By Craig Rae
A manic start the second half helped Rangers romp to a victory at Ibrox as West Ham United visited to play the club’s second full friendly of pre-season.
Ibrox was emotional before the match as tributes were paid to the legendary Andy Goram and Davie Wilson and a minute’s silence was impeccably observed by both sets of supporters.
Rangers started strongly and in control of the ball, but it was the Hammers who had the first chance in the 16th minute when Jon McLaughlin made an impressive double save from Michail Antonio who was clean through on goal.
Antonio Colak then had a golden chance to score his first Rangers goal as Nayef Aguerd slipped in the box and Colak was through on goal, but the defender made a great recovery.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst made three changes at half-time, with Sands, Matondo and Lawrence coming on and the latter made an instant impact by scoring and picking up an assist as soon as the second half started.
The first came after Tavernier played a ball through to Matondo, who drilled the ball across to the Welshman to score his 1st first Rangers goal and
he immediately added to his goal contributions when a good move allowed him to thread to ball through to Ryan Kent on the left who smashed the ball past Fabianski.
Glen Kamara came close to adding a fourth five mins later as he fired over from a Barisic cross, with Rangers looking dangerous from both sides of the pitch.
Rangers continued to pressure the West Ham defence and a slack West Ham pass allowed Tavernier to cross the ball to Lawrence, his touch looking like it got away from him, but Matondo picked the ball up and rifled it into the top left-hand corner.
The 8-minute second half blitz meant the result was secured and it allowed Rangers to freshen up the squad, with Sakala replacing the hard-working Antonio Colak.
West Ham pulled a goal back, however, with Soucek taking advantage from a corner to force the ball home.
Rangers continued to make more changes, with Arfield, McCann and Devine each all getting a 15-minute run out.
It was a slow end to the game which resembled a classic pre-season match, but Rangers should be proud of a top-class performance against one of the best sides in England.
Rangers: McLaughlin, Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar (Sands), Barisic (Devine), Jack (Lawrence), Kamara (McCann), Lundstram, Wright (Matondo), Kent (Arfield), Colak (Sakala)
West Ham: Fabianksi, Johnson, Zouma, Aguerd, Cresswell, Rice, Lanzini, Fornals, Benramha, Bowen, Antonio
Man of the Match: Tom Lawrence
