Cutting the card count is a must for Gerrard

STEVEN GERRARD has urged his side to cut down on the cards after recording victory over St Mirren despite another Premiership sending-off. The Ibrox manager insisted he had no complaints about referee Don Robertson’s 31st-minute dismissal of Ross McCrorie for a last-man foul on Saints debutant Nicolai Brock-Madsen. Already 2-0 up through goals from Alfredo Morelos and Connor Goldson, Gerrard was pleased by the solid way the ten men saw it through for a first league victory. Morelos was only free to play after Rangers successfully appealed his controversial red card in the previous weekend’s 1-1 draw against Aberdeen. Admitting he withdrew £1.5million debutant Borna Barisic in the second half

because he was on a booking, Gerrard has stressed the importance of retaining composure.

‘I’m very happy with the result and performance in the circumstances,’ he said. ‘Again, we’ve gone down to ten men. I thought that was the correct decision.

‘The response from my team, every one of them rolled their sleeves up and did what they had to do.

‘I was pleased with the clean sheet in the circumstances. It’s a positive result for us. I would have liked to kept 11 (players) on the pitch and maybe win the game more emphatically but, at the end of the day, it’s all about three points.

‘It was completely different to last week when we felt hard done by, said our piece and got justice in terms of the decision being overturned.

‘I thought the officials were really, really good today. They got the decision spot-on and we have got no complaints.

‘I’ve spoken to the team and praised them for the result and clean sheet. But I’ve also spoken about discipline and composure out there.

‘It’s difficult enough with 11 men. We are picking up too many red and yellow cards for my liking. But we’ll learn, grow and keep going.’

Barisic impressed following his move from Osijek last week, but collected a first-half booking for a foul on Cammy Smith. That led Gerrard to replace him with rested captain James Tavernier for the final 28 minutes.

‘It was a positive debut from Borna,’ said Gerrard. ‘You can see his quality on the left-hand side.

‘The idea was to play him for the full game. But he picked up a yellow card, so I had to think about the team.

‘My idea was to give Tav a full rest but because of Barisic’s yellow card, I had to flip Flanno (Jon Flanagan) over and bring Tav on. We couldn’t afford to go to nine men.’

Gerrard hopes Lassana Coulibaly will be fit to face Maribor on Thursday evening after the Malian midfielder limped off in the final minutes, but is awaiting test results. He is also ‘more confident’ than previously of Ryan Jack being available after the Scotland cap missed out against Saints because of the head knock he sustained at Pittodrie. Flanagan is suspended after three Europa League bookings.

In terms of potential transfers, the Ibrox boss declined to be drawn on the possibility of a further bid for Kyle Lafferty in the wake of his match-winning goal against Celtic. It’s understood Rangers could be open to including Lee Wallace as part of a deal but the left-back’s sizeable wages present a significant obstacle.

‘It’s not for me to speak about Kyle Lafferty — he’s not our player,’ insisted Gerrard.

St Mirren counterpart Alan Stubbs admitted his team had not done enough to worry Rangers after McCrorie’s exit. Stubbs was also disappointed by the nature of the goals conceded, with Jack Baird caught on the ball prior to Morelos scoring.

‘The main thing we come away with is that we gave Rangers goals,’ he said. ‘There were two lapses in concentration and that has cost us.

‘The sending-off also changes the game but we didn’t capitalise on that. It would be interesting to see what would have happened had we scored a goal in terms of how the atmosphere might have changed. But we probably didn’t do enough.

‘Danny Mullen hit the crossbar and, on another day, that might go in. They are the things you need to fall for you in these games but I can’t fault the players’ effort or attitude. It’s the one thing they will give me all the time.’