Livingston 1-2 Rangers: Player ratings + talking points as Bournemouth loanee strikes at the death to snatch first league win

Rangers boss Russell Martin finally ended his wait for a first Scottish Premiership victory at the sixth time of asking in dramatic style as Max Aarons' stoppage-time winner secured an unconvincing 2-1 win over spirited Livingston.

It appeared for a long time that the Light Blues’ winless streak would continue after Mo Sylla’s header had cancelled out James Tavernier’s first-half opener before on loan Bournemouth defender Aarons smashed home a loose ball in the 94th minute.

The under-fire Ibrox boss declared ahead of kick-off that he wanted his players to start “hunting teams down” in search of getting points on the board after a diabolical start to the campaign.

Promoted Livi were aiming to catch the league's 11th-placed team cold in the knowledge that this was arguably their best opportunity to end their near seven-year wait for a victory over their vulnerable opponents.

And the hosts got off to a electric start in the West Lothian sunshine by laying down an early statement of intent when veteran frontman Stevie May forced goalkeeper Jack Butland into an early save.

It was clear from the outset that Livingston were eager to apply pressure on the visitors leaky rear-guard. They were getting plenty of joy in the early exchanges with Lewis Smith next to try his luck with a curling shot that flashed narrowly wide of the target.

The returning Bojan Miovski carved out Rangers first chance on goal after 12 minutes. The North Macedonian frontman managed to evade the offside trap and finding some space in behind Livi's high defensive line before being forced off balance and lifting his effort over the crossbar.

The visiting supporters occupied three quarters of the ground despite their side's struggles so far this term. But they were given something to cheer after 23 minutes when a well-worked move from left to right involving both wingers Djeidi Gassama and Oliver Antman resulted in captain James Tavernier hooking the ball acrobatically high into the roof of the net - the full-back's fourth goal of the season and only the second time Rangers have taken the lead domestically.

Rangers were then awarded a penalty after a VAR review with May deemed the culprit for pulling back Nicolas Raskin's jersey at a corner. Referee John Beaton missed the incident initially before being called over to the pitch side monitor for a second look.

Up stepped Tavernier whose spot-kick attempt was saved well by Jerome Prior in the Livingston goal before the ball eventually ricocheted back into the grateful Frenchman's arms after a scramble in the six-yard box.

Prior came up trumps again for the home side after 37 minutes, producing a sensational reflex save down low to his left after seeing the ball late through a cluster of bodies to keep out Connor Barron's drilled effort from the edge of the box.

Rangers were beginning to turn the screw as half-time approached. Neat build-up play saw Raskin have a goal-bound shot blocked behind for a corner, from which Tavernier's pinpoint delivery found Miovski who forced Prior into an outstanding point-blank stop.

Martin's men kept knocking on the door and thought they had increased their advantage two minutes before the interval when new signing Derek Cornelius had the ball in the net after a fine volleyed finish, but the goal was disallowed with the ball deemed to have struck the Canadian's hand in the build-up.

A return to basics had helped the visitors produce one their most impressive display's to date this term, but question marks remained over whether could they sustain it for a full 90 minutes and not let Livingston back into the contest. The answer was no.

Instead, Martin's side reverted back to their old ways by taking too many touches on the ball and inviting pressure onto themselves. The intensity in their play had dropped significantly as if they knew three points well already in the bag and Livi could sense a route back into the match.

Butland was called upon again to palm away May's shot from the left-hand side of the box following a clever move which started from a simple throw-in. But the inevitable did happen and Livingston's persistence paid off with a deserved equaliser on 68 minutes.

A short corner routine saw Celtic loanee Adam Montgomery combine with May before picking out former Dundee midfield enforcer Mo Sylla who leapt highest to bullet and downward header past the outstretched Butland into the net.

The tide had well untruly turned as the travelling support directed chants of “Martin get to f***” towards the visitors dugout. And the home crowd jokingly responded with a rendition of “there's only one Russell Martin”.

With the game now firmly on a knife edge, the Gers boss rang the changes, perhaps knowing how costly another defeat could be for him. Joe Rothwell, Max Aarons, £8m signing Youssef Chermiti, Mikey Moore and Nedim Bajrami were all introduced in the closing stages, with the overzealous Albanian almost immediately picking up a booking for a foul.

A tame Moore effort then failed to trouble Prior as the match descended into the first of eight minutes of injury-time before the hosts break forward on the counter after Tavernier was caught in possession high up the field, but Jeremy Bokila failed to pick out a team-mate with his low delivery.

Rangers were running out of time to nick a winner after Miovski's header from close range was expertly tipped over the bar by Prior. But the unthinkable did occur in the 94th minute when another Tavernier corner eventually made it's way to Aarons who found himself in the right place at the right time to rifle low into the net, sparking bedlam among the boisterous travelling support.

However, that goal did little to quell the anger of the Gers fans who were back to instructing their head coach where to go as the full-time whistle sounded. A sigh of relief for Martin, who secures that elusive first win he so desperately craved.

Here, GlasgowWorld breaks down three main talking points from the 90 minutes and how the Rangers players fared:

Cometh the man, cometh the captain

Once again, the Rangers skipper stepped up to the plate by pitching in with another hugely important goal that helped set the tone for the rest of the first-half. Tavernier’s sublime acrobatics provided the platform for this long overdue first league win.

Barron instrumental in ending barren run

Back in the starting line-up after impressing in recent cameo outings, former Aberdeen midfield Barron was a prominent figure throughout the match and could count himself unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet. Rangers’ midfield looked more enterprising with Barron sitting deep and pulling the stress to allow Nicolas Raskin to play with more freedom.

Aarons banishes Brugge demons with late strike

It has been an extremely challenging period for Max Aarons following his calamitous display in the crushing Champions League defeat over in Brugge. Since then, the experienced Cherries defender has slipped well down the pecking order and has had to bide his time to get back in. His late heroics will give him a huge morale boost.

Rangers player ratings vs Livingston

GK - Jack Butland (6/10)

RB - James Tavernier (7/10)

RCB - John Souttar (5/10)

LCB - Derek Cornelius (6/10)

LB - Jayden Meghoma (5/10)

CM - Nicolas Raskin (6/10)

CM - Connor Barron (8/10)

CAM - Thelo Aasgaard (4/10)

LCF - Djeidi Gassama (5/10)

RCF - Oliver Antman (5/10)

CF - Bojan Miovski (4/10)

Subs used: Joe Rothwell (3/10), Max Aarons (5/10), Youssef Chermiti (3/10), Mikey Moore (4/10), Nedim Bajrami (2/10)