There was no disguising the smile on Ally McCoist’s face as he surveyed Saturday’s win over East Stirlingshire at Ibrox.
“It’s been a fantastic 48 hours for the club. We had a solid win today and Sandy Jardine being back at the club has given everyone a massive boost,” said McCoist.
“He’s been through so much. I couldn’t even begin to tell you just how important a figure he has been at the club during the past twelve months.”
There can be no doubt that Sandy Jardine’s return to Ibrox was perfect timing coming as it did immediately following the findings of the SPL tribunal.
The astonishing statements of both Celtic Football Club and Neil Lennon on Friday, expressing ‘surprise’ at the decision drew a withering response from the Ibrox Boss.
“I was neither surprised nor disappointed by Celtic’s statement. Lord Nimmo Smith and his colleagues make decisions on the law every week. I would rather take their opinion than anyone else,” added McCoist.
In case everyone had forgotten, there was a game at Ibrox on Saturday, won 3-1 with Andy Little scoring two more goals.
He continued, “The first 25 minutes of the second-half won us the game after we changed things at half-time. ..”
One boost for Ally was the return of Lee McCulloch following a two-month injury absence.
The Rangers captain spoke of his relief not just of being back but of finding his name on the scoresheet.
“It felt great to be back. I only had two days of full training so with about 10 minutes to go, I felt a wee bit tired. I really enjoyed it though,” said McCulloch who revealed that an interval difference of opinion in the dressing-room turned things around.
“The boys were having a wee go at each other and the manager made a change. That was obviously needed.
“We knew we hadn’t been good enough and after having a wee chat with each other, we went on to play some good stuff at times. I thought we were a team of individuals but in the second I felt we played better.”
Rangers are four wins away from clinching the Division Three title but McCulloch dismissed any suggestions of complacency.
“We’re taking this one game at a time but the most important thing was keeping this title charge going. Our first-half performance perhaps showed we thought it was in the bag but it’s definitely not. There is still a lot to play for.”
Midfielder Kyle Hutton was honest in his summing-up of the win.
“We made it hard for ourselves. We created chances in the first-half but couldn’t take them. We were too sloppy.
“We’re very close to sealing the title – but we just want to concentrate on the job in hand…”
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