Rangers come from behind for opening day victory

Two goals in just 101 seconds saw Rangers come from behind to secure a 2-1 win over Livingston on the opening day of the new season.

Jon Nouble stunned the Ibrox side as he lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin to give the hosts the lead after just four minutes at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

Livi frustrated Rangers as the struggled to create any real chances in the first half as the new Scottish Premiership season got underway in West Lothian.

New Rangers signing Antonio Colak saw his goal disallowed for offside before midfielder Scott Arfield came off the bench to head in the equaliser in the 73rd minute.

The visitors were hungry for more and captain James Tavernier quickly curled a free-kick into the net to take the lead.

It is the second season in a row Rangers have claimed a victory over Livingston on the opening day.

Rangers get title bid off to winning start

It had been a fraught afternoon for Rangers fans who saw Jon McLaughlin preferred to last season’s number one Allan McGregor in goal.

There were competitive debuts for John Souttar, Tom Lawrence, and Antonio Colak for the away side while goalkeeper Shamal George was making his Livi debut after signing from Colchester United.

The game was paused in the opening minutes by referee Don Robertson to allow some smoke from away fans’ pyrotechnics to clear from the Livingston box.

However, the enthusiasm of the Gers supporters was soon dampened when the home side took the lead with a route one goal.

George sent a long ball up the park, skipper Nicky Devlin headed on and Souttar failed to deal with the danger as Nouble moved behind him to lob McLaughlin from inside the box for his first Lions goal.

Rangers response was predictable and frantic as a series of crosses and free-kicks into the packed penalty area were repelled by a well-organised Livi defence.

Livingston should have doubled their lead in the 27th minute when Andrew Shinnie’s searching free-kick found Ayo Obileye unmarked but he headed straight into the arms of McLaughlin.

Rangers resumed their dominance but the goal would not come.

Malik Tillman, on loan from Bayern Munich, replaced Scott Wright at the start of the second half to make his debut for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side and helped the visitors step up the pressure.

However, Livingston held firm and maintained a threat on the break, with the height and power of Nouble proving a handful.

Colak had the ball in the net in the 54th minute but was ruled offside before Tillman had a close-range drive saved by George.

John Lundstram, Tillman, Tavernier and Borna Barisic all had efforts as the Govan men kept pushing before Arfield, who was brought on with James Sands for Souttar and Glen Kamara in the 67th minute, headed in a cross from Ryan Kent.

It was a full turnaround two minutes later when skipper Tavernier curled in a free-kick from just outside the box.

The Light Blue relief was palpable with Livi’s commendable efforts ultimately counting for nothing.

What’s next

Rangers will travel to Belgium for the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round clash with Union Saint Gilloise on Tuesday with optimism after their opening day victory.

They return to host Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership on August 6.

Livingston travel to Dundee United on August 7.

The new Scottish Premiership season with Sky Sports

Up to 48 live matches from the Scottish Premiership plus the play-off finals.Live coverage presented by Eilidh Barbour with analysis from Kris Boyd and Andy Walker, and more.Round the clock coverage on Sky Sports News, on skysports.com and across our Sky Sports social channels.Free-to-watch highlights of every Scottish Premiership game on our website.Sky Sports is your ultimate destination for domestic football with live coverage of the Premier League, EFL, Scottish Premiership and the Women’s Super League.Find out more about Sky Sports