SCOTT’S SO OVER BROONY STORM
RANGERS Gers midfielder can’t even remember taunting Hoops skipper, but he’s glad he did
THE pictures and clips of him doing the ‘Broony’ and celebrating a famous Old Firm win have been doing the rounds since derby day. Scott Arfield still hasn’t seen a minute of the game back, though. The midfielder encapsulated the performance and the scenes at Ibrox as Steven Gerrard’s side dominated Celtic and moved themselves into title contention thanks to Ryan Jack’s first-half winner. There wasn’t a failure in Light Blue as Rangers, to a man, stepped up and played when it mattered most. It wasn’t just a win, it was a statement of intent. Arfield summed that up as well as anyone as he outfought and outclassed Celtic skipper Scott Brown and set the tone for a terrific showing from Gerrard’s side. He would mimic Brown’s famous celebration as he GREG DOCHERTY grew up idolising Steven Davis and now he aims to pick his boyhood hero’s brains before pinching his spot in Steven Gerrard’s Rangers line-up.
The return of former club captain Davis to Ibrox on a six-month loan deal from Southampton has all but ended Docherty’s hopes that he may be called back from his own temporary stint at Shrewsbury this month.
But the former Hamilton youngster firmly expects to be back in Glasgow this stood, arms aloft and beaming towards a man who had controlled these fixtures for some time.
“It was one of those things, I can’t even remember it,” Arfield said. “I got home and my mate showed me it and I have seen it 300 times. It went mad.
“I can’t remember when it was in the game and I haven’t watched the game back. It was spur of the moment. I was appealing for a foul I think, I have no idea.
“There are a few things that you need to win this game, he has done it for years and probably got in the head of players a lot easier with different players.
“It is mind games at the end of the day. He has done it for years. That wasn’t my thinking, it was just spur of the moment. It was to win the game.
“To be honest, I am not that bothered [about Brown]. I am not bothered about what he thinks about anything. I am worried about winning games for Rangers.”
The effort that Arfield put in was crucial to the victory at Ibrox as he hassled and harried Brown and stifled summer, looking to compete with midfield ace Davis.
The Northern Ireland skipper’s Saints deal expires at the end of the season and he has already expressed his desire to make his Gers switch permanent.
Docherty knows that will only make his job of breaking into Gerrard’s team harder but he believes that he the Celtic skipper’s influence significantly.
It was a performance – full of energy, aggression and skill – that Gerrard had always felt his side were capable of. There was no better time for them to produce it.
The individual battles were won all over the park. As a collective, there was no stopping Rangers on a day where they should have recorded a more comprehensive victory.
“It is right up there, it was the best game I have played in to be honest in terms of atmosphere,” Arfield said. “It was my second derby and losing the first, you quickly forget about that.
“You reflect, you take the good and the bad. That one, everything was there with the full house and winning the game, quite comfortably in the end. It was magic.
“You have to win [your individual battles] to win this game. If you look at the midfield three of me, Jacko and Ross [McCrorie], we won those battles and that is why we won the game.
“The Parkhead game in particular never allowed us to get there. We had the flight back from Russia and maybe that was a factor in our mind subconsciously.
“But this game allowed us to get in their faces. The European games, particularly Villarreal away and at home, it was the same sort of performance and the way that we played, the intensity can learn from a player he used to cheer on from the stands – then look to replace him on the pitch. The 22-year-old said: “Steven was the guy I watched out for as a kid when I was a seasonticket holder. I was only about 10 or 11 at the time and he and Barry Fergu-