Rangers

While Youssef Chermiti earned rave reviews for his Old Firm heroics at the start of the month, he and Bojan Miovski passed up chances on Thursday and questions still linger over their ability to hold down the number nine shirt.

“Rangers aren’t the finished article, there’s still work to be done but they’re going in the right direction,” McFadden said. “There has been big progression, but they need to strengthen at the top end.

“They’re winning games. Are they at their free-flowing best? No, but it doesn’t matter. Somehow, they’ve managed to get themselves into a title race.”

At least there have been some reinforcements. Toko Chukwuani has come in as a defensive midfielder, and Rohl has also brought in left-back Tuur Rommens – a problem position given Jayden Meghoma was the only natural in the position – and winger Andreas Skov Olsen.

The latter is considered a big coup, on loan from Wolfsburg, and adds much-needed quality to the wings. Djiedi Gassama’s form has tailed off, and although Mikey Moore has come onto a game, Oliver Antman is still out injured.

Ineligible for the win over Ludogorets, the trio are expected to feature in some capacity against Dundee. That game could be vital in the grand scheme of the season, due to Hearts and Celtic meeting at Tynecastle the same day.

“I thought this season was a write-off,” admitted pundit Steven Thompson at Ibrox. “There were changes at board level, the recruitment wasn’t anywhere near good enough but Danny Rohl has flipped the script.

“You’ve got to give him so much credit for that. At times the football was good tonight, at times it was just OK. But it’s a clean sheet in Europe, and it just keeps this feel-good factor going.”

If the other two title contenders knock points off each other, Rangers could be within three points. Heady heights from the early days of Martin.

“Danny Rohl has done an absolutely fantastic job with this group of players,” said ex-Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday. “There is that lingering question – can they go that extra yard? A lot of people didn’t this group of players could step up.

“I think they need help, and the biggest help they could be given is a number nine at the top end of the pitch.”

Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, one of three netminders on Canada’s upcoming Olympic hockey roster, has been cleared to return after suffering a neck injury against the New York Rangers on Tuesday.

Kuemper said after returning to practice Thursday that he lost feeling in his arm when Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski ran into him in the first period of the game. He said he tried to shake it off, but had to be replaced by Anton Forsberg.

“Yeah, kind of got hit on the side of my neck, and it pinched my neck and pinched the nerves, and my arm went dead,” Kuemper said. “So, yeah, wasn’t allowed to come back in until we did some further testing yesterday.”

Kuemper felt better when he woke up Wednesday, and additional examinations confirmed he would be available for an upcoming road trip, which starts at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday and runs six games while the Grammy Awards are hosted at Crypto.com Arena.

Kuemper was named alongside St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington and Washington’s Logan Thompson to the 25-man squad for Canada that will play in the Milan Cortina Olympics next month.

The 35-year-old is a first-time Olympian for Canada, which has won the past two goal medals with NHL players participating. Kuemper is expected to be the third keeper behind Binnington and Thompson.

Kuemper, a 14-year NHL veteran from Saskatchewan and Stanley Cup winner with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022, is 12-9-9 with a 2.52 goals against average and .904 save percentage in 32 games for the Kings this season. He missed six games in December because of an upper-body injury sustained Dec. 15 when Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen hit him in the head.

Not only was Carrick’s success a long shot, but they did it the hard way.

Their journey to the trophy started with a win over Bangor – promoted from the Championship but impressive as they found their feet in the top flight.

That was followed by a win on penalties over Glentoran and a derby win over Irish Premiership leaders Larne, again in a shootout, followed.

Baxter’s side had defeated Cliftonville 4-1 in the league on Saturday but they trailed with 10 minutes at Seaview to go thanks to Ryan Curran’s early goal.

But Adam Lecky, who had helped Baxter to so much success in their trophy-laden spell at Crusaders, popped up with a crucial equaliser.

Curran and Liam McStravick both missed in the shootout, which allowed Aidan Steele to kickstart the party.

