Ross rages over goal ruled out FULL-BACKS TO THE FUTURE
Nathan had the edge but Gerrard loved seeing him go head to head with Josh
JACK ROSS let rip at ref Don Robertson after Hibs felt hard done by at Ibrox.
The Easter Road boss was raging a Ryan Porteous goal was ruled out for a shove and Martin Boyle was booked for diving in the box as Rangers edged to a 2-1 win.
Hibs were always in the game and staged a late fightback after going two goals up with Kevin Nisbet hitting the net to set up a tense finish for the champions.
But Ross said: “I got the opportunity to see [the disallowed goal] before I came to speak and it’s not a foul. Some decisions go for you, some don’t. But I don’t think anybody watching it would think it’s a foul.
“As for Boyle’s booking, we have to be careful we don’t think, ‘if it’s not a penalty, it’s a yellow card’.
“He shouldn’t [get a reputation for diving]. I will defend him because of how quickly he moves with the ball.
“I’ve no argument with the decision not to award a penalty. I just think we’ve got to be careful we don’t think it has to be one or the other.”
Ross was gutted to lose but proud of his side’s performance and he is confident Hibs can seal the deal and secure third spot.
He added: “I can’t be critical of my players. It was fine margins for us.
“We found ourselves in some good positions but maybe our final decisions let us down. Sometimes it was wrong decisions or good goalkeeping.
“Everything is on our hands. This was one of the hardest games we could get and if we replicate that performance we should have more than enough to secure third.”
It was a real good battle. Two honest kids with massive potential STEVEN GERRARD ENJOYED PATTERSON v DOIG CLASH
STEVEN GERRARD’S focus is always on the present but the Rangers manager admitted he got a glimpse of Scotland’s future at Ibrox yesterday.
The Light Blues ticked off another unbeaten week on their way to the Premiership finishing line but their boss was thrilled to see a couple of rivals just starting out in their careers.
Gerrard has raved about Ibrox kid Nathan Paterson for weeks – and has defended the lad to the hilt when it’s come to his Covid case and the SFA.
But he’s also been impressed with Josh Doig at Hibs, and he relished watching the pair scrap it out on the flank all afternoon as Rangers secured a 2-1 win.
Gerrard said: “I thought Nathan was outstanding. If it wasn’t for Fil Helander I thought he’d have been in contention for man of the match.
“I was fascinated with that battle down our right-hand side. I thought Nathan was really good. I think Doig’s a good player again with huge potential.
“Both lads put in a real strong shift, I thought Nathan just edged it I must say. He will be the more pleased.
“But Hibs have got a real good player on their hands.
“It was a real good battle, it was fascinating. I enjoyed it. Two honest kids with massive potential and the future is looking bright for Scotland in terms of full-backs because I think those two have got real big chances of going all the way.”
Gerrard had a few moments of concern against Hibs but was happy enough overall to see his side notch another victory and go in to the Old Firm Scottish Cup showdown with a spring in their step.
He said: “I’m pleased with large parts of today’s performance.
“I thought for the first half an hour we showed a lot of control, had some real good passages of play and deserved to take the lead.
“We scored a fantastic goal. Worked it well down the right and then Joe Aribo controls the finish really well.
“I thought we finished the first half a little bit open, a little bit passive, so we needed to reset that at half-time – which we did.
“Then we said to the boys, try to start the second half like you did the first and Ryan has obviously scored a world-class goal.”
Aribo was delighted to get back on the scoresheet with his first goal since February.
The attacker impressed throughout but he admitted he feared his sweetly struck volley was going to head in to Row Z.
Aribo said: “I feel like it was a long time coming. I want to score goals in every game I play so I was happy to get the opening goal for the team. I’ve watched it back and it was a nice finish – I was just happy I didn’t sky it! “We had some good phases of play and we were getting a lot of penalty box entries. We just needed to be a bit more clinical with the final passes. “We go in to every game knowing what we want to do. We want to put out a big statement and produce a performance. That’s what we tried to do today.” Aribo was thrilled with his goal but he was blown away by Kent’s scorcher for the second and he’s now counting down the days until the crack at Celtic. He said: “It was an amazing goal from Razzer. We needed that second goal and that one clinched it for us. “We were disappointed not to get the clean sheet as it’s a big statement not conceding goals. “But we stayed together, we kept fighting and kept pushing and were able to get the three points. “The weekend is massive for us. It’s an Old Firm game but it’s also a cup game in a competition we want to win. We just want to keep winning, keep pushing and keep fighting as a team.”
Rangers dug it out again but Filip Helander admitted he was gutted not to have kept a clean sheet and he’s called for a step up against Celts.
The big Swedish stopper said: “We did well for most of the game but you can’t be too happy when you conceded a goal.
“It was hard to take. We fight so hard to get clean sheets so it was disappointing not to get it. It’s something we will look at.
“The victory was the most important thing and keeping our winning record here at Ibrox.
“We started quite well and played good in the first half.
“We got the goal and then scored again in the second half.
“They managed to get one back and that made it harder for us as it gave them energy.
“We had to fight for the victory so we have to be happy with that.
“It was two beautiful goals. I didn’t really see what happened with Joe’s goal but Ryan’s was a really good strike.
“There is one more trophy to get and we’re looking forward to it.
“We’ll prepare well and hopefully we will get a good result.”