up but it's just going to come straight back at St Johnstone
22:50proper they're struggling to get an out ball at the moment well they might now I think
22:54may well be offside the flag stays down for now Robert Cropper challenging with Benjamin Kipioka
23:04oh I just wonder whether Kipioka was in his own half
23:09maybe on side gets clattered here and that's a foul
23:23so
23:38ready to restart the game with a drop ball
23:42it will just be presented to John Suter
23:47so
24:05yeah I just think that the ball slipped in from Matondo it needed to be quicker and looked as if
24:11they'd been drifting offside ultimately obviously the ball doesn't go in the back of the net but
24:19that little combination down the line there just needs to slip that earlier clearly offside the
24:23linesman gets the call right in the end Danilo gets the strike comes off of Cameron there you
24:29could see was particularly pleased that he got the block in but those link-ups needs to be quicker
24:37that's a partnership though that screams attacking intent doesn't it yeah it really does it does
24:44there needs to be a bit of cohesion there needs to be that understanding between the two of them
24:49and and obviously it's the first time they're playing together it could well take a wee bit
24:53of time you imagine that Shefty is going to be playing in that position for the next few weeks
25:00the next few weeks with the Red Van Yeomans being out injured
25:06whether Matondo's playing in front of him or not
25:11you would imagine that he's going to continue to keep bombing forward it looks like that is
25:16what he wants to do in attacking fullback
25:22McPherson, Andre Raymond showed a bit too much of it to Tavenier but it's still Raymond
25:28takes a touch from Suter goes out for the corner and it was just too far ahead of Kimpioka
25:37well it's a great ball from Cameron McPherson but what's just churning here
25:42it's not particularly great he leaves his fullback his teammate all on his own flicks off the inside
25:49of the knee from Suter and it could have gone anywhere could have landed at Kimpioka it could
25:54have landed in the back of the net it wasn't doubtful the game Andre Raymond
26:06or a swung in front post but it's Robert Cropper who gets a firm head to it
26:15Mason Johnson throwing the Rangers fans down in the north stand at Hampden not too happy with that
26:23Cropper does enough to seal off Kimpioka this time
26:29well just a little bit of a scare there for Rangers Raymond cutting in obviously
26:33not on his strongest foot having a real good sight of goal
26:52I've got to say at the moment so far St Johnson looked pretty comfortable with the
27:00defensive setup Lewis Nielsen sitting in front as I mentioned before almost man-to-man with Diamonde
27:07and you see attacks like that very very difficult to get in behind with a ball like that
27:19it's difficult to execute it
27:25Kerry will challenge with Tavernier the last touch coming off the Rangers captain
27:31Raymond with the long throw but not long enough to get past John Suter
28:01so
28:12with the offer to Tavernier
28:17John Suter again the out ball is Rami Matondo now looks to take Andre right
28:22hand Jeff Dey on the overlap Jeff Dey again that left hand side provides the opportunity and it's
28:32Danilo who rifles it well over the top and I guess to be fair to the Brazilian he's not Matt Sharp
28:38he's been out for eight months yeah absolutely it's um it's a great move from Rangers the overlap
28:48Jeff Dey picking out Danilo and you're right it does have the look of Striker who's just
28:55trying to find his way back into a rhythm he's barely touched the ball in the game as well Rory
29:03but that was much better from from Rangers there was a bit of pace in the attack
29:07now with Sidibe Kerry backing him up and we'll look to deliver with the left foot but that's
29:13going to drift over beyond Jack Butler's goal well you'd normally expect somebody of
29:21Graeme Carey's quality to be put in a delivery that would cause some problems
29:26you've got it all wrong that is not the case here and you've got it all wrong
29:32to be put in a delivery that would cause some problems you've got it all wrong
29:36that is not normally the case with the with Kerry he's got a wonderful left foot
29:47and you see that diamond set up in the middle of the park there in particular
29:51it's a problem area for St. Johnston right now
29:56he's down there right hand side Matondo and Jeff Dey managing to double up Andre right
30:02Cherny and just beyond Danilo
30:09it's a very difficult ball to try and
30:13make not too far away from goal lots of pace and you're trying to slide it down
30:18the side of the centre half it needs to be inch perfect
30:22Cherny just getting too much on it Danilo was never getting the opportunity to get on it
30:42so
30:51it just feels like a team that needs a bit of inspiration and some leadership from
30:55from somewhere lots of quality no doubt about it but it just feels like it's
31:04almost going through the motions a little bit needs somebody as I said to
31:08grab it by the scruff of the neck and try and lead the team obviously that's what I'm sure
31:14Philippe Poulain would be desperate to try to do with some additions but he's been hampered to to do that
31:22as Cherny picked up by Diamondi and it comes back off the goalkeeper and Danilo denied by Ray
31:32well that certainly would have helped finding the back of the net but Ray making the initial
31:39fumble he makes up for it brilliantly you can see drop of the shoulder there great strike
31:47lots of pace in it with the right foot
31:52the goalkeeper gets out and makes himself really big
31:55just almost no thought just reactions fumble gets out spreads himself makes himself as big
32:04as possible and he's able to get the block and for Danilo he's probably just hoping that one of those
