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Gerrard’s second string avoid an upset at a ground that has caused Rangers plenty pain
WESTFIELD was a place where a few stumbles were made on The Journey as Rangers made their way up the divisions. But yesterday this chilly corner of central Scotland provided yet more evidence that the Ibrox side are nearing their long-awaited destination... the one where they accumulate major silverware again.
Kicking off shortly after Celtic’s seismic exit from the Betfred Cup at home to Ross County, Steven Gerrard’s side were never remotely in danger of being on the end of a similar upset.
The former Liverpool and England captain was even able to send out his second string and still comfortably sweep League One club Falkirk aside.
Three goals in the first half, from Jermain Defoe, Calvin Bassey and Borna Barisic, quickly ensured there would be no repeat of the 3-2 and 2-1 reverses here in the Championship under Mark Warburton in 2015-16.
Or the 3-2 League Cup exit suffered at Westfield by the then-tournament holders when Ally McCoist was in charge back in September 2011.
A by-now- customary goal from ram paging right-back James Tavernier sealed the rout after the break.
That allowed Gerrard to set his own ‘ bairns’ on the Bairns in the form of debutants Leon King, 16, and Ciaran Dickson, 18.
Compared to the chaos and acrimony being encountered by their rivals across the city, Rangers are enjoying a season of relative serenity.
Eleven points clear in the Premiership, they are on the cusp of progression to the Europa League knockouts and have a last-eight Betfred Cup tie to look forward to against St Mirren next month.
But, despite hailing the strength in depth at Ibrox, goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin insisted they are not getting ahead of themselves just yet.
‘We feel it’s a very winnable game (against St Mirren) but we won’t look beyond that,’ said McLaughlin.
‘It’s another away tie that we will have to give our full attention to when it comes around. We will prepare for it and hope we can do a professional job like we did today against Falkirk.
‘It was just great to get a difficult fixture out of the way and get into the next round. It can be tricky here but we made changes to the team and it was good for people to get minutes in and put in a positive performance.
‘The manager made sure everyone gave this game their full focus. The team put in a really good performance against Benfica last Thursday night but we gave this match our full respect.’
Rangers wasted little time ensuring this would not be a banana skin of a cup tie.
Barely six minutes were on the clock when Connor Goldson sent a long ball forward and Falkirk defender Mark Durnan misjudged its flight.
Against opposition of this level, any mistake can be punished but especially so when you are up against Defoe.
The former England international let the ball run and, faced with an acute angle, sent a delightful finish past PJ Morrison and into the bottom-right corner of the net.
It was his third goal of the season and, while not as good as his exquisite finish against Livingston, it was still a terrific striker’s effort.
Defoe nearly scored a second when his dangerous volley from the edge of the box flew past the post. There was then a blow for Brandon Barker when the Rangers wide attacker pulled up with an injury and had to be replaced by Glen Kamara.
Tavernier then forced a fine save from Morrison after good work by Scott Arfield.
Following Barisic’s corner, Cedric Itten’s header was stopped on the line by Morrison only for Bassey to react quickest to force the ball home.
Itten had a great chance to net himself when put clean through on goal but blazed high over the bar.
Falkirk came close to pulling a goal back but the hitherto unworked McLaughlin was alert to turn a Durnan header behind for a corner.
Rangers were out of sight before the break when Barisic curled home a wonderful third from a 20-yard free-kick.
There was a nervy moment f or Gerrard’s men at the start of the second half when Bassey was short with a back pass to McLaughlin. The keeper only j ust got to the ball before Conor Sammon, the Falkirk striker showing his frustration by jumping up and hitting the crossbar with his hands.
Almost immediately, Tavernier made Falkirk pay with a terrific finish at the back post from a deep cross by Barisic. It was the Ibrox right-back’s 14th goal of the season.
With their lead unassailable, Rangers turned to youth off the bench, with Dickson and King joined by Glenn Middleton, who was making his first Rangers appearance since April 2019.
Dickson nearly made the dream start, sending an effort past the post. But it finished 4-0, with an 18th clean sheet of the season another reason for rampant Rangers to be cheerful.
McLaughlin said: ‘It’s a fantastic record we’ve got going as a whole group. The lads in front of us are making our job quite easy with the work they put in.
‘Whoever it is we play — whether it’s Falkirk or Benfica — we are putting in the same level of performance and work rate and getting the results.’
Falkirk gave their all but there was no embarrassment in being outclassed by this Rangers side.
‘Listen, we have to be realistic,’ said Bairns co-manager David McCracken. ‘Rangers are playing at a level that a l ot of teams can’t compete with right now.
‘We didn’t get into the game properly, losing a goal so early.
‘But it was encouraging to see how the boys wanted to keep taking the ball. They never hid away from it. We also had a couple of opportunities but we didn’t manage to take them.
‘We’re a few tiers below, so the final scoreline was no disgrace. We’ve learned a lot and we will take the positives into our league campaign.’
FALKIRK (4-2-3-1): PJ Morrison 5; Hall 5, Durnan 5, Dixon 5, Kelly 5; Gomis 6, Todd 5 (Deveney 81); Alston 6, Telfer 6 (Leitch 74), C Morrison 6 (Connolly 62); Sammon 5 (Dowds 62). Subs not used: Cantley, Mercer, Francis, Lafferty, Miller. Booked: Hall. RANGERS (4-3-3): McLaughlin 6; Tavernier 7 (King 71), Goldson 7, Bassey 7, Barisic 7 (Middleton 55); Barker 3 (Kamara 26), Zungu 6 (Stewart 71), Arfield 7 (Dickson 55); Hagi 7, Defoe 7, Itten 7. Subs not used: Firth, Kent, Kamara, Morelos, Balogun. Booked: Bassey. Man of the match: Borna Barisic. Referee: Bobby Madden.