Two red cards could not stop Maurice Edu and Rangers from claiming their 26th Scottish League Cup against St. Mirren on Sunday afternoon at Hampden Park in Glasgow.
Edu was a halftime substitute for head coach Walter Smith and helped secure yet another shutout victory for the Light Blues.
Compatriot DaMarcus Beasley was an unused substitute.
The trophy-winning performance puts Rangers one third of the way towards achieving the rare Scottish triple. The Glasgow club lead the Scottish Premier League by double digit points and are still alive in the Scottish Cup.
St. Mirren entered the match scuffling in league play but there was zero sign of that in the first half as the Saints had the bulk of the chances against a sleepy Rangers squad.
But goalkeeper Neil Alexander, normally the back up to Allan McGregor, displayed plenty of poise and turned away any and all St. Mirren chances.
Smith made a swap at halftime bringing on Edu for an ineffective Steven Davis and the move for the American defensive midfielder would end up being a wise one as the first of the red cards was given just eight minutes into the second half.
Kevin Thomson was the guilty party when his challenge on St. Mirren's Steven Thomson was ruled to be too reckless and the referee gave the Rangers midfielder his walking papers.
Down a man, Rangers seemed to open up their attack and it was bolstered by the play of Edu who helped win a free kick that almost resulted in a Kenny Miller goal.
However that would only last for the Light Blues until the 70th minute when young Danny Wilson took down Craig Dargo with a harsh tackle which reduced Rangers to nine men.
Even down two men, Rangers were still able to muster several chances and they would be rewarded for their tenacity in the 84th minute when Steven Naismith crossed to Kenny Miller who had enough space to leap up and smack a header into the St. Mirren net.
Edu and the Rangers defense would go on to hold steady in the final ten minutes to give Rangers yet another piece of silverware to be displayed at Ibrox Stadium.
Rangers return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Dundee United as part of their Scottish Cup quarterfinal replay. |
|
|
| Register for Email Alert to receive news, interviews, and more directly to your inbox without spam. Ever. |
|
|
|
Currently visting YA: 539 
See these related articles