“There’s no such thing as a bad medal and it’s a great night for them,” former Glentoran and Crusaders defender Paul Leeman said on BBC Sport NI.

“They beat Glentoran, Larne and Cliftonville. It’s thoroughly deserved.”

After a first trophy in 33 years, the challenge now for Carrick is to refocus and consolidate their position in the top flight.

They sit in 11th, just one point off automatic safety, but the pack above is tight and a run of results either way could see a team climb up, or fall down, the table.

“They have a trophy in the cabinet, now can they move on to bigger and better things by moving up the league table and getting themselves out of trouble?” added Leeman.

Alex Killorn broke a second-period tie, newcomer Jeffrey Viel scored his first goal of the season and the Ducks beat the New York Rangers 5-3 on Monday night.

Cutter Gauthier scored twice on his 22nd birthday — the second into an empty net in the final minute — to push his season total to 22. Mason McTavish also scored to help lift the Ducks to their fourth victory in a row following a nine-game losing streak.

Lukas Dostal made 19 saves, surviving a wild scramble on a late 21-second two-man advantage.

Matthew Robertson, Artemi Panarin and Vladislav Gavrikov scored for New York, and Spencer Martin stopped 21 shots in his fourth NHL game of the season.

Seeing time with Igor Shesterkin sidelined by a lower-body injury, Martin was back in goal after stopping 25 shots Saturday in a 6-3 victory in Philadelphia that ended a five-game losing streak.

Killorn gave the Ducks a 3-2 lead with 1:58 left in the second period. He scored off a rebound of Jacob Trouba’s long shot after a prolonged scramble behind the goal.

Gauthier padded the lead at 1:01 of the third, and Gavrikov countered for New York at 7:11 with a long shot on a power play.

Viel tied it 2-2 at 8:29 of the second with his first goal for the Ducks and the first in 12 NHL games this season. Acquired from Boston on Friday for a 2026 fourth-round pick, Viel controlled Ryan Poehling’s feed from the blue line and beat Martin from close range.

Viel had no points and 30 penalty minutes in 10 games this season for Boston, and added another fighting major in his Ducks debut Saturday night in a 2-1 overtime victory over Los Angeles. In 66 career NHL games, he has four goals, two assists and 188 penalty minutes.

Up next for the Ducks: at Colorado on Wednesday night.

New Rangers winger Skov Olsen says fans can expect him to “go for it” and hopes to end the season lifting trophies.

The Denmark international has signed on loan from Wolfsburg until the end of the campaign, with Rangers holding the option to make the move permanent in the summer.

Skov Olsen, 26, has made only 10 appearances for the Bundesliga side since his summer move from Club Brugge.

He excelled in Belgium, scoring 49 goals and providing 30 assists in 124 games and Skov Olsen told BBC Sport Scotland he hopes to show fans he can recapture that form at Ibrox.

“Hopefully I can bring extra strength to the front, to both score and create for the team,” he said.

“I think they can expect I will try to break through, [going] inside and outside. Shoot and set up my mates. Just go, even [if I] lose the ball – go again.

“That’s what they can expect – I will try and go for it.

“It’s a very interesting time. But we have to take one game at a time and win the next one in front of us. Hopefully at the end of the season we’ll lift trophies.”

Skov Olsen played at Nordsjaelland in Denmark and with Bologna in Serie A before his move to Club Brugge.

He added he spoke to various people about the club, including some current Rangers players who he played with in his homeland.

“I know some of the guys from Nordsjaelland back in the day. [Oliver] Antman, the new signing Tochi [Chukwuani], and Dio [Mohamed Diomande].

“I know the guys a bit so it was very lovely to see them after some years.

“I spoke through a friend with Antman who came in the summer, obviously Tochi has just arrived, other than that I spoke to some other people about the club who only had good things to say.”