32:10chances ends up in the back of the net and he can start to get a feel for it again at the moment you
32:16know he's had a few touches of the ball still really trying to get the ball out of the net
32:23still really trying to feel his way into the game
32:30the last of Danilo's six goals for Rangers coming against Sparta Prague at Nibrox
32:39back in November
32:43it's a bit of pace shown by Danilo there
32:48now Matondo looks for the one-two with Diamonde but in steps Nielsen who I think his strict
33:00instructions are to stick to the Ivorian it's just little things that make a huge difference
33:06though Rory it's the miscontrol from Rabih Matondo it kills the pace of the attack it
33:12allows St John's to get more bodies back and all of a sudden the the attack is petered out
33:18if he's able to get the ball under control he can continue with the
33:21the flow of the attack and they can potentially
33:24get in behind and open up the St Johnston defence a lot easier
33:31half an hour played at Hampden Park
33:37temporary home game for Rangers before they're able to go back to Ibrox
33:48oh
34:07that's absolutely brilliant play from Kimpioka there
34:13great initial control and then wonderful balance to skip past two or three players
34:18and then clattered
34:22no question the free kick but it just alleviates any sort of pressure that
34:27St Johnston have ball goes up to him there's really really well
34:31he's had a wonderful start to the season scored his first league goal from the penalty spot
34:36against Kilmarnock but he's got five in the Premier Sports Cup
34:40so far only Ben Wilson of the Adrianians has scored more than that
34:51Simon Murray and Roddy McGregor also on five goals
35:05Stirling to Matondo but a bit of a loose touch allows Sidibe to get involved but not for long
35:20Matondo the wingers look to exchange passes Cerny asks Dowell to run it's well covered by Kyle Cameron
35:30that's able to keep the ball in play the man on loan from
35:33Knox County who's come straight into the team and taken the captain's armband he was the skipper
35:41down in England as well well he read the situation well there again
35:45obviously the linesman making a call that the ball had gone out over the line but
35:52it's another one of those moments where the captain he's you know showing good concentration
35:56reading the situation coming across and snuffing out any danger
36:13proper does fine Tavernier one touch off the chest gets him into the crossing position Jeff Day now
36:26Matondo he and Stirling are not quite on the same wavelength
36:42just feel at times when you watch inverted wingers
36:48if they're going to come in field you want to be coming in at pace and looking to bounce
36:52balls off the front man or the attacking midfielder and try and get a bit of penetration
36:59by going in field playing one twos sometimes I think you've seen here so far if we're going
37:05in field it feels like it's very much going in field and backwards that's exactly what
37:10St. Johnstone will be looking for and wanting Kim Piocco has had to drop a little deeper and
37:19off to the left hand side maybe a slight tweak from Craig Levine and Graham Carey wonders why
37:26Andre Raimonds couldn't get on to his neat flick
37:31I think it's more pronounced obviously down this left hand side with Kim Piocco and I think it'll
37:37probably be a lot to do with just trying to make sure that there's an
37:40extra body there to help out with James Tavernier attacking
37:45and it almost looks as if it's abandoned you know playing up top and it looks as if he's almost
37:54playing out on the left wing at the moment
38:01said that you can just see Sidibe there at the top of your screens is drifted away over to the right
38:07just making sure they've got extra bodies for exactly this here that's great play from
38:11the striker getting back in and tracking the run of James Tavernier
38:28Suter, Tavernier with a touch back to Czerny opened up nicely initially for him Jeff Day
38:35and just too high from the Brazilian
38:41but he's taking up a position that you see Tavernier doing a lot on the other side
38:46stepping into the game on the edge of the box lots of space
38:51just not able to hit the target you know it's a good opportunity gets out his feet comfortably
39:02Ray's not really had a lot to do has he you know he's not being called into action too much
39:06and Rangers have got the ball they've worked into some good areas we've
39:09seen a couple of occasions where Tavernier in that same area
39:13is Jeff Day there and none of them have hit the target
39:21you can imagine the shock on Jeff Day's face when he arrived on the club maybe looked at the other
39:26fullbacks and thought I wonder what the standard is I'm expected to hit here what are the stats
39:31from from the other fullbacks looks at Tavernier 28 goals last season
39:39so
39:54need some support in the middle of the offside flag has
39:58gone against the Gambian international made his debut in June goal scoring debut away to the
40:07Seychelles not a bad way to spend your summer
40:19now Diamonde from Propper's ball forward knocks it back for Danilo and now Cerny to strike it
40:27and always rising from Vaclav Cerny big chance for Rangers that's a huge chance
40:34Rory and one of the few occasions where they've ripped open the St Johnson defence who were at
40:39sixes and sevens here you see Raymond there's zero reaction from him he just doesn't get back in
40:46and Cerny slashes it out with his right foot goal at his mercy there again over the crossbar
40:58as the game's drifting towards halftime at nil nil St Johnson will be
41:02delighted whereas for Rangers you can't keep passing up opportunities like that
41:11Ferguson's done well fine Smith but there was nothing outside him
