With all three of Rangers' Americans starting against Inverness, it was the defender getting the goal. Carlos Bocanegra opened the scoring in the 55th minute from the run of play, with Inverness equalizing 12 minutes later. Kyle Lafferty broke that deadlock in the 83rd minute. Lafferty subbed on for Alejandro Bedoya in the 52nd minute. Both of Rangers' goal scorers saw yellow, with Bocanegra shown a card in the 75th minute and Lafferty picking his up for his celebration. Maurice Edu subbed out at halftime.
"Lee McCulloch made a difference when he came on, as did Lafferty, and we got a good goal from Bocanegra," Rangers manager Ally McCoist said. "We just felt we needed another one that would certainly give us a cushion but we hit the post, the bar and missed chances. We couldn't get another one and then all of a sudden, we could have been 2-1 down. It was that kind of game."
In the Premier League, Clint Dempsey sparked the Fulham offense in a 2-0 win over Bolton. Dempsey opened the scoring with a 32nd minute header from a Bryan Ruiz ball and assisted on Ruiz's goal two minutes later. Filling in for injured starter Mark Schwarzer, David Stockdale recorded the shutout for Fulham in his first game of the season.
"After the disappointment of Wednesday it is always different to play against teams like Bolton and to get the points," Fulham manager Martin Jol said. "In the first-half, I thought we did well, especially when we linked up with Mousa Dembele, Clint and Bryan Ruiz and slide balls into Andy Johnson. That was a nice balance."
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Tim Howard was in goal for Everton's 1-1 draw with Norwich City. Everton needed an 81st minute equalizer from Leon Osman for the point at Goodison Park. Zak Whitbread went the distance for Norwich. Brad Guzan's second start for Aston Villa didn't go as smoothly as the first, losing 2-0 to Liverpool at Villa Park. Rounding out the American goalkeeper contingent, Brad Friedel got the shutout for Spurs in a 1-0 win over Sunderland. Roman Pavlyuchenko was the difference, scoring in the 61st minute. Two leagues down, Frank Simek returned from injury for Carlisle United, starting against Wycombe Wanderers in a 2-2 draw. In the Championship on Monday, Jonathan Spector got the start for Birmingham City in a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace.
Bundesliga, and Jermaine Jones and Schalke 04 were on the right side of a five goal shutout, beating Werder Bremen. Raul had a hat-trick in the rout, with Schalke keeper Lars Unnerstall only needing one save for the shutout. Both of Hoffenheim's National Teamers saw time in the 1-1 draw with Hertha Berlin. Fabian Johnson went the distance, with Danny Williams subbing on in the 66th minute. After Hoffenheim went up from a Sejad Salihovic goal in the 21st minute, Hertha split the points with a stoppage time equalizer.
Serie A, and Michael Bradley took his regular place in Chievo's starting eleven for the 2-0 win over Cagliari. Cyril Thereau opened the scoring in the 35th minute and Gennaro Sardo made it 2-0 in the 57th. The win has the two clubs switching places in the table, with Chievo in 11th and Cagliari in 12th. Eredivisie, and Jozy Altidore played the first-half for AZ, losing 2-1 to NAC Breda who scored their winner in stoppage time. Portugal, and Oguchi Onyewu went the distance for Sporting, drawing 1-1 with Academica. Elias equalized for Sporting in the 80th minute and was red carded in the 89th. Jupiler League, and Sacha Kljestan's Anderlecht got the better of KSC Lokeren 3-2 at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium.
Did Not Play: Marcus Hahnemann (Everton 1 - Norwich 1), Robbie Findley (Nottingham Forest 0 - Bristol City 0), Timmy Chandler (Nurnberg 3 - Bayer Leverkusen 0), David Yelldell (Bayer Leverkusen 0 - Nurnberg 0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 1 - Kaiserslautern 1), Edson Buddle (Ingolstadt 1 - Erzgebirge Aue 1), Luis Robles (Karlsruher 1 - 1860 Munich 3), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt 0 - St Pauli 2)
Injured: Stuart Holden (Bolton 0 - Fulham 2), Eric Lichaj (Villa 0 - Liverpool 2)
