Ross County delivered a body blow to Rangers’ cinch Premiership title hopes in Dingwall with their first win in their history over the Ibrox side.
When Staggies skipper Jack Baldwin scored an own goal after 15 minutes it already looked a long way back for the home side but two goals in three minutes soon after the break from Simon Murray and George Harmon turned the game on its head before Josh Sims added a third after 69 minutes.
Gers skipper James Tavernier netted a penalty in the 89th minute following VAR intervention but the spirited home side held on for a momentous 3-2 win which also boosts their bid to avoid relegation.
After 20 defeats and four draws in 24 games against Rangers, the Dingwall club had at last registered a long-awaited win over the Govan club and its ramifications affect both ends of the table as second-bottom County moved to within a point of 10th-placed St Johnstone.
With six fixtures remaining Philippe Clement’s side are four points behind leaders Celtic with a game in hand against Dundee at Dens Park on Wednesday night but it is the Hoops who now look to be in command.
Once again Rangers, with Borna Barisic, Kieran Dowell, Todd Cantwell and Abdallah Sima back in the side, found themselves under the pressure of trying to reduce the gap behind their Old Firm rivals.
Ross Laidlaw, Yan Dhanda, Sims, Victor Loturi and Harmon were restored to Don Cowie’s side who started the game nine points ahead of bottom side Livingston.
County had the first attempt on goal within minutes when Michee Efete’s cross from the right found Harmon at the back post but under pressure from Sima he scoped the ball over the bar.
Rangers struggled to get into their rhythm but they were gifted the lead following Tavernier’s corner from the right.
Portuguese attacker Silva headed on and in his attempt to clear while facing his own net and challenging Gers defender John Souttar, Baldwin succeeded only in knocking the ball over the line as Laidlaw failed to keep it out although it took a while before the goal registered with the travelling fans at the other end of the ground.
The game opened up further and Laidlaw saved a decent shot from Cantwell before Gers keeper Jack Butland kept out a low drive from Sims with Laidlaw saving further efforts from Sima and striker Cyriel Dessers.
In the 38th minute, amid a spell of County pressing, Harmon lifted a shot high over the bar from close range as did Dessers at the other end before the break.
The game took an unexpected twist at the start of the second half when energetic County striker Murray levelled at the second attempt, driving in after Butland had blocked his first shot with his foot.
Rangers were still coming to terms with that setback when Murray found himself with space again before unleashing a drive which Butland spilled but Harmon was on hand to drive into the net.
The Govan side shook themselves and Dessers and Sima had efforts of varying quality before Sima used his hand to knock the ball into the County net with the ‘goal’ ruled out.
The home side ran up the pitch moments later and scored a third, Murray breaking into the box and setting up Sims to show composure before beating Butland from close range
Cantwell struck the bar with a terrific effort six minutes later and then VAR Andrew Dallas flagged up a possible handball from County substitute Brandon Khela inside the box and referee Matthew MacDermid awarded a penalty after a monitor check which Tavernier converted, but there was to be no comeback.
Rangers slipped up against the most unlikeliest of opponents and it may prove fatal.
Guyana secures 4-1 victory over Barbados in first leg of Concacaf Nations League Play-In Series
Guyana defeated Barbados 4-1 in the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League Play-In series at the Barbados Football Association Technical Centre in Bridgetown, Barbados on Friday
The Concacaf Nations League Play-In consists of a home-and-away direct elimination round. The aggregate score winner in each matchup will advance to the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup Prelims.
Niall Reid-Stephen opened the scoring for Barbados in the 17th minute, his seventh goal of the current campaign, with a left-footed strike from inside the penalty arc.
Omari Glasgow equalized for Guyana nine minutes later with a left-footed strike inside the penalty area.
Then, 14 minutes into Glasgow added a second to his tally in the by pouncing on a deflected ball in the penalty area.
Osaze de Rosario extended the lead in a minute later with a chip over the goalkeeper to capitalize on an error from the defense.
