Rangers 1 - 1 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, March 5th, 2005, 3:00 PM at Ibrox stadium, Glasgow
Attendance: 49,345
Referee: Mike Ritchie
Rangers Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Ferguson (57) Bryan Prunty (90)

Team Managers
Alex McLeish Craig Brewster

Starting Eleven
Waterreus
Ross
Andrews
Kyrgiakos
Vignal
Buffel
Ricksen
Ferguson
Djordjic
Novo
Thompson
Mark Brown
Ross Tokely
Grant Munro
Stuart Golabek
Darren Dods
Barry Wilson
Roy McBain
Russell Duncan
Richie Hart
Graham Bayne
Juanjo Carricondo

Bench
McGregor
Ball
Rae
Malcolm
Burke
Namouchi
McCormack
Michael Fraser
Richard Hastings
Stuart McCaffrey
David Proctor
Ian Black
Bryan Prunty
Bajram Fetai

Substitutions
Malcolm -> Djordjic (53) Bajram Fetai for Barry Wilson (70)
Bryan Prunty for Graham Bayne (74)

Bookings
Kyrgiakos (41) Richie Hart (60)
Roy McBain (60)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Brown (GK) 122 apps -
Ross Tokely 311 apps22 goals
Grant Munro 119 apps2 goals
Stuart Golabek 197 apps5 goals
Darren Dods 19 apps -
Roy McBain 195 apps10 goals
Russell Duncan 142 apps3 goals
Barry Wilson 220 apps67 goals
Richie Hart 94 apps14 goals
Graham Bayne 31 apps6 goals
Juanjo Carricondo 30 apps6 goals
Bajram Fetai (sub) 5 apps -
Bryan Prunty (sub) 19 apps1 goal

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (26 years 4 days)
Oldest Player:Juanjo Carricondo (2006 years 217 days)
Average Player Age:29 years 198 days
Domestic Players:11 (100.00 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:David Proctor (21 years 5 days)
Oldest Player:Bryan Prunty (2006 years 217 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 357 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Bryan Prunty scored his first goal for the Club.

Another remarkable result in a memorable week. Everyone knew that the team was playing well but few thought Caley Thistle could take anything from the Ibrox cauldron.

When Barry Ferguson broke the deadlock in 57 minutes it looked like going according to the script, but Rangers could not kill the visitors off, the home crowd grew restless and Caley Thistle were rewarded for their diligence with a last minute Bryan Prunty equaliser. Prunty's first goal for the club created a sensation nationally and was a severe blow to Rangers title hopes.

Caley Thistle made one change from the team that beat Hibs in midweek with the injured Craig Brewster making way for Graham Bayne. Rangers dropped Michael Ball to the bench and brought in Swedish winger Bojan Djordjic. Steven Thompson replaced the suspended Dado Prso.

It was Thompson who had the first effort on goal in 13 minutes but he headed wide. This was followed quickly by a Nacho Novo shot that flew wide. Juanjo chipped wide at the other end after turning Marvin Andrews in the box then a Novo drive was beaten away by Mark Brown.

Novo hit over in 29 minutes, but little made it past either defence before the interval. With the whistle looming Grant Munro headed wide for ICT.

Half Time: 0-0

Rangers pushed forward after the break but Mark Brown saved from Novo, Fernando Ricksen shot over and Novo hit wide before Ferguson gave Rangers the lead in 57 minutes. A pass from Ricksen cleared the Caley Thistle defence and Ferguson neatly sent an angled chip over Mark Brown, his first goal since rejoining Rangers from Blackburn.

Richie Hart shot over in 70 minutes then Brown collected from Thomas Buffel. Hart hit wide in 78 minutes and a Novo effort cleared the bar. Waterreus blocked a shot from on loan Ranger Bajram Fetai then a Darren Dods shot was cleared. With four minutes left Novo should have secured a win for Rangers. He was one-on-one with Mark Brown but the former Ibrox keeper saved the day with his legs.

Caley Thistle's strong finish earned an equaliser from substitute Bryan Prunty in the dying seconds. A long ball from Grant Munro came off the back of Gregory Vignal and Prunty bundled it home.

Full Time: 1-1

Despite the welcome point, Livingston,s win at Dundee reduced the gap between eighth and twelfth to eight points. Livingston share bottom place with Dundee United. On the other hand the optimists will point out that ICT are just two points off seventh spot. Now for Hearts!

Match report written by Ian Broadfoot



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Rangers 29 22 6 1 61 14 47 72
2. Celtic 26 21 2 3 56 21 35 65
3. Hibernian 27 14 5 8 46 36 10 47
4. Aberdeen 28 13 6 9 30 26 4 45
5. Hearts 28 11 9 8 32 26 6 42
6. Motherwell 28 11 5 12 34 34 0 38
7. Kilmarnock 29 10 2 17 35 50 -15 32
8. Inverness CT 27 7 9 11 32 37 -5 30
9. Dunfermline 28 6 8 14 25 40 -15 26
10. Dundee 28 6 6 16 28 54 -26 24
11. Dundee Utd 28 4 10 14 29 45 -16 22
12. Livingston 28 6 4 18 23 48 -25 22