Goldson handles the rough and tumble at Hampden and emerges with silverware in his sights this season

THE old saying about how you have to win the battle before you can win the war is as appropriate and fitting as ever in Scottish football.

Connor Goldson has learned about it quickly since moving to Ibrox. It is an approach he doesn’t necessarily agree with, but one he is willing to buy into if that is what it takes for Rangers to be successful.

Rangers have struggled at times, most recently at Tynecastle last month, when games are tousy and attritional affairs. Against Hearts at Hampden, however, their quality shone brighter than the Jambos’ workrate and a Betfred Cup final berth was secured with relative ease thanks to a Filip Helander strike and brace from Alfredo Morelos.

Steven Gerrard’s side weren’t at their most impressive, but they didn’t need to be at their best to see off Hearts as interim boss Austin MacPhee saw his team outplayed and outclassed.

Hearts still made their presence felt at times, though. Steven MacLean was booked for an elbow on Goldson and he paid the price for a needless slide towards keeper Allan McGregor as MacPhee substituted him before he saw red.

Rangers were able to match Hearts’ work ethic and rise above them with the standard of their play. That made it a satisfying afternoon for Goldson.

He said: “I took a couple of sore ones and his game plan was obviously to try to rough us up and be a bit aggressive, but there’s a difference between being aggressive and going over the top and it showed with him getting taken off so early.

“If he hadn’t already been on a yellow card then he’d have been booked for his next foul but the referee said he didn’t want to ruin a semi-final by sending him off for something so silly. He caught me inside a minute but it’s the same every week. The same happened at Ross County where the boy did the exact same thing.

“If they think that’s going to affect us and rough us up then that’s up to them but, realistically, it’s not going to affect us.

“We let it carry on and played our own game. We wore them down in the end because they’re a tough team to break down and defend well, especially crosses, but we kept playing at our intensity and tempo and it paid off.

“Against Aberdeen in the semi-final last season it was similar.

We were camped in their half and had half-chances dropping to us but we didn’t take them.

“I felt after the first goal the tension released out of us, especially the boys who were here last season, and we went on and executed our game plan very well.”

Gerrard had urged his players to use the memories of that defeat to the Dons in a positive way heading into the Hearts game and the emotions this time around were far different for the Ibrox squad.

It is eight years since Rangers last won major silverware as Celtic were beaten in the League Cup final.

The wait has been an agonising one for supporters. For the current group of players, the opportunity ahead is a hugely exciting and significant one as Rangers look to add a silver lining this term.

Goldson said: “It feels brilliant to be in a final. Since I’ve been here I’ve always wanted to pick up silverware at this club and we’re one step closer than last year.

“An Old Firm cup final will be interesting. I was a Liverpool fan growing up but never went to any finals and haven’t played in one either so it will be a good occasion for myself and my family.

“Both teams will be up for it and want to win the game but we’ll park that to the back of our heads with two tough fixtures before the international break and more after it. We’re improving and we’ve said all season we’re getting better. We’ve had a few iffy moments and bad performances but overall the first three months of the season couldn’t have gone much better.

“But we need to carry that on and can’t get ahead of ourselves. It’s still so early in the league and we’ve got a cup final and in with a chance in the Europa League so we need to keep putting in performances and winning games but the level of our team has improved.

“When you play for Rangers the games come thick and fast and you can’t let the highs get too high or the lows get too low because within three days another big game comes along.

“Every game at this football club is a big game regardless of whether it’s a semi-final or last week’s game away to Ross County. We’re always expected to win and we need to win games of football so we move on and get straight back in to get ready for Porto.”

The challenge of Porto is a very different one to Hearts but it is an encounter Rangers will head into with confidence at Ibrox.

A 1-1 draw in Portugal a fortnight ago has given Gerrard’s side a chance of qualifying from Group G.

The performance in the Estadio do Dragao was one of the best of the season as an Alfredo Morelos strike earned a point. Now, it has to be repeated on home soil this week.

Goldson said: “We need to just keep churning out results and it starts on Thursday, we have a big game against Porto and then Livingston before the break.

“I think we played really well out there but at the same time we know they are a top side and even though we have had one good performance, we can’t go into that game thinking it will be the exact same again. We need to go into that game with confidence but at the same time with respect to them and try and stamp our authority on the game.”

