Rangers enjoyed some respite from troubled times with a convincing 4-0 Europa League win over FCSB at Ibrox.
Boss Philippe Clement came under enormous pressure after the 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday left the Light Blues six points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic and Aberdeen and there was an early reprieve when the Romanian outfit, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, had the ball in the net only for a foul to be called.
However, midfielder Tom Lawrence struck from inside the box in the 10th minute and wide-man Vaclav Cerny fired in a second just after the half-hour mark before adding a third early in the second half.
Second-half substitute Hamza Igamane scored his first goal for the Gers since signing in the summer from Moroccan side AS FAR to add gloss to the scoreline against an unimpressive opponent.
The Govan side moved on to six points from nine in the new-look Europa League and will feel in much better fettle welcoming St Mirren on Sunday, although there remains huge room for improvement.
There was much speculation around whether the visitors would rest some of their key players amid two important domestic derby games and to what extent owner George ‘Gigi’ Becali was involved in picking the team.
In the event, Elias Charalambous’s side, without suspended captain Darius Olaru and injured vice-captain Adrian Sut, showed six changes from the starting line-up in the 2-0 win at Dinamo Bucharest at the weekend with Malcom Edjouma, Alexandru Pantea, Siyabonga Ngezana, Marius Ștefanescu, Luis Phelipe and Baba Alhassan coming into the side.
Rangers defender Leon Balogun took over from Robin Propper, with midfielder Nico Raskin in for Mohamed Diomande.
There was less than two minutes played when FCSB’s David Miculescu robbed Jack Butland as he dithered on the ball and put it into the empty net, but Italian referee Marco Di Bello had signalled for a foul, sparing the blushes of the Gers goalkeeper.
Rangers’ response was positive.
Raskin’s drive was beaten away by Stefan Tarnovanu but the FCSB keeper perhaps should have done better with Lawrence’s bouncing shot, from a Cerny cut-back, which found its way into the back of the net.
In the 28th minute Butland made amends for his earlier mistake by tipping a powerful long-distance drive from Luis Phelipe over the bar for a corner which was defended and moments later, Cerny took advantage of some FCSB slackness at the edge of their box to turn inside and curl the ball past the diving Tarnovanu.
Lawrence took a knock before the break and he was replaced by Diomande for the for the start of the second half with Risto Radunovic, Octavian Popescu and Alexandru Baluta on for the visitors.
Czech international Cerny, on loan from Wolfsburg, took all the credit for the third goal driving into acres of space and into the box before cutting inside and confidently stroking the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
Gers striker Igamane immediately took over from Cyriel Dessers and then Balogun made way for Propper.
In the 71st minute Igamane gave the fans more to cheer about when he took a Connor Barron pass, jinked left and right past defender Joyskim Dawa inside the box before driving low past the helpless Tarnovanu.
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[(Elche) Strength]: 1. As the newly promoted team this season, Elche are motivated to start with a home win in their debut.2. In the summer window, Elche signed midfielder Federico Redondo, Real Madrid loan forward Alvaro Rodriguez, and Valencia CF striker German Valera.3. Elche finished 22 wins, 11 draws, and 9 losses in the Segunda Division last season, smoothly being promoted as the 2nd-placed ...
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