Rangers came back from conceding the fastest-ever recorded goal in the Scottish Premier League to win 4-1 away at Hibernian on Sunday and restore their four-point lead at the top of the table.
Anthony Stokes fired the home side ahead at Easter Road with a goal timed officially at 12.4 seconds — beating the previous record set by Hearts’ Saulius Mikoliunas in 2006 — but that was as good as it got for the Edinburgh club, who still remained third after the defeat.
Scottish champions Rangers hit back through a Kenny Miller double, with Kris Boyd and Nacho Novo also scoring for the Glasgow giants as Hibs’ run of 13 unbeaten league games was brought to an end in emphatic fashion. Victory ensured Rangers would finish the year as league leaders, regardless of the results of tomorrow’s matches when second-placed Celtic are away to Kilmarnock and the ’Gers are at home to Dundee United.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Rangers captain David Weir admitted his side had been caught cold by Hibs’ start.
“We knew they’d come flying out the box, but we weren’t ready for them,” Weir told Sky Sports. “It was a big disappointment, but we responded in the right way.”
Rangers manager Walter Smith said: “It was a poor start — the first 20 minutes we didn’t play at all, but after that, I thought we played very well.”
Hibs boss John Hughes said poor defending by his side had played a key role in all four Rangers goals.
“It was a great start for us and for the first 20 minutes I felt they were doing everything I’d asked of them,” Hughes said. “Fundamentally, I felt we gave Rangers four goals. Some of the defending wasn’t too great.”
Merouanne Zemmama created Hibs’ rapid opener, receiving the ball from the kick-off and finding a way through Rangers’ defense before releasing Stokes, who shot into the far corner from a tight angle.
The speed with which the hosts struck left Rangers with plenty of time to recover, however, and the visitors equalized in the 21st minute through former Hibs striker Miller.
Boyd, following a Novo interception, found Miller with a neat reverse pass and the Scotland international’s low, curling, 20m shot beat Hibs keeper Yves Ma-Kalambay.
It looked as if the teams might go in level at halftime, but eight minutes before the break Boyd put Rangers in front after getting on the end of a cross from Madjid Bougherra, who had dispossessed Derek Riordan.
Hibs then suffered an even more glaring self-inflicted wound early in the second half when Ma-Kalambay, seemingly struggling with a leg injury, was beaten at his near-post by Novo’s mis-hit cross as Rangers went 3-1 ahead.
The Rangers strike duo then combined again in the 66th minute, with Boyd once more the provider, when Miller beat the offside trap to fire in his second and his team’s fourth, Ma-Kalambay getting a hand to the ball but unable to keep it out of the Hibs net.
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