HEARTS owner Ann Budge has said she would consider seeking Craig Levein’s opinion when it comes to whittling down candidates for the positions of manager and sporting director.

Levein was relieved of his duties as manger and director of football on Thursday, with the Tynecastle outfit sitting joint bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership following 11 matches.

Despite the former Scotland boss’ removal from those prominent positions, last week’s statement confirming the dugout change stated that Levein will see out his contract until the end of the season “to develop and improve the structure of the backroom and youth operations”.

While maintaining Levein would not be party to the formal recruitment process – which includes sifting through 30-plus applications – with the plan of conducting interviews next week, nor have any input into the first team, Budge did say she could still sound him out regarding the two vacancies.

“I’m not going to stop talking to Craig,” said Budge. “If I get to the point where I’ve got two or three (managerial candidates) will I ask Craig’s opinion? Yes, probably.

“But what I don’t want to do is let people think he’s going to be involved in the recruitment process. But I might ask his opinion in the same way as I would ask someone else’s opinion if I thought they were suitably qualified.

“But I’m going to be talking to Craig potentially even more than I did in the past because of the role we are shaping up.”

Budge also admitted she would take a similar approach when assessing candidates for the newly created role of sporting director.

Asked if she would ask Levein for input, Budge replied: “Well, I might well do, yes.

“He has seen a lot more than I have but the approach I’m taking is that I’m talking to a lot of other clubs because they’ve gone through this.

“I am trying to arm myself with as much information as I can.”

Budge said she was also steeling herself for an adverse response from fans regarding the level of Levein’s influence.

“Yeah, there will be a reaction,” she noted. “The very fact Craig is going to continue to be at the club creates a reaction in some peoples’ eyes, it’s very clear, ‘that hasn’t worked so he has to go’.

“I have a different view of life… why throw the baby out of with the bath water?”

Levein, who was due to meet with the club’s majority shareholder yesterday afternoon, would also effectively reform the position of sporting director until the post was fulfilled.

Budge added: “What I’m saying is that I want to appoint a sporting director as soon as possible. It could be Craig who fill that role on an interim basis while we look at it.

“The biggest boundary is that he no longer has input into the first team, because that would confuse things.

“In terms of the first team, the manager will have to call the shots.

“I want to make sure all our decision-making processes are clear and the accountability process is clear for all these functions. Craig will absolutely help me shape that.”

Budge said she would seek advice from football experts when it came to identifying a successor to Levein in the dugout, although she has already been encouraged by those who have already expressed an interest.

Jack Ross, Roy Keane, John Robertson and David Moyes have already been linked with the post.

Admitting that Austin MacPhee would at least by in charge for Saturday’s visit of St Mirren, Budge added: “We’ve had a very high calibre of applications.

“I think we are going to have an interesting time.”

Budge, meanwhile, has vehemently denied that her judgment became clouded due to a her close working relationship with Levein.

She added: “I do not believe for a second I’ve been manipulated.

“I know who makes the decisions and everybody at the senior level of this club knows who makes the decisions.

“So, that annoys me.”

HERE we are again folks. Yet another Tuesday meander through the world of golf which is supposed to entertain the nation but instead inflicts itself on the populace with all the charm of a sudden outbreak of the winter vomiting bug on a Lochs & Glens Bus Tour that’s stuck in roadworks at the Slochd Summit.

Somebody once asked me to describe what form my weekly column takes and I replied by suggesting that it’s a carefully crafted, erudite page of “Collected Reflections and Articulate Ponderings”.

Of course, most people prefer to use the abbreviation, C.R.A.P. Well, that’s what the sports editor muttered anyway as he pored over the copy with the pained rictus of a man who had just tweaked his back while reaching down to pick up a summons from the bailiffs ...

By any measure, 2019 has been a shimmering year for Rory McIlroy. And it’s not over yet.

Yes, the campaign has been devoid of a major title – again – but a haul of four significant wins, the latest coming in Sunday’s WGC HSBC Champions event, is the mark of a man at the very top of his game.

Of course, when McIlroy’s various quests to bridge his five-year major-winning gap end in groaning futility, the din of wailing and shrieking from fevered observers sounds as noisy as an angle grinder having an argument with a band saw.

