Livingston v Rangers
Mark Atkinson reports from the Tony Macaroni Arena after Rangers' 2-0 win at Livingston.
Transcript
00:00 Hello from Tony Macaroni Arena where it's finished at Livingston 0-2.
00:11 Fairly straightforward victory for the Ibrox men as they sign off their first month under
00:16 new manager Philip Claymont in some style at six wins in seven across all competitions
00:20 undefeated into a Viaply Cup final and keeping on Celtic's coattails.
00:26 This game wasn't one that would have really worried Claymont hugely once he started the
00:31 game but beforehand he was concerned, made four changes, lamented the plastic pitch,
00:36 lamented the kick-off time because Rangers were having to play less than 72 hours after
00:39 they faced Sparta Prague.
00:42 He brought in young Ross McAuliffe on the wing who played very well but Livingston never
00:46 really troubled them and in the end he'll be happy to leave here with the points and
00:52 also leave here knowing that his team has really kicked on under his watch.
00:57 He's only been at the door for just under a month, he came in October 15th, you can
01:00 see the big changes already starting to take effect at Rangers.
01:05 They were displayed with so much more cohesion, they defend better and also when you talk
01:09 to the players you can see they are very, very happy under his tutelage.
01:14 It means they have a two-week break before they're back in action.
01:16 They take on Aberdeen when the league resumes on the weekend November 25th.
01:20 He said he's going to do a bit more work with the team but he talked about how satisfied
01:24 he is and how generally they've bought into what he's trying to do which is a massive
01:32 change from what was happening under Michael Beale where they didn't seem much of a plan,
01:36 didn't seem like they were tactically set up in the right way.
01:40 This guy is a proper football manager, he's got experience and Rangers are benefiting
01:44 from having that.
01:46 Livingston, they're bottom of the league now which will be a concern I'm sure for David
01:49 Martin, they'll be trying to play that down in his post-match interview but this team
01:53 does need a little bit of help.
01:55 They were missing Ayo Oboli in defence, he's a key part of what they do.
01:58 He did speak about getting him fit as well as Michael Nightingale to try and bolster
02:02 their options.
02:03 They do have three home games in December here, they play Ross County coming up as well
02:08 which will be a big game for them.
02:10 It does feel like this Livingston team isn't as powerful as it was in previous years and
02:16 that will be of consternation to their supporters.
02:19 For Rangers though, it's very much a positive outlook for them.
02:24 They go into this break now looking forward to trying to clinch Europa League qualification
02:30 knockout stages and also in the next set of fixtures they'll look to try and claw the
02:35 gap back on Celtic and win a trophy when they play Aberdeen in December in the VAR play
02:39 cup final.
02:40 It's full time here and goodbye from a very cold Tony McIlroney arena where it finished.
02:44 Livingston 0, Rangers 2.
02:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]