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Rangers stumble and Butcher sees red

Calum Philip
Monday 05 August 2002 00:00 BST
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When one door opens, another closes. Never has the old maxim held more truth, than it did for Gretna, Rangers and Terry Butcher on Saturday.

Butcher was once fined for kicking a referee's door off its hinges while playing for Rangers, and the former England captain – now manager of Motherwell – could be in more trouble after he was sent to the dressing room during the 3-2 defeat at Livingston.

Tempers were barely any better at Butcher's old club. The Rangers manager Alex McLeish was furious with the way his side conceded a late equaliser to Andrew McLaren at Kilmarnock to stumble on the opening day of the Scottish Premier League.

Gretna were also brought back down to earth, though failing to hold onto a lead in the 1-1 Third Division draw with Morton will not dampen the spirits at Scotland's newest club. The former UniBond League side are simply glad that the door has been opened to them after 56 years of playing over the border in England.

Rarely will the spotlight fall again on Raydale Park, unless the Dumfrieshire club match the rise of Livingston – who began life as Meadowbank Thistle after being accepted into the Scottish Football League in 1974 – and earn the right to be alongside the Old Firm.

So, it was fitting that Rowan Alexander's side should seize such a historic day. Matt Henney inscribed Gretna's first league goal after just 19 seconds. The euphoria lasted just six minutes, until Warren Hawke equalised, but that did not spoil the day for the 1,566 crowd – 10 times the attendance at UniBond matches – whose number included plenty of ground-hoppers from across the border, as well as Norway.

"It's been hectic trying to get the ground ready in time," said Gretna's chairman Brian Fulton. "But there's a lot of ambition at this club. We're not just here to make up the numbers."

That declaration could easily be on Livingston's shirt badge. They gave notice that their meteoric rise from the Third Division to the Uefa Cup in seven years has not sated their hunger. Two goals from new signing Rolando Zarate saw last season's third-placed side off to a perfect start.

Motherwell did threaten to spoil things when Scott Leitch and Dirk Lehmann reduced the deficit, and that stoked Butcher's frustration. A red card came his way for "kicking the ground in anger," explained the Motherwell manager wryly.

There was plenty of anger, too, in the visitors' dressing room at Rugby Park. Rangers' inquest into McLaren's 80th minute equaliser did not rest merely with the defence.

Manager McLeish blamed his forwards for failing to finish Kilmarnock after Shota Arveladze's first-half header had provided the perfect platform for an opening-day victory. "When we have that much territorial control, I want to see more end product," fumed McLeish.

Youngsters Darren Mackie and Chris Clark secured Aberdeen's 2-1 success away to Hibernian, while newly-promoted Partick Thistle were happy with a point from their opener against Dundee United at Firhill. Fabian Caballero rescued Dundee in the 1-1 draw at home to Hearts.

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