In days of old, they would bill these cross-border bunfights as a ‘Battle of Britain’. Since 2006, Scottish teams have turned up bearing a water pistol to a gun fight. They’ve been outspent, outgunned and outplayed.
Celtic’s win over Manchester United remains the last time a team from the SPFL claimed the upper hand. That was 18 years ago.
How close Rangers came here to bucking that trend.
Until the 75th minute, the ‘pub league’ led the ‘tourist league’ thanks to a clinical strike from the talismanic Hamza Igamane.
When the Moroccan scored his fifth goal in five games, the Rangers support belted out a chorus of ‘sacked in the morning’ as their former Celtic bete noire Ange Postecoglou stood motionless, hands buried deep in his pockets.
It wasn’t to be in the end. While a point propels Philippe Clement’s team one step closer to the knock-out stage of the Europa League, they deserved more.
Hamza Igamane fires home the opening goal in Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Tottenham at Ibrox
Substitute Dejan Kulusevski’s goal earned Spurs a Europa League point they barely merited
Under-fire Ange Postecoglou found himself under more pressure when Spurs fell behind
Igamane was a force of nature, Nico Raskin had his best game in a Rangers shirt, while Vaclav Cerny’s energy was relentless. For well over an hour, Postecoglou’s lacklustre team performed like day trippers on a stag do.
Substitute Dejan Kulusevski earned a point they barely merited with a clinical finish past Jack Butland with 15 minutes to play and even then they clung on.
In the final moments of a breathless game, the much-maligned Rangers substitute Cyriel Dessers could have won it twice, a late strike ruled out for offside.
A month or so ago, the soundtrack to an Ibrox day out was boos at the final whistle. The applause which followed a performance of courage, intensity and endeavour from most of a 48,064 crowd reflected the rapidly changing mood around the club.
After weeks of dreading a double-header against Spurs and Celtic, Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final against their oldest rivals no longer provokes a sense of foreboding.
What impact this gargantuan effort against English Premier League opponents has upon events at Hampden remains to be seen, an injury to central defender John Souttar a source of legitimate concern.
They have significantly less time to rest and recuperate than their rivals, but if Rangers can find a way to replicate the energy and spirit they summoned here, Postecoglou’s former team — like his current one — will know they’re in a game.
Over the last five years, Tottenham have been the fourth biggest net spenders in a league where money is no object. For all the brickbats coming his way — and there were more from his own supporters here — Daniel Levy has lavished £460million on players. Dominic Solanke, alone, cost £64m.
You wouldn’t have known it for large chunks of a game when Rangers made their wealthier opponents look ordinary. Bluntly, they were the better team.
Postecoglou will cite the biggest injury crisis of his 25 years in management. The loss of his first-choice goalkeeper teed former Celtic stopper Fraser Forster up for a night of relentless booing, exacerbated by his participation in a pre-match huddle reminiscent of the Parkhead trademark in front of the away support.
The loss of central defenders Ben Davies, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero added, meanwhile, to the air of vulnerability around a team with one win in their last eight games.
Smelling blood, Rangers went for the kill, Forster the busier of the two keepers in a 90 minutes when they deserved the breakthrough before it came from the irrepressible Igamane, fast becoming a revelation.
A sign of things to come arrived when Nedim Bajrami overlapped the lively, hungry Cerny and thumped a fizzing shot at goal. Forster did brilliantly to tip the ball over the bar and we were off and running. The gun had sounded.
When Igamane’s first-time pass picked out the Czech winger on the right side of the area, Forster was forced down low to save. Moments later, Jefte rolled the most enticing ball along the face of goal and it was crying out for the boot of Bajrami to stretch out and prod Ibrox into orbit.
Tottenham’s vulnerability was there for the world to see. Delighted by the opening half hour and the intensity of their team, the home support revelled in every raucous minute. The 2,500 Spurs supporters in a far corner of Ibrox stood in pensive silence.
Mohamed Diomande’s needless yellow card for deliberate handball rules the midfielder out of the next game against Manchester United in January. Of more importance to Rangers was the sight of Souttar dropping to the turf with no one near him 10 minutes before the interval.
When a player with Souttar’s injury record goes down, it’s rarely good news. The central defender limped gingerly from the fray after 35 minutes with what looked like a groin issue, Leon Balogun taking his place.
With one eye on Sunday’s cup final the apprehensive hush belonged, this time, to the Rangers support.
Their concern was misplaced. It took 39 minutes for a shapeless, dishevelled Spurs side to give Butland a save to make from James Maddison, before the offside flag was raised high in the air. Butland couldn’t have known that, of course.
When Cerny forced Forster into a block with his legs before half-time, Spurs were lucky to get in at the break goalless. They’d barely been at the races.
It was natural to expect a reaction of some kind.
Postecoglou threw Kulusevski on for the lamentable Timo Werner. The change didn’t have quite the impact intended.
Making his 53rd appearance in the Europa League, James Tavernier marked the occasion with the cross which almost took the roof off Ibrox two minutes into the second half.
Bouncing all the way through to Igamane, the Moroccan slammed the ball past Forster and the reaction at Ibrox felt like the equivalent of a tremor at the earth’s core.
For Spurs to find a way back in to the contest, they had to up their game.
While Tottenham drew energy from the arrival of Solanke, Pape Sarr and Lucas Bergvall, Rangers began to tire. The intensity of the opening hour came at a price.
Butland made a big save to deny Pedro Porro at the back post. When the team in white cut Rangers open with their most incisive move of the match, he could do nothing to prevent Kulusevski reversing a low shot into the net from 14 yards.
Dazzling skill and a characteristically duff finish and then an offside flag denied Dessers the final say.
Not for the first time on a torrid night, Tottenham had earned a let-off they barely merited.
