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ANDY HALLIDAY was brought up on Copland Road and once joked he thought Ibrox was his back garden.

Fittingly, he fulfilled a childhood dream by claiming his first goal at home for his boyhood heroes by scoring into the stand bearing the name of his old address.

But more importantly, Halliday’s late penalty against Dumbarton on Tuesday night along with his side’s other second-half strikes in the 4-0 win helped quell the anger of his gaffer Mark Warburton.

The Rangers boss had bared his teeth for the first time since taking over at Ibrox in June when he read his players the riot act at the interval with the scoreline still 0-0.

Halliday had never seen his manager erupt before but after hearing the groans and moans from the Gers fans in a first half devoid of invention, Warburton introduced the Mr Angry side of his usually reserved character.

The Light Blues players responded and got the goals they needed to move the club three points clear of Hibs at the top of the Championship table.

(Image: Bill Murray/SNS Group)

And Halliday said: “Yes he was angry and it’s probably a side we’ve not seen from the gaffer to be honest.

“There were a few words said at half-time and quite rightly so because the first half simply wasn’t good enough.

“We weren’t playing well, although we still had a lot of possession in terms of switching the play.

“At the end of the day when you are playing on a big pitch like Ibrox and you have that amount of possession, then Dumbarton were always going to tire.

“But it’s important when we are not playing well to always still try to do the right things

and I think that’s why we managed to score four goals in the second half.

“We all knew what was at stake before the match – it was our game in hand and a chance to go three points clear at the top.

“It was a big game for us and the performance in the first half wasn’t good enough but we managed to put it right in the second half.”

A Jason Holt header just two minutes after the restart sparked the goal blitz and Halliday’s big moment arrived just before the end after Lee Wallace was tripped inside the box by Steven Saunders.

In Pictures: The best images from Rangers 4-0 win over Dumbarton..

The midfielder grabbed the ball before thundering his spot-kick into the roof of the net to signal an explosion of nostalgia and emotion as he took the acclaim from a section of the stadium where he used to sit as a four-year-old season-ticket holder.

It felt like a real homecoming for the 24-year-old Gers fan who had to take a nomadic

route back to the club which released him from their academy as a teenager.

Spells at Livingston, Middlesbrough and Bradford followed before he was brought back to his spiritual home this summer by Warburton.

And Halliday said: “It was very special for me. To be honest I felt pretty nervous before I took the penalty and I think that’s why I put my foot through it.

“I managed to stick it away and it was important because it was in front of the Copland Road Stand as well.

“The last time we spoke about me taking a penalty was the Dumbarton away game.

“I actually thought about it as soon as Martyn Waghorn went off the other night.

“I think it was 2-0 at the time and I was thinking to myself ‘I hope we get a penalty’ because it’s been a long time coming me getting my first goal at Ibrox and I was delighted I managed to tuck it away.”

The Ibrox side now head into December with their noses in front of a Hibs side which will arrive in Govan on the 28th of this month for a clash which will provide another big pointer as to who is going to win the race for an automatic place in the Premiership.

It’s a fixture which remains firmly on Halliday’s horizon but he insists there are huge hurdles to be climbed before then with the next being a trip to Fife to face Raith Rovers on Saturday.

He said: “It is a big month ahead, but I feel that every month is a big month for us.

“Hibs are obviously on a really good run of form and they are right up our backsides just now.

“We just need to keep picking up the three points and that’s all we can do.

“We are looking forward to playing them on the 28th and only then can we start worrying about Hibs’ results.

“You can’t let yourself get away from the job in hand.

“As players, we just have to do what we do, train hard and gear up for the weekend.”