Gerrard understands fans’ frustration but urges them to hold nerve in title run-in
● Rangers far from their best but that is good enough against toothless opposition
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard urged his club’s supporters to hold their nerve after a low-key 1-0 win over St Mirren last night produced anxiety from the stands as his team struggled to put the encounter out of sight.
An opportunist 34 thminute Jermain Defoe strike claimed all three points and G err a rd, right, cautioned that the club faithful should prepare themselves for such tight encounters against obdurate opponents at Ibrox as they look to maintain their title challenge to Celtic. In
achieving their aim of remaining two points behind the Scottish champions despite having played a game fewer, the Rangers manager declared himself “delighted without come and result” even as he accepted his team failed to scale the heights.
“It gets us closer to where we want to be, six wins on the spin in all competitions and 21 games since a real domestic setback,” he said. “So I’m positive, I’m happy. I understand some of the frustration around the fans, and the players, not scoring three
or four. Over the course of the season, it’s not going to be perfect in every game. We are still trying to find top gear.
“The fans are entitled to moan and groan if they want, if they’re not seeing what they expect. I’m not sitting here saying we were outstanding, everything is flying and we were brilliant. But we’ re winning.
“It’ s a win, a clean sheet, and, defensively, we were very sound. We could have killed the game off but it wasn’t to be.”
Gerrard accepted that Alfredo Morelos, suspended as the
result of his red-card in the 2-1 win at Celtic Park before the shutdown, was missed, but pointed to the contribution of Defoe, who followed up his penalty strike in friday’s Scottish Cup win over Stranraer with a sharp finish.
“I’ ve said it before that, when Alfredo isn’ t avail able, we’re going to miss him,” Gerrard said.
“But Jermain has been big for us. Two starts on the spin and two goals. He is a predator in the box.
“He could have killed the game off for us at the end, too, and was still hungry in the 90th minute. He’s as hungry
now [at 37] as he was when he was 17.
“But, yes, we need Alfredo back, as well. And injured James Tavernier as well, he provides an attacking outlet on the right.
“Greg Stewart is another big miss with injury.”
Quality control is not a factor in title races. For that Rangers may be mightily grateful following a victory over St Mirren last night that was one heck of a grind.
An alert finish by Jermain Defoe just after the hour was the difference, as the stubbornness of Jim Goodwin’ s side was matched by the ponderousness of the Ibrox men, who simply do not pack the same punch when deprived of Alfredo Morelos, who was suspended.
Yet, the nature of the victor y simply didn’t matter. As they have throughout this campaign of promise, by winning their first league encounter post-shutdown, Steven Gerrard, pictured, and his side avoided one of the pitfalls they fell into a year ago. Back then, they followed an Old Firm success with the deflation of a loss at Kilmarnock in their first game back.
Last night, there was never any real threat to the pursuit of three points once their veteran English striker had pounced, but they also struggled to produce the vibrancy that might have been assumed would follow their Celtic Park exploits.
Instead, apprehension as much as expectancy appeared to be in the air around Ibrox in the lead-up to kick-off.
It seemed as if area lisation had seeped into sections of the home faithful about what could be considered the upshot of that breakthrough 2-1 victor y at Parkhead. Not only did it alter perceptions of where control of the title race lay in this post-winter shutdown period, it could be argued that it made the title Rangers to lose. Rangers were aiming for a fifth straight league win to extend their unbeaten run in the Premiership to 16 games.
In the mundane early stages, it seemed all Rangers were likely to lose was their patience to wear down opponents who camped on the edge of their own penalty box.
St Mirr en manager Jim Good win had joked in oldfashioned football parlance that he would look to“park two buses ”. In new-fangled terminology, not so much the “low block” as a positively subterranean block.
That didn’t exactly square with the fact that his strate - gy suffered an early setback in Rangers’ final third rather than Saints’.
An attempt to break down the left by Kyle Magennis as he was shadowed by Jon Flanagan resulted in the Saints midfielder writhing in agony on the turf. The match was held up for a full three minutes as a stretcher was constructed to ferry Magennis from the pitch. At that point St Mirren must have feared one of those nights.
Yet, not until the midpoint of a meandering first half did Gerrard’s men seriou sly threaten. Ryan Kent exchanged passes with Joe Aribo to carve a way through the inside left channel. That put the whites ofVa cl av Hladky’s eyes in view for the winger, but he failed to lift a point-blank effort over the Czech keeper’s sharply spread frame. When the ball broke to Steven Davis and he chipped back in, Defoe could only knock it wide on the stretch.
A passage symptomatic of Rangers’ inability to demonstrate command to match their territorial dominance.
Borna Barisic was the exception. As the first half wore on, the advanced positions he took upon the left often became the starting point for his side’s attacks.
For all that the club’s captain James Tavernier is criticised for being more a wing-back than right-sided defender, his injury absence increased the onus on Barisic to offer a creative outlet on the other flank.
He responded and allowed R angers to step up the pressure on the visitors.
The Croatian made his forward-thinking count in the 34 th minute by acting as unwitting provider for an opening goal that came as no great shock. There was more than a hint of good fortune in the human pinball that ensued from Barisic’s decision to club the ball low towards goal when confronted by a posse of defenders blocking his route.
His drive clipped at least one St Mirren player in Conor Mccarthy, and possibly another, before Defoe demonstrated his razor-sharp instincts in front of goal by flashing out a leg to turn it in to the net from 14 yards.
It was a moment that stood out as Rangers laboured after the interval to put away the club who are third bottom of the Premiership.
The absence of Mo re los blunt’ sG err a rd’ s men but, against an entirely blunt opponent– a McCarthy header knocked past late on was their only glimpse of an equaliser – their far from best was more than good enough. RANGERS: Mcgregor, Flanagan, Goldson, Katic, Barisic, Jack, Davis, Kamara (Arfield 69), Aribo (Ojo 80), Defoe, kent. Subs not used: Edmundson, Foderingham, Halliday, Jones, Patterson.
ST MIRREN: Hladky, Flynn, Mccarthy, P Mcginn, Famewo, Waters, Morias (Andreu 77), Macpherson (Mullen 87), Foley, Magennis (Durmus 7),Obika. Subs not used: Henderson, Cooke, Erhahon, Lyness.