Rangers 2 - 1 Newcastle Utd Sat 07/08/10

Rangers rounded off their pre-season preparations with a flourish by putting Premiership new boys Newcastle to the sword.

Goals from Kenny Miller and Stevie Naismith either side of the break were both clinical and classy - and even a counter from former Gers idol Peter Lovenkrands kept the love-in going among the 30,000 crowd.

But the main thing again for Walter Smith will have been getting through another 90 minutes with his threadbare starting side intact.

The fans who came got a look at pretty much the team who'll start the league - and probably finish it. No new faces, no rabbits from hats.

At best Smith will have three senior options - Kyle Lafferty and Andy Webster, both of whom are being nursed back from slight groin strains picked up in Australia, and Andrius Velicka - before he has to dip into the unknown and untested.

And whether that's enough to last a 38-game SPL, two domestic cups and a run of six games in Europe is anyone's guess.

Still, all they can do is play what's in front of them any given week and yesterday they gave as good as they got.

Much like Gers, Chris Hughton's title-winning team showed up without a single new face in their starting line-up.

With Sol Campbell nowhere near fitness yet, they made do with the team who won 30 games in the Championship last season, scored 90 goals and racked up 102 points.

And much like Gers, the Toon played like a team who knew each other inside out.

There was a flow to their early play that was really easy on the eye, the ball running through their midfield like lava down the side of a volcano.

And the pace and trickery of Wayne Routledge on the right posed problems without ever inflicting the ultimate punishment.

That's going to be the trouble for Rangers with this system against better sides in the Champions League, though.

If your ball retention is not good enough - and it rarely even made it as far as Miller, far less stuck to him in the first 20 minutes - then you're going to spend huge swathes of games conceding ground and possession to teams capable of hurting you.

Newcastle weren't - and the first chance Rangers had, they made them pay.

It was a thing of beauty too, Steven Whittaker picking up where he left off against AEK Athens last week with the kind of delivery from the wing a striker dreams about.

Sat out on the left in 24 minutes, he waited and waited for the run and when Miller made it, darting between Mike Williamson and Argentine Fabricio Coloccini at the near post, Whittaker laid it on a silver salver for him to bang the header into the bottom corner.

That will have put a smile on watching Scotland boss Craig Levein's face too. He was there to cast a hopeful eye over the Toon's pony-tailed predator Andy Carroll, and there's no doubt his presence would lift the national side.

But Miller constantly throws in reminders of why so many managers love his willing running and another came just after the half hour. He broke clear on to a Steve Davis feed to round the keeper and roll home, only to be flagged back for offside.

Levein's look at Carroll was cut short at the break though, the Gateshead-born 21-year-old being replaced by Shola Ameobi.

The Nigerian's arrival at least provided a nice comedy cameo, particularly after African Nations adversary Madjid Bougherra cemented him 10 yards into the track with a perfectly fair shoulder charge 30 seconds after his arrival.

The pair then ran a mini-feud throughout the second half - one the Algerian won with a cigar on.

Usually English teams suffer in these games because they're a couple of weeks behind with their preparations but this time they were here on a level footing, with the Premiership kicking off in earnest next week as well.

That made Rangers' domination of the second half all the more impressive.

Bougherra and Miller both came close with headers and Kirk Broadfoot tested Steve Harper with his right-foot rasper forcing a strong tip over from the keeper.

They deserved their second when it came in 66 minutes. Davis held and held on his pass from the middle, sub Lafferty checked and rechecked his run to stay on.

But when the midfielder eventually did release, it wasn't to his Northern Ireland team-mate but the onrushing Naismith, who timed his run to perfection to slide home under Harper.

That got the second biggest cheer of the afternoon with the biggest reserved for the return of Gers' former Cup-winning hero Peter Lovenkrands as he climbed off the Newcastle bench.

A welcome made all the more ironic when the Dane pulled a goal back with his first touch, just 20 seconds after coming on.

Allan McGregor could only parry Kevin Nolan's low shot to leave Lovenkrands with a tap-in from five yards.

The keeper - who'll be back in action with Scotland in Sweden in midweek - will have been disappointed with his contribution at the goal.

But he can take solace from the fact he spared Gers the draw with a tip-top stop from Nolan eight minutes from time and another from Lovenkrands right at the death.

Teams

RANGERS: McGregor;Broadfoot, Weir, Bougherra, Papac (Wylde 62), Naismith (Velicka 81); Davis (Hutton 81), Edu, McCulloch (Shinnie 70); Miller (Lafferty 62), Whittaker,

Subs: Alexander, McMillan, Little, Campbell, 

Newcastle Utd: Harper; Perch (Ferguson 81), Coloccini (Tavernier 81), Williamson, Enrique ( R Taylor 56); Routledge (Xisco 82), Barton, Nolan, Guthrie, Gutierrez (Lovenkrands 69); Carroll (Ameobi 45),

Subs: Krul,

Ref: D McDonald

Man-of-the-match: Bougherra

Attendance: 30,220