The lights go out on van Bronckhorst in Portugal

After the problems with water in Seville it was the lack of light in the Algarve tonight that was causing grief to Ibrox fans. 

With John Souttar and Tom Lawrence missing from the matchday squad there was a familiar look to Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s squad for the glamour friendly with Championship side Sunderland. 

Just before the half hour mark Luke O’Nien took advantage of some pedestrian defending to put Sunderland into the lead. 

Van Bronckhorst made four changes at the break but as the teams returned to the pitch there was no sign of the floodlights being switched on. 

Communications Director David Graham took over discussions with the match referee but as darkness descended there was nothing that the former DUP councillor could do to resolve the issue. 

After half an hour waiting around with the stadium in darkness Premier Sports pulled the plug on their coverage.  

Just as it was being announced that the match had been abandoned it was reported that the floodlights came back on.