Rangers grab the points at Hibs

Hibernian 2 Rangers 4

Rangers came away from Easter Road with the three points they deserved after bottom club Hibernian had briefly threatened to put the skids under their championship challenge.

A bad-tempered encounter saw Rangers triumph 4-2, with Ronald de Boer and Barry Ferguson scoring before the break and Peter Lovenkrands netting twice after it.

Hibernian had wiped out the early de Boer advantage through substitute Derek Townsley but when fellow replacement Garry O’Connor netted late on the game was already lost.

The visitors kicked off with Tore Andre Flo on the bench and the striker, who is wanted by Sunderland, played only the final few minutes.

He walked off the pitch with a big smile however and turned to clap the Rangers fans as if he were saying farewell.

It took Rangers just six minutes to open the scoring as the visitors took advantage of uncertainty in the home ranks.

Mikel Arteta robbed Freddie Arpinon and Mathias Doumbe was unable to cut out the pass that sent Lovenkrands into the box.

The Dane’s cutback to de Boer was inviting and the Dutchman had little difficulty steering past the recalled Nick Colgan.

Rangers thought they had doubled their lead within a couple of minutes when Arteta’s ball to the far post was headed in by top scorer Shota Arveladze.

A raised flag chalked that one off although television replays suggested the Georgian had been legally positioned when the ball was played.

Lovenkrands certainly might have done better when a clever ball from Arthur Numan sent him away behind the defence.

Colgan did well by coming off his line at speed, with Lovenkrands pulling his attempted lob well wide of the target.

The driving rain, wet surface and the two sides’ apparent dislike of each other saw the tackles fly in and six players were booked by referee Hugh Dallas before the break, although Rangers’ Lovenkrands and Lorenzo Amoruso were punished for dissent.

Arpinon had already been given a final warning by Dallas before Gary Smith, Grant Brebner and Paco Luna were all shown the yellow card for challenges that left opponents on the sodden turf.

Colgan was booked for handling outside his area to complete the first half sextet just after his team pulled level.

Arpinon had been withdrawn as early as the 21st minute, presumably because Bobby Williamson had decided the Frenchman had lost the plot.

On came Townsley, whose first major contribution was a long-range free kick that fizzed only just wide of the Rangers goal.

His second was the equaliser, although there was plenty of good fortune involved.

Tom McManus’ corner was headed on inadvertently by Ferguson to Luna at the far post. The striker may have been surprised to receive the ball as his first touch wasn’t the best but it fell perfectly for Townsley to drill home.

Rangers regained the lead in first-half stoppage time when Doumbe pulled Lovenkrands back by the shirt just inside the area and Ferguson sent Colgan the wrong way from the spot.

Lovenkrands should have extended the lead shortly after the restart when he got goalside of Doumbe to meet Arteta’s cross on the run. The goal was at his mercy but he fired well over.

Mathias Jack underlined the feeling that the two teams simply didn’t care much for each other when he felled Ricksen and then waved an accusing finger in the Dutchman’s face. He promptly became the game’s seventh booking statistic.

Colgan again did well when Lovenkrands had sent de Boer through on goal. The Irishman came off his line at speed and did enough to force de Boer to miscue the ball wide.

Lovenkrands wrapped up the points in the 65th minute with an excellently volleyed finish from a Fernando Ricksen supply from the right.

Further incident was not far away as Hibs thought they had pulled a goal back only to discover seconds later they would instead be a man down.

Doumbe’s ball saw Stefan Klos challenged on his goal-line by Luna and the home fans were convinced the ball had crossed the line.

But referee Dallas had a different interpretation, having decided the Spaniard had tried to deceive him with a Maradona-style Hand of God.

A second yellow card was the swift result.

Lovenkrands made it 4-1 after Ferguson had put him racing clear although Hibs soon pulled one back through O’Connor, whose bouncing effort Stefan Klos was unable to prevent crossing the line.

The final 12 minutes saw Flo take to the pitch in place of de Boer.

The striker had missed training sessions because of a hip injury, according to the club, but the fact that a deal with Sunderland is close might also be another factor.

The Wearsiders are desperate to sign a big-name striker and Rangers keen to off-load a big wage

earner who is not a regular despite his £12million price tag.

There was an envelope for a Sunderland representative waiting at the Easter Road door before the match but all the collector would have witnessed was Flo getting hurt in a clash of heads with Jack seconds after taking to the pitch.