Rangers rip Dunfermline to shreds

Dunfermline 0 Rangers 6

Claudio Caniggia helped himself to a hat-trick and Mikel Arteta, Fernando Ricksen and Barry Ferguson were also on target on a day everything went wrong for the home side.

Calderwood lamented: ‘‘It was men against boys for the second week running by us.

‘‘I thought we started quite well but we gifted them a goal. We are so quiet and nobody took control.’’

A mix-up between debutant Scott Wilson, who later gave away a penalty, and Lee Bullen gifted Caniggia an early opening goal and Bullen was at fault for the second, allowing Arteta to fire his first Rangers goal.

Calderwood said: ‘‘The first two goals were kids stuff. It was a great finish but Bullen got knocked off the ball and he’s 6ft 2ins.

‘‘It was the same last week at Hearts when we were getting pushed all over the place.

‘‘Our players kept playing but I don’t think they believed in it. It could have been a cricket score.’’

Unsurprisingly, Rangers manager Alex McLeish had little to complain about.

He said: ‘‘The players were great today and set the tone right from the kick-off. And when you see them still hunting the ball after the third goal then you know the work-rate was exactly as we want it.’’

Barry Ferguson should be able to play for Scotland in the Faroe Islands next week despite suffering once again in a pre-international club match.

DUNFERMLINE: Ruitenbeek, Bullen (Dair 60), Skerla, Scott Thomson, Scott Wilson, Nicholson (Dempsey 60), Mason, Hampshire, Kilgannon (McGroarty 71), Crawford, Brewster.

RANGERS: Klos, Muscat, Moore, Malcolm, Numan, Ricksen, Arteta (Hughes 71), Ferguson (Konterman 82), de Boer (Dodds 77), Arveladze, Caniggia.

Referee: D McDonald (Scotland).