Rangers 1-0 Hamilton, Player Ratings: Gers top again after torturous display

Rangers are top of the league again after winning against Hamilton at Ibrox. It was an odd game, with Rangers utterly dominant but unable to create too many meaningful chances, with no ideas other than to constantly sling crosses and corners into the Hamilton box to no avail. The win is of course welcome, but there was a lack of quality and invention on show that will not go unpunished in fixtures harder than... well, Hamilton at Ibrox.

Here’s how the players rated.

Allan McGregor 6.8

Had almost nothing to do, but showed a wee bit of leadership when Rangers invited pressure late on. Distribution not spectacular.

James Tavernier 6.8

Tracked back well when required towards the end of the game and put in some decent balls all game, but couldn’t show much else going forwards.

Connor Goldson 6.7

Has been a wee bit out of sorts lately and had a couple of lax moments towards the end of the second half.

Gareth McAuley 6.7

Lack of pace showed at times, but was mostly competent.

Borna Barisic 6.8

Thinks of nothing other than crossing the ball as soon as he gets it. A constant danger, but none of his balls resulted in a goal.

Ryan Jack 7.0

Burst into the box with more regularity against a side sitting deep, and won good free-kicks in good positions as a result. Couldn’t slice open the opposition defence, but that’s not his strength.

Ross McCrorie 7.2

Hamilton could not get out of their area while the boy was on the pitch, and he was the main reason why. As soon as Rangers lost the ball, McCrorie was flying in at top speed to win it back almost immediately. Whether he can adjust his superb ball-winning abilities to allow him to thrive in a game where Rangers will frequently be on the back foot is up for question. For games like this, however, McCrorie paradoxically thrives despite his limited ability going forwards.

Scott Arfield 6.2

Arfield is always missed when out of the team and a constant source of frustration when he’s in it. Could not come up with the requisite guile to give Rangers any attacking options other than just getting it wide and crossing it, which didn’t work all day.

Daniel Candeias 6.8

Showed good teamwork with Tavernier as always and prodded home the goal. A solid display.

Kyle Lafferty 6.0

Ineffective, and while he was denied by a superb save where he could’ve got the second, he really should’ve made something of the relentless bombardment of corners and crosses into the Hamilton box all afternoon.

Eros Grezda 6.7

Fine, and not poor by any means, but with James Tavernier, Borna Barisic, Glenn Middleton and Daniel Candeias on the pitch, we need Grezda to provide something other than a player who will look to get wide and cross it. Rangers had no other ideas all game and suffered as a result.

Subs:

Glenn Middleton 6.4

Not the ideal situation for him, as he typically struggles against deep defences who have no space behind to run into, and so it proved today.

Andy Halliday

Came on and had little to do.