Rangers 4 - 1 Hamilton Sat 29/08/09

RANGERS enjoyed an almost perfect afternoon in Govan as they secured a 4-1 win over Hamilton to maintain their 100 per cent start to their SPL defence.

It was the ideal way to go in to a two week break from league action for Walter Smith's men as two goals in each half from Kris Boyd and Steven Whittaker secured a comfortable victory for the Light Blues.

And with the game comfortably won with time to spare it earned Nacho Novo a return to first team action after a shoulder injury and saw young Gregg Wylde make his Gers debut late in the game.

The only disappointment for manager Smith will have been the late Mark McLaughlin goal that saw his side denied a first SPL clean sheet of the season.

Gers started well as Pedro Mendes returned to the starting line up after recovering from a thigh injury, and took the place of Kevin Thomson who missed out through suspension after his red card at Tynecastle.

Boyd also made his return to the first eleven following his dramatic last minute winner in the capital six days earlier and Smith's side enjoyed almost total domination from the outset.

Steven Davis missed two glorious chances to put his side in front in the opening ten minutes. His first came when he latched on to Mendes' pinpoint ball over the top after six minutes.

A good first touch gave him the chance to fire at goal, but Tomas Cerny did well to block and the Ulsterman could only put the rebound in to the side netting.

And two minutes later the former Fulham man opted to go with the wrong foot as he aimed to slot a low shot in to the bottom corner, but it was a tame effort.

As ever the Northern Ireland international was heavily involved in everything positive that the home side did and it was his perfect pass that opened the door for Rangers to take the lead.

A defence splitting ball released Whittaker down the right and the Scotland full back made no mistake as he drilled a low shot past the despairing Cerny after just 18 minutes.

The early goal was exactly what Billy Reid would have wanted his side to avoid, but with the door opened Rangers took full advantage, quickly adding a second.

Good work from Kenny Miller allowed him to lay the ball in to the path of Sasa Papac, and the Bosnian's drilled cross looped high in to the air.

And a static Hamilton were made to pay as Boyd got up highest in the box and sent his header beyond Cerny to put the home side in the driving seat.

Miller and Boyd were combining well as a front two again and both had the opportunity to add to the scoreline before the interval.

Boyd's header from an excellent Mendes corner was too powerful fired in to the ground and bounced high over the top before Miller ran on to a Davis pass and sent a left foot effort narrowly over the top.

However despite those chances for the front men it was defender and captain Davie Weir who came closest in the final minute of the opening half when he sent a towering header inches wide of the upright.

It was Weir's defensive partner Madjid Bougherra who almost added to the scoreline in the early stages of the second half when he was on the end of Miller's cross but shot well over the top to leave Assistant Manager Ally McCoist bemused.

The big Algerian was then involved at the other end when a well executed tackle on Luis Rubiales somehow drew a free kick for the visitors.

Derek Lyle tested McGregor with the resulting set piece, and the home support didn't allow Rubiales to forget his contribution to what they saw as an incorrectly awarded dead ball.

Any hope that passage of play offered Hamilton was swiftly extinguished as Rangers once again took control.

Papac and Naismith combined well down the left in the 63rd minute and the Bosnian's cross gave Boyd the chance to add to his tally, but his header was off target.

Just a minute later though Boyd did grab his third goal in two games when Davis played Naismith in down the left channel and the youngster unselfishly fed Boyd for a simple finish from 8 yards.

The pick of the goals was to come two minutes later though when Whittaker again advanced from right back and this time cut in on his left foot to curl a fantastic left footed effort into the bottom corner of Cerny's net from 19 yards out.

With the game comfortably won it gave Walter Smith the opportunity to reintroduce Novo in to the action as a late substitute for Naismith and hand young Gregg Wylde his debut at the age of 18.

However Smith will have been disappointed to then see his side lose a late goal when Weir's error led to a Hamilton corner from which McLaughlin nodded past McGregor to deny the home side their first clean sheet of the season.

Teams

RANGERS: McGregor, Whittaker, Bougherra, Weir, Papac; Davis, McCulloch, Mendes, Boyd , Miller (Wylde 81), Naismith (Novo 79),

Subs Not Used: Alexander, Beasley, Smith, Fleck, Ness,

Hamilton: Cerny, Welsh (Louhoungu 46), Canning, McLaughlin, Rubiales, Lyle, Wesolowski, Mason (Wilkie 77), McArthur, Mensing, M Paixao (Knight 56),

Subs Not Used: Murdoch, Evens, Louhoungu, Andrews, Elbert,

Ref: S O'Reilly

Man-of-the-match: Davis

Attendance: 47,633