Rangers 1-1 Tottenham: Spurs escape Ibrox cauldron with a point in Europa League Battle of Britain

They used to call these cross-border battles a ‘Battle of Britain’. Since 2006, Scottish teams have come to a gunfight with a water pistol. They have been sidelined, outwitted and sidelined.

Celtic’s win over Manchester United remains the last time an SPFL team 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 talisman Hamza Igamane.

When the Moroccan scored his fifth goal in five games, there was a chorus of ‘sacked in the morning’ from the Rangers supporters as their former Celtic bete noire Ange Postecoglou stood motionless, his hands buried deep in his pockets.

In the end it wasn’t meant to be. Although a point takes Philippe Clement’s side one step closer to the knockout stages of the Europa League, they deserved more.

Igamane was a force of nature, Nico Raskin played his best game in a Rangers shirt, while Vaclav Cerny’s energy was relentless. For over an hour, Postecoglou’s lackluster team performed like day trippers at a bachelor party.

Substitute Dejan Kulusevski earned a point they barely deserved with a clinical finish past Jack Butland with 15 minutes to play, and even then they held on.

In the closing moments of a breathless game, much-maligned Rangers substitute Cyriel Dessers could have won twice more, a late goal disallowed for offside.

About a month ago the soundtrack to an Ibrox day out was boos at the final whistle. The applause that followed a performance of courage, intensity and effort from most of the 48,064 spectators reflected the rapidly changing mood in 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 evokes a sense of foreboding.

What impact this mammoth effort against English Premier League opponents has on events at Hampden remains to be seen, with an injury to centre-back John Souttar a source of legitimate concern.

They have significantly less time to rest and recover than their rivals, but if Rangers can find a way to replicate the energy and spirit they have summoned here, Postecoglou’s former team – like his current one – will know they are in sit a game.

Over the past five years, Tottenham has been the fourth biggest net spender in a league where money is no object. Despite all the brickbats coming his way – and there were more from his own supporters here – Daniel Levy has spent £460 million on players. Dominic Solanke alone cost £64 million.

You wouldn’t have known it for large parts of a game if Rangers were just making their richer opponents look ordinary. In short, 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 left former Celtic stopper Fraser Forster in for a night of relentless booing, compounded by his participation in a pre-match huddle reminiscent of Parkhead’s trademark away fans.

The loss of centre-backs Ben Davies, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, meanwhile, added to the air of vulnerability around a team with one win in their last eight games.

Rangers smelled blood and went for the kill, Forster was the busier of the two goalkeepers on 90 minutes as they earned the breakthrough before it came from the unstoppable Igamane, who quickly became a revelation.

A sign of things to come came when Nedim Bajrami overlapped the lively, hungry Cerny and smashed a fizzing shot on target. Forster did a brilliant job of tapping the ball over the bar and off we went. The gun had sounded.

When Igamane’s first pass picked out the Czech winger on the right of the area, Forster had to go down low to make the save. Moments later, Jefte rolled the most enticing ball past goal and it screamed for Bajrami’s boot to stretch out and push Ibrox into orbit.

Tottenham’s vulnerability was there for all the world to see. Delighted by the opening half hour and the intensity of their team, the home support loved every raucous minute. The 2,500 Spurs supporters in a far corner of Ibrox stood in pensive silence.

Mohamed Diomande’s unnecessary yellow card for intentional handball will see the midfielder ruled out of the next match against Manchester United in January. Of greater significance for Rangers was the sight of Souttar falling to the pitch with no one around ten minutes before the break.

When a player with Souttar’s injury record drops, it is rarely good news. The centre-back limped off gingerly after 35 minutes with what appeared to be a groin injury. Leon Balogun took his place.

With one eye on Sunday’s cup final, the anxious silence this time belonged to Rangers’ support.

Their concern was misplaced. It took 39 minutes for a formless, confused Spurs side to make Butland save 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 fortunate to enter the break goalless. They had hardly been to the races.

It was normal to expect some kind of reaction.

Postecoglou threw Kulusevski in place of the deplorable Timo Werner. The change did not quite have the intended effect.

James Tavernier made his 53rd Europa League appearance and marked the occasion with the cross that almost took Ibrox off the roof two minutes into the second half.

The Moroccan bounced all the way to Igamane and smashed the ball past Forster and the reaction at Ibrox felt like the equivalent of a tremor at the core of the earth.

For Spurs to find a way back into the game, they needed to improve their play.

While Tottenham drew energy from the arrivals of Solanke, Pape Sarr and Lucas Bergvall, Rangers started to tire. The intensity of the opening hour came at a price.

Butland made a big save to save Pedro Porro at the back post. When white-cut Rangers opened with their sharpest move of the match, there was nothing he could do to prevent Kulusevski turning back a low shot into the net from 14 yards.

Dazzling skill and a characteristically dull finish and then an offside flag denied Dessers the final word.

Not for the first time on a torrid evening, Tottenham had earned a break they hardly deserved.