41:24Sterling to Chieftain
41:32so
41:49proper again looking for that long ball and Cerny in behind Ray is there and so too is Cameron
41:58St Johnson between the pair of them do just enough to get that out for a corner yeah I would say just
42:04being the operative work there straight over the top looks like they're getting in
42:12saw in the last attack as well making that running behind causing real problems the St
42:17Johnson defence now didn't look overly convincing there from Josh Ray but
42:23managed to clear the lines and put it behind for the corner kick
42:34Tavernier to swing it in Ray gets a good punch on it Diamonde and Sidibe battle away and it's
42:42the Gambian who wins it and now Smith looks to release Kimpioka he's got Sidibe at the back post
42:50Kimpioka with a lot to do here and settles for the support of Carey
42:57Smith backpedalling takes it down well and Sidibe it rattles the woodwork
43:06wonderful counter-attack from St Johnson and they
43:10very very nearly put the final touch on it through Adama Sidibe it's a great ball from Smith
43:16and that's a brilliant attempt there from Sidibe because it looks like he's past that near post
43:22hooks his foot round it just not enough off the the post as you said there Rory a wonderful
43:29counter-attack there from St Johnson showing that they've got the pace to go and hurt
43:35good ability as well Rangers didn't get back into shape quick enough
43:39almost got punished at the back post St Johnson had a couple of men over
43:46very good counter-attack there for some John from St Johnston
43:50it was a similar finish last weekend against Komaric from Adama Sidibe
43:59it's knocked away by Jack Sanders
44:01Rangers and Philippe Clement has a bit of a concern over the
44:13fitness of Robin Propper at the moment who
44:20smocks the ball clear there but a slight limp
44:24that's on Cherney well tackled by Cammy McPherson
44:31now Kipioka looking to turn down McPherson returns it to the Swede
44:40only Raymond ahead of him so back it comes for Carey
44:45three minutes to the break St Johnston have come the closest
45:02Cameron McPherson to Sanders
45:07that's a lot of Matt Smith
45:20Cheptey on the line to Matondo who's lost out to Dre Wright
45:29McPherson now Sidibe well watched by Propper
45:32that was a good wee spell for St Johnston
45:40looking like they're growing into the game just spending a bit more time on the ball as well
45:44obviously this opportunity here outside of the post from Sidibe
45:50he's away down now
46:00down in the area for Rangers and it may be a change before half time
46:07Ben Davies looks like he could be the man to come on for the Dutch defender new signing from
46:18FC Twente
46:22Philippe Clement not happy the side of the park there it doesn't rain but it pours for
46:29the Rangers manager got a groin injury for his new centre half
46:34another man that is brought in to try and bring additional leadership skills he was the captain
46:42of this old club in the Eredivisie
46:56there will be a change as well than proper i think indicating that he had
47:04the problem for a little bit longer than he would have liked and maybe could have come off earlier
47:09now makes way to be replaced by Ben Davies
47:17just a third appearance of the season for the Englishman
47:29shake of the head from Robin Propper as he heads to the bench
47:42Danilo picks up finds Jeff Day will be three additional minutes the end of this half
47:50it will just be a goal kick
47:51quickly taken by Butler trying to expose some space and that's the Johnson defence
48:02Cerny likewise gets on with things quickly
48:07Diamonde and Danilo it's just wide of the posts it has Josh Ray scrambling towards that back stick
48:19and you can see the rain coming down and it does just that skips off the surface you're
48:24thinking for a second it's going to slide into the bottom corner but
48:29it's past the post Josh Ray desperately trying to get across and and cover it
48:38you do feel that as much as obviously Danilo would be desperate for these to be ending up
48:43in the back of the net the more minutes he plays the better because he's clearly just
48:48feeling his way into here and yes he's missed those opportunities but you would imagine and
48:53feel that he's going to be better for that just to get the guy you know the time on the park
49:00get the opportunities to actually have those strikes he keeps getting into the area
49:05straight from distance is deflected Matondo's effort
49:09Rangers will have the corner that one was dipping towards Josh Ray's goal but just over the top
49:19and it's true right it comes off
49:22and the way it was dipping dangerously
49:26midway through stoppage time in this first half Fatsalab Cerny
49:33can't deliver that beyond Matt Smith at the front post
49:36day
49:50Davies Sterling back to Davies called upon
49:59now Matondo
50:00Matondo Cerny good save by Ray it's still there for Rangers Cerny's volley
50:10kept out now looks to deliver the cross but the header from Diamonde does not pose any threat
50:21good spell from Rangers in the final minute of the half Matondo Matondo again goes for gold and
50:29that was rather optimistic with Jefty making a good run down the outside of him well i think
50:34this sums up Matondo brilliant that's a great ball for Cerny and he gets the shot on target
50:41looked like it was maybe going to have something happen and then
50:44a minute later he cuts inside and balloons one way over the the crossbar
50:52that is that for the first half in this premier sports got second round tie in all premiership
50:58game between Rangers and St. Johnston and Adama Sidibe hit the post for St. Johnston Danilo has
51:06had a few chances on his return to competitive action but at the break at Hampden Park it's
51:13Rangers nil St. Johnston nil