McIlroy (pictured) has enjoyed the most consistent year of his career and he can still end it as the world No.1. Brooks Koepka may yet have a rival, after the cheeky, acerbic observation he made recently that Rory certainly wasn’t one of his.

“I’ve learned a lot in the last 10-11 years and feel I can make the next 10-11 years even better,” said McIlroy after his Players’ Championship win earlier this season.

McIlroy turned 30 this year and this so-called second phase of his career is being eagerly anticipated.

He left his 20s in an exalted position occupied by the very best. Along with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, for example, he was one of just three players to win a quartet of majors and 15 PGA Tour titles before their 30th birthday.

McIlroy’s assault on the career grand slam in the Masters is almost becoming a continued millstone instead of a crusade on a milestone.

But time is on his side. Countless golfers flourish in their 30s and 40s. Nick Faldo won his first major – the 1987 Open – the day after he turned 30. He would go on to add another five in the next nine years.

On the other hand, however, the great Seve had four majors before he was 30 and added another at 31. There would be no more after that, though, and his career would never reach the swashbuckling heights again.

What the future holds for

McIlroy is in the lap of the golfing gods. And, as we all know, those pesky blighters work in funny ways.

But 2019 continues to offer hints that maybe McIlroy’s best is yet to come?

It’s 30 years now since the order of merit on the European Challenge Tour was introduced in 1989 and in that time only one Scot, Marc Warren in 2006, has topped the rankings.

Going into this week’s Grand Final on the second-tier circuit in Mallorca, Calum Hill is poised to emulate that feat and put a polished tin lid on his promotion to the European Tour.

In just over two years as a pro, the Kinross golfer has made the kind of giant leaps that Bob Beamon used to launch in the sand pit.

Two wins on the Challenge Tour this year have left him No.1 on the rankings and 110th on the world rankings. He’s made quite an impact.

Apart from the talent, the drive and a feisty competitive instinct, Hill seems to have that certain “something” that separates the winners from the rank and file.

The step up the main tour shouldn’t faze him.

Hill’s fellow Scot, Connor Syme, is also on course for promotion back to the main tour while Bearsden youngster Ewen Ferguson still has an outside chance of barging his way into a top-15 finish required to earn a full tour card.

A terrific haul of four Scots earned promotion last year from a cut-throat circuit that is hellishly competitive, unforgiving and a proven breeding ground.

In a global game of formidable strength in depth that can be deeper than a burial at sea, getting at least another two young Scots

up from just a total of 15 successful graduates is no mean feat.

At a sprightly 64 years of age,

Greg Norman still possesses the kind of figure that would make Adonis look like Les Dawson after a week on an all-inclusive cruise.

The teeth, the tan, the rugged manly prowess? Norman’s still got it and, in a recent interview, he clearly wants to keep it for a while yet.

“I’ve been very open about the fact I want to be the longest-living Norman, and the Normans have some really good genes,” boasted the former Open champion of this family longevity.

“On my mother’s side, it’s 90s and 100s. My dad is 93 this year. I’d like to hit 108, 110.”

Funnily enough, hitting 108 or 110 is what this scribe aspires to in the bloomin’ medal.

In a wide-ranging interview, Norman suggested that hitting a “pure golf shot” was as good “as having an orgasm”.

I’m afraid I’ll have to take your word for it, Greg ...

Champions League, Red Star v Tottenham - BT Sport 2 1900; Atalanta v Man City - BT Sport 3 1915; Bayern Munich v Olympiakos - BT Sport 1 1730; Lokomotiv Moscow v Juventus - BT Sport/ ESPN 1745; Real Madrid v Galatasaray - BT Sport/ESPN 2000; Europa League, Vitoria v Arsenal - BT Sport 2 1530.

NBA, Houston Rockets v Golden State Warriors - Sky Sports Main Event 0030 (Thu).

Champion of Champions - ITV 4 1245 & 1845.

Mick McCarthy quit as Republic of Ireland manager.

Australia won the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time, beating holders West Indies by eight wickets in a rain-affected final in Mumbai.

Craig Levein was relieved of his duties as Scotland manager, with Billy Stark taking temporary charge.

Martin O’Neill was announced as Republic of Ireland’s new manager, with Roy Keane as his assistant.

Great Britain’s Andy Murray became the new world No.1 after Milos Raonic withdrew from their semi-final at the Paris Masters, handing him the final place he needed to secure the ranking.