Rangers Happy With Draw At Hamilton

Listening to the post-match interview with Rangers Assistant Manager Ally McCoist following their 3-3 draw at hamilton on Sunday, he seemed content thast Rangers were still in the Cup and happy at the prospect of a replay. Hopefully, for the sake of Scottish football, that's not really the case and he was just being polite about the efforts of Hamilton.

Contrast the resources of the two clubs . . . Rangers, with a reguklar home support of 45,000 plus, Champions League participants this season and many times previously and apparently with ambitions to play in the English Premiership. Many Rangers players earn wages of £6000 per week plus. Hamilton on the other hand have a core home support of around 1500. The nearest they have been to Europe was an end of season break in Cyprus in 1975. They may be an SPL side for now, but within a few years they'll have slipped back down again. Since they were last in the SPL in the mid 1980s they have been to Division three and back - and it will happen again. Some of their players will struggle to have a top line of £1000 per week on their pay slip.

Why cannot a club like Rangers deal with Hamilton Accies first time around? Watching the match yesterday, the obvious answer is lack of quality in key areas. Kirk Broadfoot is a willing trier. David Weir is past his best. Kyle Lafferty, for £3 million, is hugely disappointing. Their squad has been ravaged by injuries with big-name players missing for long periods of time. Of course, the thought is always there that some of these guys miught be less injured than they are letting on. Perhaps they have a dose of 'Van Bronkhorst Syndrome' whereby they run down the last year of their contract sitting on the sidelines.

Some of the players recruited by Rangers have arrived with the expectation of playing regular Champions League football. The prospect of playing Hamilton Accies and Falkirk doesn't really appeal to them.

Rangers (and Celtic) have this perennial problem of trying to compete in two levels of football. On their day Rangers are too good for the SPL clubs but even at their best they are not good enough for the Champions League. Sunday's game at Hamilton was one of those days when they underperformed and Hamilton capitalised. But it is still disappointing to hear their Assistant Manager accepting that a draw at New Douglas Park is an acceptable result.

It would be remiss not to be positive about the Accies. Manager Billy Reid has done a fantastic job there. He wheels and deals in the transfer market to good effect. But his biggest strength is his willingness and ability to switch tactics during a game. He's learned that the hard way after a few early defeats in the SPL when he tried to stick to his principles. He's learned pragmatism and it works for him.

In the past the Old Firm have bemoaned the lack of competition in Scotland and blamed it for their underachievement in Europe. It's hard to accept that when they regularly struggle to beat teams like Hamilton.

Supporters of Rangers, who regard their club as a national institution, must be heartily sick of the standard of football they are having to watch. It will be interesting to see how season ticket sales hold up for next season - that will be a test of whether or not the fans agree with McCoist that a draw against Hamilton Accies is a good result.