Jefferies and Smith at Odds After Ref Turns a Deaf Ear to Penalty Shouts

Summary

---

JIM JEFFERIES last night shrugged off Kilmarnocks fourth consecutive SPL defeat and praised his players for their performance at Ibrox. Despite conceding a goal to Rangers Jean-Claude Darcheville within the first four minutes, Jefferies insisted his team remained competitive until Steven Whittakers strike completed the 2-0 scoreline 10 minutes after half-time. Jefferies said: The last thing you want to do is lose a goal early. We got off to a horrendous start but we didnt buckle. With the form we have been in we could have lost another goal quickly and that might have set us up for a confidence-sapping afternoon.

But Im going to give my boys credit because they didnt buckle and kept passing the ball well. You know youre going to be under pressure at Ibrox but Rangers didnt cause our keeper any real concern. Whittaker has produced a terrific, top-drawer finish and from then on Rangers came at us. There were one or two penalty decisions which Rangers were claiming but the ref wasnt swayed by the noisy crowd. I think he got them all right. With his defence missing three key players, Jefferies insisted they showed enough in the game for him to remain upbeat. We had David Lilley call off on Friday and we were already without Garry Hay and Frazer Wright. I had to play Tim Clancy out of position at left-back and Grant Murray was playing only his second game in three months. Weve lost four games but they have been against Celtic, Dundee United, Motherwell and Rangers, and we were in the game in each of them. Once we get everyone back fit and healthy, well be fine.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Jefferies and Smith at Odds After Ref Turns a Deaf Ear to Penalty Shouts

Unsurprisingly, Rangers boss Walter Smith di...

See the full content of this document

---