McLaren brings Rangers deja vu

Scottish Review

Lorenzo Amoruso's summer war of words with Celtic could come back to haunt him, as Rangers stumbled on the opening day of the Scottish Premier League season by losing a late goal to Kilmarnock yesterday, which already leaves them in the slipstream of their Glasgow rivals.

The Italian defender had heightened the tension between the clubs by writing off Celtic in pre-season and insisting his team were on the ascendancy. Andy McLaren's 80th-minute equaliser at Rugby Park made a huge dent in that theory.

As well as accusing Celtic of failing to match Rangers in terms of hunger, Amoruso insisted in midweek that Alex McLeish's side could only afford two slip-ups outside of derby matches if they wanted to reclaim the championship.

So, the margin of error has already been cut after just 90 minutes, much to the annoyance of McLeish, who warned his team they had to cut out last season's costly habit of drawn games.

Rangers went ahead after 29 minutes, thanks to Shota Arveladze, who was perfectly placed after a corner from the new £6 million signing Mikel Arteta was knocked on by Ronald de Boer for the Georgian striker to head past Gordon Marshall.

Amoruso was denied a second goal when his header struck the bar and Kilmarnock equalised through substitute McLaren. Rangers' defence failed to deal with Garry Hay's corner, which fell to McLaren, whose shot beat Stefan Klos from six yards.

Livingston served notice that they intend to match last season's third place, with a 3-2 win at home to Motherwell.

Oscar Rubio put the Almondvale side ahead before his Spanish compatriot, Roland Zarate struck in 34 and 47 minutes to provide a cushion, which Livingston needed. Dirk Lehmann and Scott Leitch reduced the deficit, while the manager, Terry Butcher, was sent to the stand for dissent.

The SPL's other Uefa Cup entrants, Aberdeen, secured a 2-1 win away to Hibernian when substitute Chris Clark scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Francisco Luña's deft chip had given Hibs the lead after 31 minutes but Darren Mackie equalised after the hour, before Derek Young set-up Clark's tap-in.

Newly prompted Partick Thistle enjoyed their return to the big time after an absence of six years with a 0-0 draw against Dundee United at Firhill. Dundee, meanwhile, owed a debt to Fabian Caballero for cancelling out Gary Wales' strike for Hearts to secure a 1-1 draw at Dens Park.