The triumph extended the Light Blues’ winning run to 12 victories without interruption, earned on a bitterly cold afternoon-turned-evening in North Lanarkshire.
It was a day of firsts in the Gers side as both Rachel Rowe and Sarah Ewens got off the goalscoring mark in Rangers colours, with a brace from Kirsty Howat, coupled with strikes from Tessel Middag, Lizzie Arnot and Rio Hardy, putting the seal on an emphatic triumph for Jo Potter’s side.
It means the Light Blues will head into December unbeaten in all competitions and sitting atop the SWPL table.
The Gers sprung into action early as the fluid attacking trio of Rachel Rowe, Kirsty Howat and Rio Hardy looked to trouble the Montrose backline.
And it took only 12 minutes for the Gers to break the deadlock on a bitterly cold afternoon in Lanarkshire as Tessel Middag slammed home from the second phase of a free-kick after the visitors failed to clear the danger.
Rachel McLauchlan was next to trouble the Montrose defence as the full-back let fly from range and watched her cruelly effort cannon off the crossbar.
It was one-way traffic from a Rangers perspective and they doubled their advantage on 27 minutes with a move of supreme quality. Mia McAulay leveraged her searing pace down the left-hand side before drawing a smart stop from the Montrose goalkeeper, with Kirsty Howat showing tremendous opportunism to stab home the rebound from point-blank range.
Indeed, McLauchlan’s forays into the final third were causing Montrose issues aplenty, and she was the architect of the third goal when it arrived six minutes prior to the interval. Electing to cut onto her left foot, she drew a diving stop from Perry in the away side’s goal, allowing the perfectly positioned Rowe to rifle home the rebound.
The goal marked a first for the midfielder since arriving in Glasgow over the summer, and the same combination almost combined to deliver a fourth goal of the contest on the stroke of half-time. McLauchlan’s darting run to the byline was matched by a peeling run to the penalty spot by Rowe, although she contrived to sweep her effort over the crossbar.
The Light Blues picked up exactly where they left off in the second period, extending their advantage through the in-form Howat as she grabbed her second of the game. A promising move developed down the right which allowed McLauchlan to dig out a delivery from the byline, with Howat showing tremendous poise to manufacture the space for a finish which was planted into the bottom corner.
Potter’s side continued to lay siege to the Montrose goal and they were rewarded with a fifth goal of the afternoon when Lizzie Arnot, in one of her first involvements since coming off the bench, latched onto the ball on the left-hand side before reversing a clever finish on her right side into the bottom near corner.
And five soon became six for the home side as their ruthless streak in front of goal continued. The impact from the substitutes bench from Rangers had already been manifested through Arnot’s well-taken finish, with Sarah Ewens then grabbing her first goal in Gers colours when she reacted first to slam home a rebound from close range.
The crossbar was left shaking moments later when captain Nicola Docherty’s left-footed effort cannoned off the upright, while Middag was unfortunate not to grab her second goal of the contest when she scooped a left-footed finish off target.
However, there was still time for Potter’s side to round off the scoring three minutes from time as Rio Hardy, who certainly hasn’t found goals hard to come by this term, got in on the act. The creativity was supplied by the irrepressible Rowe as she stabbed a delicious pass into the forward with the outside of her boot, allowing Hardy to compose herself and lift an intelligent finish over the goalkeeper.
RANGERS: Fife, McLauchlan, Middag, Docherty, McLeary (Arnot, 58), Bance (Cornet, 58), Maclean (Bell, 80), McAulay (Hay, 80), Rowe, Howat (Ewens, 58), Hardy
Subs not used: Esson, Austin, Colson, Berry
MONTROSE: Perry, Carter, McLaren, Ross (Codegoni, 80), Guthrie, Gammie (Culley, 80), Daniel, Taylor, Bruce (Brough, 80), Robb, Ridgeway
Subs not used: Mowatt, Brown