Date of Birth: 02 10 1982
Place of Birth: Glasgow
Position: Defender
Nationality: Scotland
Will Haining Rumours and Transfers
11 08 2007
Daniel Cousin enjoyed a dream start to his Rangers career by grabbing a goal on his debut to help secure win over St Mirren in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.
Skipper Barry Ferguson, who netted twice in Inverness last week, opened the scoring, before the former Lens forward came off the bench to claim a goal of his own.
Boss Walter Smith had spoken this week of his eagerness to see Rangers turn Ibrox into a fortress again and instil a sense of fear in their opponents and he will were satisfied to see his side take a step in the right direction today.
Rangers, whose players wore Madeleine McCann T-shirts during the warm up to reflect 100 days since the infant's disappearance in Portugal, made 2 changes from the side who defeated FK Zeta in their midweek Champions League qualifier.
Out went Kirk Broadfoot and Brahim Hemdani, and in came Alan Hutton, back from suspension, and Kris Boyd for the visit of the Paisley club.
Cousin was named on the bench however there is no place in the 18 man team for fellow new recruit Steven Whittaker, who is still short of match fitness.
Saints made one change from the side who lost to Motherwell last week, with Ryan McCay replacing Billy Mehmet, who was named on the bench.
The 1st chance of the game fell to Rangers when DaMarcus Beasley raced down the left flank before squeezing a cross into the box. Boyd rose above everyone else in front of goal however connected awkwardly with the header and the chance was lost.
St Mirren then forced their hosts into desperate defending to keep the scoreline level.
A Mark Corcoran free kick found Would Haining and the former Oldham man was only denied the opener when his header was cleared on the line by Sasa Papac.
At the rebound, McCay went to ground under load from Carlos Cuellar however there appeared to be little in the incident and no penalty was awarded by referee Mike McCurry.
At the other end, Saints soon found themselves under pressure. Beasley collected a Kevin Thomson pass before turning on the edge of the box and unleashing a drive which was only only touched wide by goalie Chris Smith.
Jean-Claude Darcheville then cranked up the load further when his snap shot was blocked by David van Zanten for a corner.
Beasley turned provider when he slotted into the path of Boyd. Boyd's 1st touch was awkward before he recovered to send a volley over the crossbar.
Rangers started well in the 2nd half, Beasley sending an angled drive inches wide of target shortly after the restart.
Darcheville then connected with a Ferguson free kick several yards out only for his powerful header to flash past the post.
Taking matters into his own hands, it was Ferguson who scored the opener after 52 minutes.
Hutton punted the ball to Lee McCulloch, who did well to chest into the path of the onrushing Gers captain and Ferguson placed his shot into the top corner.
Rangers made their 1st change when Darcheville was withdrawn for Nacho Novo, before Thomson forced a superb one-handed save from Smith and Boyd hooked inches over.
That effort was Boyd's last involvement in the game, as he made for new signing Cousin to make his Rangers debut.
It proved to be an inspired move when the Gabon international opened his goalscoring account for his new club with 79 minutes gone.
It was Beasley who did all the hard work, collecting a Novo pass and racing towards goal, before releasing to Cousin at the perfect moment to drive home from the corner of the six-yard box.
The triumph sets Rangers up for Tuesday's vital Champions League qualifier against Red Star Belgrade at Ibrox.
03 07 2007
Former Republic of Ireland U21 international Henry McStay has begun a trial with SPL club St Mirren.
The 22 year old former Leeds, Halifax and Portadown player had a trial spell with Aberdeen 2 years ago.
Saints manager Gus MacPherson informed the club website, "We'll have ex Leeds United and Halifax player Henry McStay with us for a few days. He will be here for us to have a look at him over several training sessions," MacPherson added.
The centre back will be hoping to follow Craig Dargo, Mark Howard, Would Haining and Gary Mason in joining the Paisley club.
McStay arrived as the St Mirren players came back for pre season training.
"The players all reported back today in decent shape and we got what work we needed to do done," MacPherson said.
"We gave the players a longer than normal training session to get them back into the swing of things however for the rest of the week it will be double sessions."
29 06 2007
St Mirren have added 4 new players to their team for next season, that included former Kilmarnock and Inverness forward Craig Dargo.
The 29 year old Dargo refused the offer of a new Inverness contract and will move to Love Street as a free agent.
Central midfielder Gary Mason will leave Dunfermline to remain in the Premier League and defender Would Haining joins from Oldham Athletic.
Goalkeeper Mark Howard arrives in Paisley from Cardiff City.
The 20 year old, who started his career at Arsenal, has played in Scotland before, having been on loan at Falkirk for 5 months in 2006.
Glasgow born Haining, 24, was at Boundary Park for 6 years and operates in central defence.
Mason, 27, refused a new deal at relegated Dunfermline after spending 6 and half years at East End Park.
The capture of Dargo represents quite a coup for Buddies manager Gus MacPherson and compensates for the loss of John Sutton, who has agreed a transfer to Wycombe Wanderers.
The forward scored 31 goals in his 2 seasons with Inverness and was made a good offer to remain in the Highlands.
Motherwell targeted Dargo, whilst several English clubs was credited with an interest in the forward.
