Smith defends lone Ranger Boyd

Rangers manager Walter Smith defended his decision to play Kris Boyd as a lone striker after slumping to defeat against Hibernian at Ibrox.

Smith himself has conceded that Boyd operates more effectively with a strike partner and the plan failed to pay off for Rangers when David Murphy grabbed the only goal of the game with a header midway through the second half.

"That's the way I wanted to play," said the Rangers boss afterwards. "The situation is that we have a lot of players who are trying to find out what it's like to play Champions League games in midweek and then play in the SPL on a Saturday. I just felt it was better to change things and give Kris the opportunity."

Smith added with a wry smile and a hint of sarcasm: "It's a brilliant thing being a football manager.

"Everyone talks about systems all the time - if you win it's a brilliant system, if you don't it's hopeless. So at the end of the day it was a hopeless system. I'll leave everybody to make up their mind if it's a decent system that we play or not."

Spirits had been high in the Rangers camp following their superb 3-0 win over Lyon on Tuesday night but Smith refused to use their exertions in the Champions League as an excuse.

"I didn't feel the game had anything to do with the midweek match," he said. "If Hibs had come here and been far brighter and had run over the top of us I would have said 'okay, then'. The midweek match is no excuse. If it is, then we have four more defeats to take before the end of the season.

"Give Hibs a bit of credit, they aren't going to come and roll over."

The win propelled Hibs to the top of the SPL but manager John Collins was unwilling to read too much into their lofty position.

"We are not getting carried away, there is a long way to go and we have only played nine games," he said.