Helter swelter
It was rough ride but misfiring Gers survive tricky trip and brutal heat to achieve their goal
IT wasn’t pretty but after the week Rangers have had, Steven Gerrard will take winning ugly.
Even drawing ugly was more than acceptable on a night that would have been put to bed early if Alfredo Morelos had got out the right side of his scratcher.
The striker may have 25 goals in Europe but he left his shooting boots at home with his Covid-hit team-mates, meaning Gers had to grind it out until the last sweat-soaked minute in Armenia.
This time last year, at the same stage, Galatasaray were put to the sword in a 90-minute shoot-out.
Alashkert, over two legs, ought to have been far less stressful but Rangers took a six-hour flight to Yerevan knowing a 1-0 lead meant there was still work to be done.
Had Rangers won 4-0 or 5-0 last week, Gerrard would have left half-a-dozen regulars at home before Celtic’s visit.
He had to do that anyway for far more worrying reasons and James Tavernier, Ryan Kent, Allan McGregor, Jon McLaughlin, Scott Wright and Calvin Bassey were missing in
Armenia along with the boss. Rangers could have done with the suspended Kemar Roofe and John Lundstram but such is their strength in depth that the team Gerrard picked should have had more than enough to complete the task.
It was sweltering in Armenia but that would have been nothing compared to the heat felt by players and management had a second successive ejection from Europe taken place last night.
Losing to Malmo in the Champions League qualifiers was bad enough. Failure to make the Europa League groups would have been the worst result of Gerrard’s tenure.
Going out to Alashkert, with an average attendance last season of 365 before closed doors football came in, would have been right down there with Progres Niederkorn.
Parachuting into the next level of European football, the Conference League, would have been no consolation whatsoever, even if it meant Thursday night games up until Christmas at least.
This is not where Rangers, who dreamed of Champions League ties a month ago, imagined they’d be playing European football, so they had to focus, forget the chaotic build-up and get on with it.
The team practically picked itself but it was a huge night for Robby McCrorie between the sticks.
The 23-year-old has more than 100 senior appearances thanks to a clutch of loan moves but this was his first competitive game for Rangers and it was more or less a watching brief early on.
Rangers started brightly with Nathan Patterson prominent. The youngster has been banging down the firstteam door and Tavernier’s absence opened it. He looked in the mood from the off.
Rangers survived a scare when Filip Helander had to cut out a dangerous cross. The tie should have been done in the 11th minute when Morelos scooped a great chance over the bar.
Ognjen Cancarevic’s save from Joe Aribo, tipping his shot on to a post, kept Alashkert alive but this was a job that still wasn’t finished.
Morelos missed another great chance on the half hour, hitting the keeper when one on one, and you could have imagined Gerrard throwing the remote control at the telly.
Alashkert’s Brazilian star James copped a red card for a fly kick at McCrorie five minutes from the break to make life easier for Gers.
Yet, the longer it went on at 0-0, hope for the 10 men remained intact and 10 minutes into the second half Alashkert blew a great chance.
Not as easy as the third chance Morelos missed. A lazy leg swung at a Patterson cross summed up his night.
Aribo hit the bar with the last kick of the ball but it was a night to forget all right.
Really, though, it would only have been remembered had Rangers gone out.