Manager Danny Rohl enthused about many aspects of Rangers’ controlled 2-0 victory away to Aberdeen, including his side’s “clean sheet mentality”.

A fifth successive victory keeps Rangers three points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts.

Since Rohl took over in October, his side have shipped just eight goals in 14 league games, winning 11 of those, while keeping the opposition out on eight occasions.

Rangers kept one just one blank in Russell Martin’s seven Premiership games, a soporific Old Firm derby stalemate.

“We defended until the end and we got a clean sheet,” Rohl told RangersTV.

“This is the basis and if we do this again and again we will be in a fantastic way. Keep on the front foot, stay hungry, stay ambitious, and be humble in the right moments.”

In the wind and rain at Pittodrie, Aberdeen were limited to five efforts on target, with Jack Butland’s only save of note thwarting Leighton Clarkson in the first half.

“Big, big pride in my group, to come to a really tough place,” said Rohl in his post-match media conference. “We showed again different faces, which is what we need.

“We played good men’s football, we were ready in the duels, second balls.

“We understood when to play in behind, then we understand also to keep the ball in the right areas.

“The result was enjoyable, of course, it’s great to see.

“We were really focused until the end and it is outstanding what we have done, five wins in a row.”

Rangers solidity is all the more impressive when you consider first choice centre-backs John Souttar and Derek Cornelius have been missing.

The Canada international has been out since early November, while Souttar was absent for six matches.

However, it is no surprise that the Scotland defender’s return coincides with the current five-game winning run.

Souttar made a great early block from Nicolas Milanovic at Pittodrie and was constantly marshalling the backline, keeping the occasionally errant Emmanuel Fernandez close and focused.

Fernandez may be prone to the odd lapse but the 24-year-old, who was playing in England’s League One last season, is an imposing figure.

He has four goals from his run of 11 successive starts and was denied another by a debatable VAR review in Aberdeen.

A menace at set-pieces in the opposition box, he is handy at nodding them away at the other end too, and Nasser Djiga is likely to have to wait patiently on the bench now that he is back from the Africa Cup of Nations with Burkina Faso.

A “real togetherness” is helping Rangers, with defender John Souttar saying: “I think we’re building something here”.

Following a troubled start to the season, the Ibrox side will move second in the Scottish Premiership if they avoid defeat at home to Aberdeen on Tuesday.

Victory would move them three points behind Hearts at the summit.

Saturday’s 3-1 derby triumph away to Celtic was manager Danny Rohl’s ninth win in 12 league games since taking over from Russell Martin in October, while there has been just one loss in that run.

Scotland international Souttar said it was “so early” to be talking about silverware but did add: “There’s a real togetherness and I think we’re building something here.

“I think we can feel it. The manager, everyone involved can feel it, but it’s important we keep backing it up.”

Rohl inherited a squad short on confidence, with Rangers eight points behind Celtic and 13 adrift of Hearts.

“He’s clear on what he wants from everyone on the pitch,” said Souttar of the German.

“Tactically he’s really good and he can change it within games and he’s not scared to do it at half-time.”

Referencing the comeback win over Celtic, Souttar continued: “(Mohamed) Diomande came on (for Thelo Aasgaard) and brought real energy. Thelo was really good the other night, so I think it’s hard to pinpoint one or two things he’s good at but I really enjoy working with him.

“We just need to keep the momentum going, take it game by game because if we don’t back up on Tuesday there’s no point in doing that on Saturday, so every game’s massive and we keep going.”

The former Dundee player added: “It’s not nice. I’ll tell you that as a player’s perspective. It doesn’t leave you. It haunts you every minute of every day when you’re not winning.

“Getting home, not speaking to anybody, sitting on the couch, not moving, just doing that black screen instead of having the darts or having the football highlights on.

“But, as I said, that is what it comes with playing with Celtic. You need to take that pressure on. You need to get there. You need to show personality and at times within games, we’ve not done that good enough.

