BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS AT IBROX
The tears belonged to former Gers midfielder Ian Ferguson who was surprisingly rested by Pars boss Jimmy Calderwood, who admitted that the 33-year-old had been blurry eyed when informed of the bad news.
Ferguson felt that his manager was joking, but, in a tactical reshuffle, Calderwood laid out an ambitious 2-4-4 formation in a bid to pressurise the home side, although these plans were altered during the match.
The visitors could have taken a shock lead when Barry Nicholson raced clean through, controlled the ball superbly, but allowed Stefan Klos to pull off a smart save when advancing from his line.
It was inevitable that the former Ibrox man would pay for that miss, and that was almost the case when Fernando Ricksen was left unmarked at the far post to head Kenny Miller`s deep cross against the top of the bar.
Turkish international Tugay finally broke the deadlock with a stunning strike, good enough to grace any game.
With the influential Youssef Roussi grounded after a strong challenge, Arthur Numan`s centre was only partially cleared by Scott Thomson and Tugay was able to tee up a cracking drive that dopped over Marco Ruitenbeek`s despairing dive.
Bert Konterman had a free kick saved before Tony Vidmar was stretchered off with a hamstring injury, as both sides battled it out in a match featured live on Sky`s pay-per-view Box Office.
Michael Mols nearly scored with his first touch, after coming off the bench, when his effort was half-saved by Ruitenbeek and then hacked away by Thomson, as it still headed for the net.
Tugay clearly had his shooting boots on, lashing another impressive effort against a post, and Reyna brought the best out of Ruitenbeek but Dunfermline gradually began to limit the amount of chances falling to the hosts.
Miller went close on a couple of occasions, but, with Rossi superbly marshalling the threat of Mols and Tore Andre Flo, the game turned into a fierce battle with no quarter being asked or given.
Indeed, Gary Mason could have stolen a point for the sixth-placed Pars when he went through into the area, late on, only to be crowded out with Klos pulling off a brave save.
With two minutes left on the clock, Mols finally eased the growing frustration and anxiety of the home crowd by calmly accepting a great opportunity to tuck a right-footed finish wide of Ruitenbeek into the net.
