Rangers lose invincibility but must keep their nerve

NO festive season is complete without the DoctorWho Christmas special. And this year the Time Lord has bundled Rangers into the Tardis and travelled back to last season. It took Steven Gerrard’s team 27 games to build up an aura of invincibility. And just one game to lose it. A Betfred Cup defeat to St Mirren posed fresh questions over the mentality of these Rangers players. And if Celtic make it 12 straight trophies at Hampden tomorrow, the narrative will continue to shift. In Glasgow, it never takes much to reduce the cock of the north to the status of a feather duster. Before Paisley, Gerrard looked a decent bet to lead Rangers to a domestic clean sweep. Maybe even an Invincibles season. Conor McCarthy’s late goal changed all that. Suddenly, Gerrard is back to being the guy who’s gone seven domestic competitions without a trophy. Factually, you can’t argue the point. A full decade will now pass before red, white and blue ribbons are tied round a Scottish trophy and that’s a staggering state of affairs. But, while everyone around them loses the head, Gerrard (left) and his players have to keep their eyes on the prize. Unbeaten in the league, they’ve established a healthy lead over Celtic and the rest. For a second straight season, they’ve reached the knockout stages of the Europa League. And, on Wednesday night, they lost to a St Mirren team who’ve defied the ravages of coronavirus to go ten games unbeaten. Gerrard has to win something soon. And the Betfred Cup was a huge missed opportunity.

But count me out of the circle predicting another calamitous collapse. Jim Goodwin managed to stop James Tavernier and Borna Barisic from crossing the halfway line. An easy tactic to plan, most teams don’t have the players to carry it off. A bad 90 minutes doesn’t change the fact Rangers are a stronger unit than last season. If insecurities creep in, they can take solace in the fact two of Celtic’s three games in hand come against a St Mirren team doing a far better job of fighting Covid than Matt Hancock. To say this again feels very 2019. But, heading into a new year, Rangers need to hold their nerve.