“Within the structure, we’ve not done it good enough. But that’s just the kind of rubbish message just now. We need to stick together and keep going.”

It was the second time in a matter of weeks that Celtic had led by one at the break but ended up losing after a similar defeat away to Dundee United.

“Rangers changed their shape and we didn’t react well enough to it,” said McCowan.

“We just aren’t reacting to it as well as we should be. It’s just not good enough.

“I’m probably going to say that at least 20 times in these interviews, but it needs to be better.

“Rangers can’t be coming here and winning 3-1. It’s just not good enough.”

Rangers were far from great, but they were dogged and they hung in there and when their chances came they buried them. Youssef Chermiti, of all people, was the chief tormentor. In nine pulsating minutes he doubled his total for the season and wrote his name into a new kind of Rangers pantheon – from zero to hero.

Nancy spoke later and in trying to talk his way through the latest submission from his team he only reaffirmed his sense of distance from footballing reality.

He mentioned that Celtic “deserved more” than a 3-1 loss, when they didn’t. Not taking their chances when they had them was on Celtic, not anybody else. Deserve had nothing to do with it. It was the Celtic board who created a situation where their manager was left with scant options upfront. From meagre rations, he plumped for Johnny Kenny. It didn’t work out.

The Frenchman made some comments about the loss not being about players and tactics. “It’s about moments, it’s about details,” he said, as if moments and details exist in a parallel universe from players and managers.

“It’s not about myself,” he said. Well, it is, but to a point. It’s also about the players he has confused and bewildered with his ill-fitting shape and the ideology he refuses to alter no matter how befuddled things become.

On Friday, he made much of how difficult it’s been to introduce his system without a pre-season to bed-in his ideas. He didn’t have a pre-season to work with his players and he didn’t have a transfer window to bring in more players that could play his system. And yet he pressed on with the system regardless. Stubbornness? Arrogance? Naivety? All three at once?

Danny Rohl went into Rangers, surveyed what he had and got pragmatic. Like Nancy, he needs new players, too. Many of them. But he’s found a way to drag his team forward when his counterpart has only succeeded in taking his players backwards in the pursuit of something that only he can see.

The soft progress achieved under Martin O’Neill has been sacrificed on the altar of “process” and some self-regarding notion that Nancy is a visionary who’s building a footballing monument.

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy insists he is still “together with the board” and believes “we can turn things around” despite falling to a sixth loss in eight games following the derby defeat to Rangers.

The Frenchman hailed an “outstanding” first half from his team, during which they took the lead through Yang Hyun-Jun and passed up several other chances.

However, their city rivals roared back in the second period and exposed the home side’s defensive fragility with a double from Youssef Chermiti and a third from Mikey Moore.

The 3-1 defeat means Rangers move level on points with second-placed Celtic, who could be six adrift of Hearts if the leaders beat Livingston later on Saturday.

While fans of the Parkhead side staged a post-match protest directed at the club board, Nancy told BBC Scotland: “It was disappointing because we deserved more today, but again we needed more goals.

“In the second half, we conceded three goals from throw-ins. It’s difficult to accept, but it’s reality. This is not about the players or the tactics, this is about moments.

“This is not about myself, this is about disappointing the fans because I know the meaning of this game. I can understand the disappointment, but I also saw what we’re able to do.

“We are really close, there are many things that can turn around. If it was not the case, I would not talk like this. I really believe we can turn things around.

“We are together with the board.”

Rangers are working round the clock to recruit players now that the January window is open, says head coach Danny Rohl.

With Rohl having been appointed in October, this winter period is the German’s first opportunity to make changes to his squad.

“We work at the moment 24/7 for players,” he said,

“It’s about decision making, it’s about negotiations, it’s about timing. We have some players in our mind but you have to be a little bit patient.

“You always hope as a manager, as a head coach to get very early the players in.

“January window you have to be patient, you have to be demanding, I think this is also important and you have to take the opportunities and there are opportunities in the market.”