6 April 2013
Strathspey Thistle 0-4 Rangers
Attendance: 1500
4-1-3-2
GK: Christie
D: Kennedy, Campbell, Chisholm, Shane Bennett
DM: Jess
M: McLeish, Bowles, O'Neill
ST: Murray, Gordon
A sellout crowd at Seafield Park
It was hard to imagine anything else happening today, so I'll focus on some of the positives.
With Stevie Bell still recovering from his injury, I decided to let Shane Bennett make his first team debut. He handled himself just fine, with a 6.4 rating that was the second best on our back line.
Craig Gordon was our best player, with a 6.7. He and Calum O'Neill both hit the woodwork in the last 10 minutes of the match; if those shots had gone in, we're looking at a very respectable scoreline.
Nobody was booked, so we'll be playing at full strength next week, at least as far as suspensions go.
A sellout crowd of 1,500 packed Seafield Park, and it looked like about half of them were Rangers supporters. That means about 750 came out to root us on, which would still be our largest crowd of the season.
Those aren't huge positives, but they're better than none at all.
With their victory, Rangers clinched the SPFL championship, so they will play in the Premier League 2 next season. Our loss drops us to ninth place, three points behind Montrose and six clear of Annan. The teams in second through eighth places are separated by a total of six points, so the battle for the playoffs will be a very exciting one.