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]