Ladbrokes Championship: Queen of the South 0 Rangers 1
MARK Warburton was relieved to escape Palmerston with three points after admitting his Rangers team put in one of their worst displays of the season.
The Ibrox side looked frustrated as they struggled to break Queen of the South down.
But substitute Kenny Miller climbed off the bench to fire the winner within four minutes after his introduction on the hour mark.
The former Scotland striker’s effort was jeered by the home support as it appeared to be soaring over the crossbar.
But it was the travelling support who had the last laugh as it suddenly fell towards goal, eventually nestling in the top corner for the 36-year-old’s 100th Scottish league goal.
However, Warburton was unhappy his team failed to take confidence from the breakthrough and admitted Gers were well below standard as they clung on for the 1-0 victory which maintains their eight-point lead at the top of the Ladbrokes Championship.
He said: “It was an important three points but that’s probably as poor as we’ve been all season in the last 20 minutes of the second half.
“We gave the ball away cheaply, sat too deep and gave them too much time and space. Wes Foderingham pulled off two or three outstanding saves. I’ve said before that we’ve played well and didn’t get the rewards but today we’ll take that because we played poorly for the last 20 minutes.
“It was a special strike from Kenny. He sets a good example. He came off the bench and got the goal which was really important.
“But as a squad can we be better? That was as poor as we’ve been all season in the last 20 minutes.”
Queen of the South boss James Fowler was disappointed his side could not capitalise from their late surge.
“I felt we were unfortunate not to take something from the game,” he said.
“I felt we were camped in a wee bit in the first half, with Rangers dominating possession, but we tweaked it at half-time and that gave us more impetus.
“I felt in the second half we created enough chances to at least get a point.”
Hibernian kept up their pursuit of Rangers with a 3-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Alloa with two goals from Martin Boyle and one from Danny Carmichael.
