Covid-hit Gers splutter to victory
Sorry Dons are Brown and out
ABERDEEN 1 FK QARABAG 3
RELIEVED Gary McAllister saw Rangers struggle into the Europa League groups and revealed five missing men could be back for the Old Firm clash on Sunday.
McAllister took charge of Gers in Armenia with boss Steven Gerrard and a clutch of key men self isolating at home.
Rangers turned in their latest unconvincing show to draw with the 10-man Armenian minnows and limp through.
and Jon McLaughlin, skipper James Tavernier, left-back Calvin Bassey and attacking trio Ryan Kent, Scott Wright and Fashion Sakala were all missing last night.
In addition, John Lundstram and Kemar Roofe were ruled out of the trip to Yerevan through suspension.
When asked if the squad will be beefed up in time for the visit of their title rivals Celtic, McAllister said: “We will have everybody who was here tonight and we will be bolstered by another four or five players, by my count.
“We’ve got players who have been dealing with Covid issues.
“We’ve got players who have been suspended.
“And we’ve also got some players who have been carrying some little niggling injuries.
“We’ll be well bolstered for the weekend ahead.”
Gerrard was scathing after his side scraped a slender one-goal lead from the Ibrox first leg against Alashkert.
He urging his players to wake up after a sloppy, error-strewn start to the new campaign, despite a red card for Lundstram before half-time.
Last night it was the Armenians who left the pitch at the interval a man down following the dismissal of Brazilian James for blatantly sticking the boot into third-choice goalkeeper Robby McCrorie.
But, despite seeing his players turn in another lacklustre display, the Gers No.2 stopped well short of following Gerrard’s first-leg blast
McAllister, who was not asked if Gerrard would be back in the hotseat on Sunday, said: “It wasn’t a frustrating night for me at all. “The fact is we came here to do a job and we wanted to get through the tie.
“We’re in the draw for the group stage. I can understand where that line of questioning is coming from because we weren’t at our best.
“We kept a clean sheet and bearing in mind the loads of issues surrounding the squad, we came together and got through. That’s all we wanted.”
Asked if the squad had been badly affected by the chaotic preparations after at least two positive Covid tests in the camp, he said: “Players are aware when they see friends and some of the staff not travelling. It’s got to have an effect.
“But we didn’t use that as an excuse.
“We came here, looked each other in the eye and said we had a job to do and we’ve done it.
“It wasn’t pretty, I don’t think we were at our best. But I’d stress that at kickoff it was 34 or 35 degrees.
“By the end of the game it only subsided to a cool 29 degrees!
“So it was hot, it was hot. You might not have seen that watching the game on the TV screen.
“We were the team who created the best chances.
“Alfredo Morelos had two and normally he would hit the back of the net. Joe Aribo was unlucky to hit the woodwork.
“You want to tick all the boxes. You want to keep a clean sheet. You want to go through the tie. And you want to play well.
“We’ve ticked two of the three. We can play better.
“But bearing all that in mind, listen, we go back to Glasgow in the draw.
“That was the main thing for us tonight.
“We tried not to distract the players by looking ahead to the weekend but now we can start fully focusing on that.”