Ibrox men have to stop playing catch-up game

YOU can applaud the numerous acts of escapology. Or wonder why Rangers keep making life hard for themselves. When Leon Balogun flashed a header into his own net in the closing minutes of the first half at Brondby on Thursday, Steven Gerrard must have been cursing this alarming recent trait of conceding the first goal in games.

It was, remarkably, the tenth time this season that the Ibrox side have blinked first. On four occasions, all in the league, they still went on to win three points.

Despite leaving Copenhagen with a point courtesy of Ianis Hagi’s equaliser, Brondby was added to Dundee United, Malmo (a), Lyon, Sparta Prague and Aberdeen — as the list of games to date when Rangers were unable to fully recover from a sluggish start this season.

For all Gerrard’s men were much improved after the triple introduction of Hagi, Ryan Kent and Kemar Roofe, it might be said there was only one way their performance could go.

Given the up-and-down nature of the display, the point which Hagi’s goal eventually earned them felt like a decent one in the end. It might well ease them towards the Europa League knockout stage.

But unless this lethargic approach to starting games is eradicated, the team’s ambitions on all fronts this season will not be realised.

‘We got to the end of the game. We’re delighted with the draw,’ said assistant manager Gary McAllister. ‘But watching the first half and comparing it to the second half, it was night and day.

‘We were wasteful in the first half. The game went to plan in that we did win the ball where we thought we would and retain the ball where we thought we would.

‘But when we did that, I don’t think we used it well enough. We didn’t show that composure.

‘But the second half was totally different. We looked refreshed, we looked sharp. The changes we made? I thought they worked.’

That’s beyond doubt. This was not a night that either Alfredo Morelos or Fashion Sakala will recall with any great fondness. Perhaps hampered psychologically by early bookings, they simply were not at the races.

Scott Arfield was unfortunate to be withdrawn. The same could not be said of the unusually errorprone Steven Davis — although the veteran was not alone in toiling for as long as he was on the field.

For all Rangers didn’t do enough over the piece to defeat an ordinary Brondby side, the outcome was no disaster. With Lyon beating Sparta Prague, a two-goal win over the Czechs at Ibrox on November 25 should be enough to claim second place — with a spot in the knockout round of the Conference League certainly assured in that instance.

The picture is markedly brighter than it was after opening losses to Lyon and Sparta.

‘The beauty now is our destiny is in our own hands,’ McAllister added. ‘We have six points to play for and it sets up the game against Sparta in the next round of fixtures. It sets it up for an interesting evening.’

The fervent hope is that the attitude with which the side ended

Thursday’s game will be evident from the first minute of that defining night. The wider range of options now at Gerrard’s disposal should help, too.

Playing his first match since September 16 against Lyon, Kent made a telling contribution in Denmark, laying on the equaliser for Hagi.

‘Ryan has been out a while,’ said McAllister. ‘Getting on the pitch was a big boost for him and for us. I thought he looked really sharp.

‘Kemar Roofe looked sharp, too, and Ianis came on and gave us that bit of quality and eye for a pass.’

Theoretically, Ross County at home tomorrow is an assignment which should present precious few difficulties as Rangers look to sign off for the international break at least four points ahead of Celtic.

Bottom of the table, the Dingwall side have never beaten Rangers. And, provided the Ibrox men don’t give Malky Mackay’s team a goal of a start, that will remain the case.