Enoch George scored in the 90'+2 to put a bow on the victory, connecting on a timely pass from Isaiah Jones.
Guyana will host Barbados in the second leg on Tuesday at the National Track and Field Centre in Leonora, Guyana.
Donnarumma: France can still hurt Italy without Mbappe
Gianluigi Donnarumma says Kylian Mbappe's absence will not make Italy underestimate France ahead of their top-of-the-table Nations League clash.
Both teams have already qualified for the quarter-finals, but top spot in Group A2 is still up for grabs.
Italy currently sit top of the pile, three points ahead of France, who they beat 3-1 in early September, but a win for Les Bleus could see them drop to second.
However, for the second international break in a row, France are without their captain, Mbappe, with Didier Deschamps insisting he made the decision to leave the Real Madrid forward out of the squad.
France are unbeaten in their last three games without Mbappe, winning two and drawing one, and though they struggled in front of goal against Israel in a 0-0 stalemate last time out, Donnarumma believes they will still pose a threat to the Azzurri.
"Yes, I don't know about the choices that are made in other squads. I don't know what happened, it's [Mbappe] certainly an important absence," Donnarumma told a press conference.
"I know Kylian, he is one of the strongest in the world and if he was here, he could have troubled us a lot, but there will be other players.
"I know all of them well, they have great quality, strong strikers like [Bradley] Barcola, [Randal] Kolo Muani and [Warren] Zaire-Emery, who play with me. Barcola is an incredible talent, so they have very strong substitutes who can bother us."
Italy are unbeaten in the Nations League, only dropping points in a 2-2 draw with Belgium in October after going down to 10 men.
It comes on the back of a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign in which they were knocked out in the round of 16 by Switzerland, winning just one game in their title defence.
However, Donnarumma believes Italy have found their rhythm again and have more in common with the Euro 2020 winning team.
"It's a healthy group, I'm starting to see the spirit of the old European Championship," he added. "They're all young guys who want to show what they can do, who want to wear this jersey.
"The difficult part is to continue these performances. Our goal now is to continue to improve, work and enjoy ourselves and entertain the fans."
Tottenham 0-3 Arsenal: Gunners stay unbeaten under Slegers with derby rout
Arsenal retained their unbeaten record under interim manager Renee Slegers by thrashing North London rivals Tottenham 3-0 in the Women's Super League on Saturday.
Slegers had overseen a return of four wins and one draw from her first five matches in charge of the Gunners following Jonas Eidevall's exit, and her team managed another statement victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
They needed just 63 seconds to open the scoring through Alessia Russo, who fired across goal and in after turning on the left-hand side of the area.
Arsenal continued to dominate and only a fine block from Amanda Nilden denied Katie McCabe from eight yards, but Tottenham's resistance was broken again in the 22nd minute. Frida Maanum exchanged passes with Kim Little before slotting her finish into the bottom-left corner, with a static Spurs defence applying no pressure whatsoever.
Beth England drew a full-stretch save from Daphne van Domselaar as Tottenham briefly improved, but Arsenal killed the contest 66 minutes in, substitute Stina Blackstenius breaking onto Mariona Caldentey's delicate throughball to finish when one-on-one.
The victory takes Arsenal fourth in the table with 15 points, one adrift of Brighton, who continued their impressive start to the campaign with a 3-2 victory over West Ham earlier on Saturday.
Fran Kirby scored an 82nd-minute winner for the Seagulls after West Ham had fought back from 2-0 down to level the contest, having also assisted Rachel McLauchlan's opener. That first goal involvement took Kirby to 100 in the WSL, making her just the fourth player to reach that milestone.
Data Debrief: Fast start key for Arsenal
Tottenham improved in the middle period of the game but a slow start cost them, which will be a particular blow to coach Robert Vilahamn after they conceded within 24 seconds versus Manchester City last time out.
Russo's goal, scored after one minute and three seconds, is the second-fastest in Arsenal's WSL history, after Jordan Nobbs' 28-second strike against Liverpool in October 2014.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
