Rangers 3
Airdrie 0
Scorers: Rangers - Arveladze
(5, 37), Numan (90)
UNTIL now, perhaps only the Rangers physiotherapist could claim familiarity with the club's newest acquisitions, Michael Ball and Shota Arveladze, but their belated introduction to the first team was well worth the wait.
Injuries, sustained before signing in the case of Ball and prior to kicking a ball in earnest for his new club where Arveladze was concerned, delayed their debuts for over a month since they joined for a combined fee of around (pounds) 9m from Everton and Ajax respectively but the pair were central to this CIS Cup canter against Airdrie.
With two first-half goals - Arthur Numan completed a comprehensive victory in the final minute - Arveladze stole the show and, considering the effectiveness of his partnership with Claudio Caniggia, the two strikers demoted to the bench, Tore Andre Flo and Michael Mols, might have to wait patiently for a return to favour.
Ball's eagerly-anticipated return to fitness also gave Rangers a hitherto unavailable defensive balance, but the understandable optimism shown by the bulk of the supporters should be tempered by the fact that Airdrie offered little resistance until the match was beyond them.
With his side on a remarkable hot streak - their 16-match unbeaten run shooting them to the first division summit and the final of the Challenge Cup - it was hardly surprising that Ian McCall set out his Airdrie side in a considerably more adventurous formation than when he last came up against his old team, as manager of Morton.
He needn't have bothered.
The Greenock club having been dismissed along with their Lanarkshire rivals, Motherwell, in the earlier rounds of the competition, those Rangers fans in the 34,067 crowd who turned up for a most unglamorous match-up with Airdrie did so with some trepidation. Potentially, this was their Inverness Caley Thistle, the consequences of defeat perhaps similarly severe.
Such apprehension, however, was promptly dispelled when the Georgian converted his first kick of the ball after only four minutes' involvement. It was a sublime touch at that. Fernando Ricksen, playing in the holding role normally occupied by Barry Ferguson, poked the ball towards Claudio Caniggia and, despite the pass being a couple of feet short of perfection, the Argentine gathered and slid the ball out to Arveladze. With the briefest of goalward glances, he bent the ball around the groping left hand of Allan Ferguson using the outside of his left boot, immediately endearing himself to a new set of supporters.
The early indications sug- gested an instant rapport between Arveladze and Caniggia and their darting runs left the Diamonds distinctly dishevelled. He might have added another soon after but an ambition volley was smothered by the goalkeeper.
Caniggia made the most of his inclusion, too, testing Ferguson with two tasty thumps and upsetting Airdrie with his general nuisance value. At the other end, Ball took no time in settling in beside Craig Moore and Lorenzo Amoruso, the former Everton defender providing the kind of uncomplicated assurance the supporters so craved in an often eccentric last line. The first naturally left-sided central defender since John Brown hung up his ankle straps, the burly Ball shares Bomber's enthusiasm for a meaty mano a mano. He has no shortage of style and shooting power, either, as he demonstrated with a series of searching passes and the occasional piledriver.
Airdrie had little response to the relentless Rangers rampage and Owen Coyle, with 13 goals to his credit already this season, was infuriated by the lack of supply. Caniggia, by comparison, was having a field day. He tormented the Lurch-like Kevin James at every opportunity and set up Arveladze for the umpteenth time with a deft dunt which the Georgian drilled over in 25 minutes. Caniggia followed up with jink past James but his clipped effort was also margin-ally off target.
By now, the two were in exhibition mode and you could not help but feel embarrassed for their victims. If the second was inevitable, so, too, was the identity of the provider. A smart one-two between Ronald de Boer and Ricksen was charged down by Allan McManus but, surprise, surprise, Arveladze was hovering with intent in the penalty box and prodded past Ferguson.
Not to be outdone, Caniggia rode six challenges before run-ning out of puff and, despite looking aghast as the ball was returned to him by Ricksen, arrowed the ball to Arveladze, who controlled instantly and un-conventionally but was denied a half-time hat-trick by a post.
A roasting from McCall stirred Airdrie from their slumbers and they almost caught Rangers by surprise upon the restart. Mark Roberts found himself with only Stefan Klos to beat but his net-bound chip was cleared by Craig Moore and James' header from the resultant corner bounced off the bar.
With the match won, energy conservation became Rangers' objective and the coasting allowed Advocaat to grant a debut to 18-year-old midfielder Jimmy Gibson.
The second half, not unsurprisingly, failed to scale the heady heights of the opening 45 but Arveladze was afforded a standing ovation when he was replaced by Mols, while Numan put some sheen on the scoreline, with Caniggia again instrumental.
Rangers (3-4-3) Klos; Moore, Amoruso, Ball; Ricksen, Latapy, De Boer (Gibson 62), Numan; Caniggia, Arveladze (Mols 83), McCann (Vidmar 83). Subs: Christiansen, Flo
Airdrie (4-4-2) Ferguson; Armstrong, McManus, James, McPherson; Gardner
(C McDonald 66), McFarlane, Stewart
(Dunn 76), Smith (Taylor 39); Roberts, Coyle.
Subs: S McDonald, Bennett Booked McManus, Armstrong
Referee John Underhill
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article