´No excuses´ for Smith as Rangers held

Walter Smith refused to blame player burnout after Rangers saw their lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League reduced to one point as Inverness Caledonian Thistle struck late to snatch a 1-1 draw at Ibrox.

A superb strike from Maurice Edu early in the first-half looked to be enough to continue the Gers’ winning run on Saturday.

But despite chances to increase their lead it was substitute Eric Odhiambo who prodded home the equaliser eight minutes from time as Inverness remain undefeated away from home since November 2009.

Rangers’ were aiming for their best start to a season for 112 years but the Ibrox side have had a tough run of games with matches against Champions League rivals Valencia, Celtic, a League Cup quarter-final against Kilmarnock and Inverness in the space of the past 10 days.

Smith’s small squad has been stretched thin with only four new players signed in the past two years coupled with several summer departures but the manager said tiredness shouldn’t come into the equation at this stage of the season.

“I don’t think tiredness is a factor and I don’t think warnings are necessary,” the Rangers manager said.

“We have got a lot of big games and it is going to be difficult but it would be difficult for any group of players.

“When you look over the teams that have to play in the Champions League it is difficult, you have to say that.

“If someone wants to use that as an excuse on our part then fine but I’m certainly not using that one; I’d rather be involved in the Champions League than not.

“When we look at our performance it wasn’t up to what we would have expected from our team.”

Rangers were looking for their tenth win in a row in the league to maintain the three-point advantage they gained over Celtic following their 3-1 win in last weekend’s Old Firm derby.

But their draw coupled with the Hoops 3-0 win over ten-men St Johnstone reduced the deficit to just one.

And Smith said it was a sloppy performance against an Inverness side who were the last team to win in the league at Ibrox some 19 months ago.

“?I am just disappointed as normally in the second-half of the game slackness can creep in but it was happening in the first-half,” the Rangers manager said.

“We warned them at half-time that unless they stepped up their game there was a possibility Caley could get back in.

“In the second-half Allan McGregor had one great save and that should have been enough of a warning for us but unfortunately it wasn’t and we lost a goal so we have no complaints.

“I felt Caley themselves played very well and were very compact and difficult to break down.

“But really we never reached or played at the pace that we should have during the game.

“We always look at ourselves and our own performances more than anything else and that wasn’t one of our best ones.”

Goalscorer Edu came off at half-time after he failed to recover from a bad challenge by Richie Foran, which saw the Inverness skipper booked. And Smith revealed the midfielder was a doubt for Tuesday’s trip to Valencia.

“We will have to see how it is. He took a bad kick to his calf,” the Gers gaffer said.

“Vladimir Weiss has also had a bit of a heel injury that was causing him a little bit of a problem even in the warm-up.

“He had to come off at half-time as well so both are doubtful for Tuesday’s game.”

At McDiarmid Park a Niall McGinn double and a Emilio Izaguirre goal got Celtic back to winning ways with a 3-0 win over St Johnstone who had Danny Grainger sent off late on.