Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

BOTTLE BATTLE FOR THE

Gerrard: If teams park bus we must find solutions

- BY GARY RALSTON

STEVEN GERRARD has told his players their title destiny will be staring back at them tonight in black and white.

The Rangers manager has called on his squad to break down the barriers to success as they begin a run of four league games from five at Ibrox.

St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin has promised to park ‘two buses’ across the penalty box in a bid to thwart the team with the best goals-to-game ratio in the Premiershi­p.

Gerrard insists they must prevail if their title bid is to be kept on track – and he even arranged a friendly against Queen of the South at the weekend to prepare for the tactics they will face against the Buddies.

Gerrard said: “We wanted to play Queen of the South to try to practise those scenarios now we have four out of five games at home.

“I’m not saying it is always going to be the case, but if we dominate the ball as we like to then we are going to face it a lot over the next few weeks.

“We have to keep practising it on the training pitch and hopefully we can find some success over the next couple of weeks. We are going to need to if we have any ambitions of staying up there challengin­g at the top.

“There is a lot more confidence and self-belief within the group and we accept these challenges when they come to Ibrox and show these tactics.

“That is just the way it is, that is life and we have to get on with it.”

Gerrard confirmed the departure of keeper Robbie Mccrorie to Livingston.

Hibs were unsuccessf­ul with a transfer offer to land the Scotland under-21 starlet on a permanent deal and Hearts have also been monitoring the youngster, who is highlyrate­d at Ibrox.

Gerrard revealed Gers are inching closer to a deal with Croatian fullback Borna Barisic, who is a target of Serie A giants Roma.

He said: “We are in talks, so it is getting closer.

“I have a fantastic relationsh­ip with Borna and he seems really settled here.

“He took a bit of time to settle but he has got the fans right where you want them. He is getting the support from the terraces his performanc­es deserve. When you are happy as a footballer you should stay put.”

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