Soccer
Lawrence Shankland double earns Rangers hard-fought win at Falkirk
Skipper Lawrence Shankland emerged as the Rangers matchwinner for the second successive game with a double in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Falkirk.
With Gers boss Derek McInnes in the stand serving the first of a two match touchline ban for comments made as Hearts manager about a Celtic penalty last season, the Scotland striker, who scored from the spot in the 1-0 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday, fired the visitors ahead with a fine strike in the seventh minute.
The Light Blues looked in control but full-back Kosta Nedeljkovic, making his first start since signing on loan from Aston Villa, turned an Ethan Ross cross into his own net just before the break.
The goal unsettled Rangers and the Bairns bossed the start of the second half but Shankland, who signed from Hearts in the summer, curled in a second in the 79th minute albeit John McGlynn’s side will rue some good chances they missed after the break.
Midfielder Nicolas Raskin, subject to a failed loan bid from Turkish side Besiktas on Wednesday, was back in the team after dropping out for two matches due to speculation ahead of the transfer window in Scotland closing on Thursday.
Raskin replaced Dan Neil, out altogether with a knock and Nedeljkovic took over from Dujon Sterling while for the Bairns, who lost 2-1 at Celtic at the weekend, attacker Jacob Murrell replaced Ben Parkinson.
Falkirk’s artificial surface lent itself to a frenetic start to the game but there was a controlled composure from Shankland when he picked up a Djeidi Gassama pass just inside the box and fired a left-footed shot high past helpless Bairns keeper Scott Bain.
Rangers came close to getting a second in the 20th minute when South Korean attacker Kim Min-su rattled the Falkirk post with a low drive from the edge of the box with the ball flying to safety for the Bairns.
Gers keeper Ivor Pandur made a decent save from a speculative long-distance effort from defender Liam Henderson.
However, Rangers remained more dangerous and after Bain parried another powerful drive from Kim, Raskin blasted the rebound into the side netting, before Gassama hammered a shot high over the bar after the ball sat up nicely for him in the Falkirk box.
However, just before the break, Ross raced past Rangers centre-back Olwethu Makhanya down the right and when he drove the ball across the box, the sliding Nedeljkovic inadvertently knocked it past Pandur and into the net, with Rangers claiming to no avail a foul on defender Emmanuel Fernandez off the ball.
Both sides should have scored early in the second half.
Falkirk’s American attacker Jacob Murrell hit a shot straight at Pandur from close range and when the visitors broke with pace and purpose, Shankland was set up by Findlay Curtis but missed the target with only Bain to beat.
On the hour mark Pandur tipped a Murrell header over the bar for a corner which was squandered.
Then the Falkirk striker spurned another glorious chance following a slack pass by Fernandez, with time and space, he fired a shot straight at the Gers keeper who turned the ball behind for another corner which came to nothing.
In a Gers counter, Gassama burst into the Falkirk area but curled his shot wide before Bain saved another effort from the winger but Rangers kept pressing and Shankland, took a pass from substitute Ross McCrorie inside the box and guided a shot past Bain and into the far corner of the net, signalling that his Rangers career is up and running.
