INVERNESS were 4-0 down after 28 minutes of this match and it looked like they had called back to base for reinforcements when a troop of soldiers in desert fatigues started to assemble in the corner of Ibrox to the right of Michael Fraser’s goal. Yet although they belonged to the battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, it soon transpired these were Rangers fans, as they indicated by pulling out scarfs and flags and flourishing them after coming down the staircase from the Broomloan Road stand.

The stadium hollered its delight and gave them another standing ovation in the centre circle at half-time, by which point Rangers were 5-0 ahead and this game was over. The second half never stood a chance as a spectacle and Barry Ferguson found himself rather upstaged as he made his long-awaited return from injury by strolling through the last 34 minutes of it. With Rangers facing four games over the next fortnight, starting at home to Dundee United on Tuesday, he will soon have plenty opportunities to improve his match fitness, and he also hopes to play some part in Scotland’s friendly with Argenti-na on November 19. “I spoke to George Burley yesterday, we had a good chat for 10-15 minutes on the phone,” said Ferguson afterwards. “I just need to see how much game time I get, then it’s down to him, but of course I want to be involved. If I am considered, great.”

The watching squaddies saw their team quickly dismantle the visitors. If Kris Boyd, who claimed his hat-trick ravenously, was the front line of attack then Pedro Mendes provided the intelligence from deep. His damaging passes resembled those key tactical strikes which often determine the outcome of modern conflicts, yet it must also be noted that Inverness were prone to shooting themselves in the foot. “That was the worst 45 minutes I have seen from a Caley side,” said Craig Brewster, their manager, of the first half.

The scoring started after just seven minutes, following the award of what Brewster felt was a soft free-kick when Ross Tokely challenged Boyd on the edge of the box. Steven Davis touched it to Boyd and Fraser allowed his low, hard shot to slip from his grasp. Nacho Novo was eagerly on the scene of this maladroit spill to get Ibrox going. After a fortnight of discussion on whether the Spaniard could play for Scotland was ended by an SFA statement on Friday, Smith couldn’t help but smile at a question which suggested it had been a “tough” time for the forward. “Tough for him wondering what country he was born in?” he replied. “Nacho is one of those boys who sometimes gets a wee bit frustrated when we don’t play him but he always gives you something when he does play. He’s a good lad, whatever country he comes from.”

Fraser was probably still mulling that first error over in his mind, when he promptly made another. This time with a stray kick which went straight to Mendes, of all people. The Portuguese tamed the ball and played it back through a bedraggled Inverness defence. Kenny Miller, who raced onto it, was maybe off-side while Boyd, who scored after Miller squared the ball to him, definitely was, but was not deemed ‘active’ in the initial phase of the goal. Mendes was soon at it again, this time robbing Russell Duncan as he read Dougie Imrie’s pass to his colleague on the edge of their box. Mendes snapped into the tackle, then provided the through pass and Boyd was again in to score. He soon had his hat-trick, with a typically emphatic penalty, after David Proctor nicked Miller in the box.

Boyd, his goal-lust temporarily sated, now started to get soft, squaring the ball to Miller when Mendes cut it in behind the Inverness defence. With time and space to score, his partner pulled his shot high over the bar. Miller is much better when he does not have time to dwell on a chance and, sure enough, he scored instinctively with a sidefoot volley just before half-time, after Novo’s cross deflected invitingly toward his astute run.

The second half was tame in comparison. Boyd thought he had his fourth goal and Rangers’ sixth when he nodded in a Kirk Broadfoot cross, but his nudge in Proctor’s back saw it disallowed. Inverness might have had a consolation goal when Ian Black almost caught Allan McGregor out with a dipping David Bentley-esque volley, but the margin of Rangers’ win was undiminished and returns them to the top of the table on goal difference.

RANGERS:McGregor 7, Broadfoot 6, Bougherra 7, Weir 7, Papac 6, Davis 7, Mendes 9, Thomson 7 (Ferguson 56min) 6, Novo 7, Miller 7 (Loy 56min, 7), Boyd 7 (Beasley 74min)

INVERNESS:Fraser 4, Tokely 5, Proctor 5, Munro 5, Hastings 5, McBain 4 (Duff 46min, 5), Black 7, Duncan 5, Imrie 6; Cowie 5; Barrowman 4 (Wood 46min)

7
The number of hat-tricks that Kris Boyd has scored in his career. Six of those have come for Rangers, but his single greatest striking feat came for Kilmarnock with all five goals against Dundee United on September 25, 2004. That equalled a Premier League record held by Marco Negri and Kenny Miller