COOKING WITH GAZ
THE return of Paul Gascoigne raised the roof at Ibrox and gave Rangers fans an enjoyable jaunt down memory lane.
The hammering of Hamilton Accies also gave punters plenty to celebrate in the present.
Rangers ascended to the summit of the Premiership for the first time since December last year.
Unlike 10 months ago, this time the Light Blues will have a bit more time to admire the view.
Steven Gerrard’s side went top at the tail end of last year with victory against Hearts but lasted just 72 hours there as defeat to Aberdeen and a draw with Dundee saw them tumble.
The Gers boss will have at least a fortnight to enjoy the dizzy heights this time thanks to the international break but there’s nothing to suggest his side can’t hang around much longer this time.
Gazza’s cameo for the half-time draw allowed the Geordie to get a hero’s welcome but also provided an opportunity to reminisce about a time when going top of the league was par for the course rather than something to cherish.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since those times and a fair few bridges have been blown up just for good measure.
Taking the lead in the league has special symbolic meaning now but the challenge is to prove it’s not just another temporary stay.
The response to the Old Firm defeat has been impressive. Four league wins out of four and 17 goals in the process – including back-to-back 5-0 wins against Aberdeen and Hamilton.
Anyone across the city who believes the challenge melted at Ibrox last month isn’t watching closely enough.
Accies were no more than cannon fodder as Jermain Defoe blasted his second Gers hat-trick and took his tally to 12 for the season. Connor Goldson and Borna Barisic weighed in as well in a Sunday roasting.
Amid the fun and games Jamie Murphy came off the bench after 14 months of injury hell and Gerrard could have hardly wished for a better afternoon’s graft.
It’s a sign of the times that it’s no longer just the game raging on in front of the fans that has relevance.
The Europa League and genuine title aspirations means Gers are in the thick of a cycle more familiar to them a few years back.
It’s the Sunday Old Firm tennis job. One side lobs the ball over the net and the other has to bat it back, even when they are on different courts.
Here we were yesterday, Celtic serving a double fault at Livingston, leaving Rangers with break points at stake against Hamilton.
In recent times these were the days when the Light Blues took stage fright, the top of the table viewed like the last 20 feet of sheer cliff face.
This time the summit was reached and there was no looking down.
Gerrard swapped Alfredo Morelos with Defoe, with Greg Stewart in for the injured Ryan Jack and Scott Arfield dropping deeper, while George Edmundson enjoyed a stroll on his first competitive Ibrox start in place of Filip Helander.
Accies boss Brian Rice lobbed in a few guys on their way back to fitness including Ciaran McKenna and Adrian Beck.
Norway legend Jan Age Fjortoft was in the stands to watch his boy Marcus get a run out.
He would have seen a Hamilton team with the air of a side hoping for the best and fearing the worst. It was more of the latter than the former.
Rangers were wounded in Bern by their self-imposed second-half stumble and they were in the mood to take it out on Hamilton.
Rice has got his side organised, disciplined and stubborn.
They defend deep and in numbers but it took just seven minutes for Gers to slice them open.
The pass from Stewart was superb but the finish from Defoe oozed class.
The little hitman raced through and casually looped the ball over Owain Fon Williams to provide a nifty early curer for any lingering Euro hangover.
Hamilton have given previous Rangers gaffers problems in the past. Accies tripped up Mark Warburton on day one of their return to the top flight a few years ago.
They embarrassed Gers with a win a few weeks after Graeme Murty was in his second mop-up stint in the wake of Pedro Caixinha’s departure.
The difference between then and now is night and day.
Hamilton’s abject performance ensured they were merely collateral damage yesterday.
Defoe’s opener was scant reward in a first half of wave after wave of Rangers attacks as Fon Williams kept out a Goldson header and Glen Kamara’s drive.
Stewart wasn’t far away with a curling effort and Defoe hit the post when Sheyi Ojo picked him out so a second looked certain.
In between times James Tavernier and Kamara had penalty shouts, along with a later handball claim against Fjortoft, and the Gers half of the pitch might as well have been the other side of the world to the hemmed-in visitors.
The second goal was a thing of beauty, started and finished by Goldson with a touch of magic in between from Tavernier.
Goldson fed his skipper down the right and continued his run where Tavernier picked him out with a perfectly weighted whipped cross to tee up the sweet diving header.
Singled out for online stick after Bern, the pair savoured the moment and their side were coasting. Barisic produced his now party-piece freekick into the top corner for the third and Defoe sublimely spun his man for the fourth before pouncing on a loose ball for No.5.
Only mercy and some frantic defending prevented more.
Gazza was part of the last team to win nine in a row but the current side suddenly look very serious about stopping another one.