Rangers vs Hamilton Academical. Scottish Premiership.
Ibrox Stadium.
Report and free match highlights as Rangers restore nine-point lead over Celtic with eight-goal win over Hamilton; Joe Aribo, Kemar Roofe and James Tavernier score braces, Scott Arfield and Brandon Barker also on target; Rock-bottom Hamilton fail to register shot
Monday 9 November 2020 06:11, UK
Rangers restored their nine-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a ruthless 8-0 demolition of Hamilton at Ibrox.
The pressure was on Steven Gerrard's league leaders to respond after Celtic's 4-1 victory at Motherwell cut the gap to six points, and respond they did, in devastating fashion.
Scott Arfield opened the floodgates and Rangers were three up inside 19 minutes, as goals from Kemar Roofe and Joe Aribo completed a three-minute three-goal flurry to put the game beyond the Accies.
Aribo and Roofe doubled their tallies either side of the interval before substitute Brandon Barker and a double from captain James Tavernier sealed the biggest and most emphatic victory of Gerrard's tenure.
The chastening defeat leaves Hamilton rooted to the bottom of the table without a win since September, the only positive for Brian Rice's side being that they narrowly avoided equalling the biggest losing margin in Scottish top-flight history by a goal.
Arfield set Rangers on their way just after the quarter-hour mark, clinically prodding the ball home from Ryan Kent's cross from the left.
With the floodgates open the second soon followed, Roofe rising high to head Tavernier's cross into the bottom corner from six yards.
Two become three on 19 minutes, Aribo's low drive taking two deflections on its way past the hapless Ryan Fulton in the Hamilton goal.
Fulton produced a fine save to keep Kent's near-post drive out, but Rangers would have another before the break, Aribo doubling his tally with another deflected strike after Roofe brilliantly recycled play.
Gerrard handed Bongani Zungu his debut and introduced Calvin Bassey at the break, and Rangers' insatiable goal pursuit yielded a fifth within nine minutes of the restart, as Roofe rifled in a rebound after Kent's teasing cross came back off the post.
Bassey and Jermain Defoe combined in the build-up to Rangers' sixth, with the sweeping move ending with Barker slotting home moments after he came off the bench.
Four minutes later, Defoe was chopped down in the box by Hakeem Odoffin but Tavernier took charge of the set-piece duties, rifling Rangers' seventh down the centre of the goal.
And Tavernier was on hand to convert a rebound after Roofe's shot was parried by Fulton, taking the defender's tally for the season to 12 goals as Rangers' eighth left them on the cusp of an historic victory.
Defoe very nearly delivered a record-equalling ninth but fired a late effort against the post as he somehow failed to get on the scoresheet on an afternoon when his team-mates ran riot.
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard: "I have been on to these players, probably on to them too much, about keeping standards no matter what stage the game is at. It pleased me at half-time that we carried on looking to score goals and win even more emphatically.
"It has been coming, we have threatened to do that. But the pleasing thing today was that we were very clinical. We suffocated Hamilton from start to finish, we stayed on them and never took our foot off the gas and you could see the quality throughout the squad.
"Look, we are not at the stage yet where we can play with ego in any game or at any stage. We are trying to become a winning team, a successful team. We are in no position to disrespect any opponent or any team. It is about Rangers trying to be as strong for as long as we can and be as consistent as we can."
Hamilton manager Brian Rice: "Listen, we are down there bottom of the league for a reason. There's only one way we can go and that's up. But you've got to want to go up and fight.
"I'll take the blame for everything. I'll hold my hands up. I'll take it. I've got to get better and I've got to make sure they want to get better.
"But it didn't seem to affect Southampton. That's what I'd say to the players. They lost 9-0 to Leicester last season and this weekend were top of the English Premier League. So things can change quickly in football."
In a team packed full of stellar performances, it was that of the Rangers captain which really shone.
Tavernier was the driving force behind Rangers' unwillingness to let up the pace in the second period, scoring two goals to go with his first half assist for Roofe's opener.
His second-half brace took his tally for the season to a dozen goals in all competitions, a remarkable feat for a defender.
After the international break, Rangers host Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership on November 22 at 12pm - live on Sky Sports Football.
Hamilton face Stranraer at 7.30pm on Wednesday and Albion Rovers at 3pm on Saturday in the group stages of the Scottish League Cup, before returning the Scottish Premiership action at Dundee United on November 21 at 3pm.
