Two second-half goals gave Rangers a win over Kilmarnock to hand the
Scottish Cup holders a quarter-final tie with Celtic. It was the second
week in a row that Killie went in at the half goal-less Vs the Old Firm.
It now has been 480 mins since Killie scored at home from open
play...way back in Nov!
Martin Hardie hit the bar early on for Killie and Ronald de Boer
headed off the post late in the first half.
De Boer put the visitors in front with a powerful front-post finish
from Michael Ball's pass after 62 minutes.
Shota Arveladze secured the win with a penalty shortly afterwards,
after he had been brought down by Gordon Greer.
Ronald de Boer had the ball in the net inside the first minute after
he had latched on to Mikel Arteta's through ball, but the goal was
chopped off for offside.
Rangers had a lucky escape after seven minutes when Garry Hay's ball
into the box was met on the volley by Martin Hardie, but with Stefan
Klos beaten, the ball came back off the crossbar.
Kilmarnock kept up the pressure on Rangers and forced the visitors
into some desperate defending.
At the other end, Shota Arveladze flicked a Michael Ball free kick
just wide.
Hardie again came close to opening the scoring after 25 minutes, but
he headed narrowly past the post from eight yards out.
Moments later, Arveladze did likewise for Rangers from a Christian
Nerlinger corner.
Rangers should have taken the lead on the half-hour mark after
Francois Dubourdeau failed to deal with a cross. Nuno Capucho cut the
ball back for De Boer who headed onto the post and then blasted the
rebound over the bar.
The woodwork denied Rangers again three minutes after the restart
when Arveladze rifled in a shot that Dubourdeau managed to touch onto
the underside of the bar.
A few minutes later, Klos reacted well to push a powerful Gary
McDonald effort wide.
Rangers got the vital opening goal after 62 minutes. Ball beat McDonald
on the left before picking out the front-post run of De Boer and the
Dutchman finished with some aplomb.
Four minutes later, Rangers were awarded a penalty as Gordon Greer
brushed Arveladze aside as the Georgian chased a through ball from De
Boer.
Arveladze took the spot kick himself and sent the keeper the wrong
way, with the ball going in off the post.
McDonald should have brought Killie back into the game midway through
the second half, but he shot tamely into Klos' hands from 10 yards out.
With 10 minutes left, Kris Boyd also passed up an opportunity to
reduce the deficit, with Klos gathering gratefully as the ball simply
bounced off Boyd.
Eric Skora brought out a fantastic save from Klos moments later, the
German having to back-pedal to tip the Frenchman's attempted chip over
the top.
Kilmarnock: Dubourdeau, Fowler, Greer, McLaughlin, Hay,
McDonald, (Boyd 71 mins), Locke, (Dodds 
20 mins), Hardie, Invincibile, (Murray 67 mins), McSwegan, Skora.
Subs Not Used: Meldrum, & Nish.
Attendance: 10,993
