The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Scott Arfield races away after scoring Rangers’ winner in a 1-0 Premiership victory over Livingston at Ibrox yesterday to ensure the Ibrox side stay 10 points behind Celtic.
IBROX: Arfield strike secures three points but Gerrard not happy
RANGERS 1 LIVINGSTON 0
Rangers kept their Ladbrokes Premiership title hopes alive with a hard-fought win at Ibrox yesterday.
Celtic’s victory at Aberdeen had put pressure on Steven Gerrard’s side in a fixture that had been postponed on Saturday due to a waterlogged pitch.
Livi’s 20-year-old goalkeeper Ryan Schofield, on loan from Huddersfield, made three saves in a first half affected by the swirling wind before Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield drove in the 58th-minute winner.
Gerrard criticised referee Euan Anderson and his team of officials after the game.
The Light Blues boss, whose side went back to being 10 points behind Celtic at the top of the Premiership with a game in hand, claimed Alfredo Morelos’s strike at 1-0 should have stood and that his team should have had a penalty in the second half for an apparent handball.
Gerrard said: “We aren’t firing on all cylinders at the minute so it is important that you get the over the line and we did that today but we could have done it more convincingly.
“Disappointed in the officials today, I must say. When they look back at their performance I think they will be disappointed.
“I think he got the second one just right. We accept that one but Morelos’ one is onside and there is a stonewall penalty. It is a blatant handball.
“The referee said to Connor Goldson that he couldn’t give it because of the conditions. He didn’t mean it. That is new to me.
“People will probably look at highlights and think Rangers rode their luck because they hit the post but if we had good and the right officials today, that would have been a 3-0 win, if we score the penalty.
“I just think at this level you expect decisions like that to be right and that is all I ask.
“I don’t ask for favouritism at all, I just ask for them to be right.”
The dismal 2-1 midweek defeat at Kilmarnock had dealt a blow to the Light Blues’ title aspirations but Gerrard made only one change, with veteran midfielder Steven Davis in for Joe Aribo.
Livingston boss Gary Holt brought in keeper Schofield for his first league game. Also starting were Ricki Lamie, Keaghan Jacobs, Steve Lawson, Robbie
Crawford and Aymen Souda, who had an early angled drive which missed the target but was kept in by the wind.
The Livi defence repelled several crosses into the box and in the 17th minute Schofield denied home striker Alfredo Morelos inside the six-yard box.
Moments later, Ryan Kent curled a shot just past the far post after being sent clear by Arfield in a swift counterattack, before defender Nikola Katic headed over from 12 yards after an attempted clearance looped into the air.
In the 35th minute Davis played in left-back Andy Halliday but Schofield brilliantly tipped his toe-poke from close range on to the bar and over for a corner.
Schofield again came to Livi’s rescue when he blocked a drive from Davis after the Northern Irishman had been slipped in by Ianis Hagi, and then saved a low drive from Kent in the 54th minute. Kent was replaced by Hibernian loanee Florian Kamberi two minutes later.
At the other end, Rangers keeper Allan Mcgregor had to make a superb save from Souda’s acrobatic close-range strike following a Livi throw-in, to keep the game goalless.
The unmarked Arfield changed that when he took a pass from Hagi, turned and beat Schofield with a powerful drive for his fourth goal in three games.
Morelos had the ball in the net in the 71st minute but the flag was up for offside.
Almost 10 minutes later Livi striker Lyndon Dykes took a pass from substitute Dolly Menga and crashed a shot off the post with Mcgregor beaten, before testing the keeper again.
The visitors continued to push for an equaliser, but their efforts were in vain, while Rangers were denied a second with the offside flag frustrating Kamberi after he had netted.