McDowall Sorry For Rangers Cup Exit

Rangers caretaker manager Kenny McDowall apologised to supporters after the troubled club were knocked out of the William Hill Scottish Cup by Raith Rovers.

Rangers' Scottish Championship rivals secured their first victory at Ibrox since 1959 when former Hearts striker Christian Nade bundled home a 75th-minute winner after Steve Simonsen and Richard Foster failed to deal with Jason Thomson's driven cross under pressure from Mark Stewart.

The 2-1 victory ended a typically chaotic week at the club, which saw McDowall claim he had been told to start all five loan signings from Newcastle when fit and continued with anger over the board's decision to host a crucial general meeting to decide their fate at a 500-seat conference room in London.

The unrest saw hundreds gather outside Ibrox before the game to protest against the board and an official attendance of 11,422 inside the ground venting their fury at the players after a disjointed display.

When asked what his message to the fans was, McDowall said: Just apologise that we have been knocked out another cup.

They come to watch their team and they pay good money and it's our job to get a win on the day and we have failed. So we apologise for that.''

Rovers came closest to a first-half goal when Paul Watson headed against the inside of a post and they took the lead when Ryan Conroy curled home a 54th-minute free-kick.

Haris Vuckic levelled with a tidy finish eight minutes later, but Rangers failed to build on the goal and their fate was sealed when substitute Kris Boyd headed wide from six yards in the last minute.

McDowall, who has suffered three defeats in five games in caretaker charge, blamed cheap goals'' for the defeat.

I thought it was a tight affair up to half-time and that we were well in it,'' he said.

I told the boys to be patient and I thought if we could get the first goal we would have gone on to win it fairly comfortably.

Yet again we have given ourselves an uphill struggle by conceding cheap goals.

The goals are the main factor. It's hard enough playing teams without giving them a goal of a start.

To concede two goals made it very difficult. After getting one back we couldn't really keep any pressure on and we gave another one away fairly cheaply and paid the penalty.''

Like Ally McCoist, who is on garden leave, McDowall is working a 12-month notice period and he does not look comfortable in the hot seat.

I'm trying my best to lift them as best I can,'' he said.But we are professional people. It's our duty. We get paid and we have to turn up and do our work.''

In the end McDowall was only able to field two Newcastle players with the others unfit and Remie Streete did not last until half-time before limping off.

And McDowall declined to comment on whether his team selection revelation on Thursday might have unsettled the players.

I have covered that,'' he said.I am not going back over it. At the end of the day we had a cup tie that we lost 2-1, mainly due to conceding two goals that we probably shouldn't have.

I thought Haris did very well and Remie was doing well until he got his injury. Haris took his goal very well and contributed well to the team.''

Raith manager Grant Murray praised his team for ignoring the off-field hype and doing the business on the pitch.

There's a lot of media attention around the tie because of what's happening at Rangers and the players they brought in through the week,'' the former Hearts player said.

It was important we only focused on the game itself because we knew come three o'clock that whatever 11 players walked out with the Rangers strip on, they were going to be playing to win.

That's one place they can switch off from everything that is happening at the club.

We knew it would be a difficult game and it was. Rangers had a lot of possession at times, but we defended well as a team, hit them on the break on numerous occasions and I thought we were worthy winners in the end.''

The 40,000 stay-away Rangers fans were not the only ones to miss the defeat with the club confirming that all board members were absent too.

Derek Llambias, James Easdale, Barry Leach and David Somers, who all face removal from the plc board at the March 4 general meeting, were not at Ibrox and neither was club board chairman Sandy Easdale.

A club statement read: It is regrettable that the board of Rangers Football Club were not in attendance at today's important Scottish Cup tie against Raith Rovers.

Given the events over the past few days and after advice from the club, the decision was made not to attend the game.

The board has a duty of care to the fans, staff and stewards to ensure safety at the ground at all times and they believe this was the correct decision.''