{"id":620295,"date":"2026-09-10T11:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T11:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620295\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T11:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T11:16:11","slug":"late-goal-keeps-rangers-on-track-for-old-firm-double-header","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620295\/","title":{"rendered":"Late goal keeps Rangers on track for Old Firm double-header"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The significance of Miovski&#8217;s goal cannot be downplayed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">With Celtic beating St Johnstone by the same scoreline in Perth to maintain their own 100% league record, Rangers were so close to falling seven points adrift of the reigning champions only six games into the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The wind would have been taken firmly out those sails as they prepare to face Martin O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s men in Sunday&#8217;s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final before visiting Celtic Park in the Premiership a week later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">As it is, Rangers are now unbeaten in five home games, winning the latest four since losing to Hibernian last month in a game that piled early pressure on McInnes amid his side&#8217;s exit from European competition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;If you strip it back, six wins out of seven, four straight wins,&#8221; the former Heart of Midlothian head coach could rightfully point out. &#8220;We have not lost a goal apart from an own goal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However, since their 5-1 thrashing of holders St Mirren on their last visit to Ibrox a month ago in the League Cup, their four wins have been by a single goal and McInnes recognises that his rebuilt squad are still a work in progress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I thought we got what we deserved, granted St Mirren had a 20-minute period in the second half when they were better than us,&#8221; he told BBC Scotland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;They played with a bit more belief and came after us and we were guilty of so many poor decisions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;But I thought the performance for the first hour was really strong, particularly the first half, where we absolutely battered St Mirren.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I was really pleased with the performance, but at 0-0, as an opposition manager, when you&#8217;ve been put through the ringer and you know you haven&#8217;t been punished for it, it does give you power and belief that you can get something from it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">McInnes defended the celebrations as understandable in the circumstances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Last-minute winners are great for players, coaches and fans,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We&#8217;d rather not be in that position, but credit to the players for keeping going.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;There are obviously loads we have to improve on, but we have to meanwhile keep winning and we have to keep improving if we are to achieve anything this season.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The significance of Miovski&#8217;s goal cannot be downplayed. With Celtic beating St Johnstone by the same scoreline in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-620295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}