Late Novo strike seals Rangers win

Posted Sunday, January 17, 2010 by PA

Nacho Novo grabbed a late winner as Rangers defied adversity to take maximum points from Hamilton in their 1-0 Clydesdale Bank Premier League win.

The Ibrox side were without several key players for the second of three consecutive games against Accies and it showed as the home side carved out the best of the chances.

But it was Walter Smith's men who came out on top when Novo's late strike allowed them to take their revenge on a Hamilton side who held them to a 3-3 draw in the Active Nation Scottish Cup last week.

Novo flicked on for Kyle Lafferty early on but Tomas Cerny raced off his line to get a touch on the ball and the Northern Ireland man fired over under pressure from the Hamilton goalkeeper.

The home side then squandered a great chance to open the scoring when Simon Mensing slipped a lovely pass through to Mickael Antoine-Curier who touched on for Marco Paixao but he blasted horribly wide when it looked easier to score.

Chances from the visitors had been few and far between and an angled drive from the edge of the box from Lafferty did little to trouble Cerny in the Hamilton goal.

Rangers needed a positive reaction in the second half and Steven Whittaker was not too far away with a well-struck effort which flashed across the face of goal.

Hamilton still looked more than capable of finding the back of the net and Paixao and Antoine-Curier combined well again, with the latter drilling inches past the post.

Paixao was threatening again with a superb overhead kick that was just off target, before Rangers hit Accies with the sucker-punch with 12 minutes to go.

Sasa Papac fed the ball to substitute Fleck, whose shot was parried by Cerny. The rebound then fell kindly for Novo to lash home from the tightest of angles.