Cup holders Rangers put four past Forfar

February 19, 2009

FORFAR, Scotland (AFP) – Holders Rangers eased into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with a 4-0 win at Third Division Forfar in Wednesday’s fifth round tie.

Walter Smith’s team booked a quarter-final clash at home to Hamilton next month thanks to a rare strike from Sasa Papac, Kenny Miller’s double and Aaron Niguez’s first goal for the club.

There was never a sense of a shock on the cards at Station Park and, after Sunday’s gruelling Old Firm draw with Celtic, this was exactly the kind of stroll Rangers needed.

Forfar finished with 10 men after Elliott Smith was sent off for a nasty lunge on DeMarcus Beasley late in the second half.

Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist wasn’t convinced by his side’s first half display and said: "I thought we tried to play too much football. There were too many touches on the ball.

"I wanted the ball played forward quicker and we did that in the second half.

"One or two things helped us in the second half, especially the sending off but I was delighted to see Kenny get two goals and delighted that Aaron scored.

"The keeper made a couple of unbelievable saves and Kenny could have scored three."

The Glasgow club’s leading scorer Kris Boyd returned to the starting line-up to partner Miller, but captain Barry Ferguson and Portuguese midfielder Pedro Mendes were rested as Smith made six changes to the team who drew at Celtic.

The unfamiliar line-up made no difference as Rangers quickly set about over-running their lower division opponents.

It took only eight minutes for Rangers to take the lead as Bosnian defender Papac scored for only the second time this season.

As the Forfar defence retreated, Miller’s pass picked out Papac and he drove a fine strike past Ally Brown from 12 yards.

On the half-hour, Miller set up Beasley on the edge of the Forfar box and this time Brown pulled off a fine save.

Only a superb stop from Brown denied Rangers a second as the Forfar keeper turned away Miller’s over-head kick.

But Miller wasn’t to be denied. He got on the scoresheet in the 54th minute before Smith was red-carded for a shocking tackle on Beasley.

Niguez capitalised on another mistake by Stephen McNally in the 83rd minute to slam in number three before being booked for taking his top off in celebration.

Miller added a fourth in the 90th minute when he headed home from close range.

Written by: AFP

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