Dodoo is a last-action hero for Rangers
WHILE Celtic’s cross-border loophole raid for a young bargain striker has been nothing short of spectacular, Joe Dodoo has been forced to sit and suffer. As Moussa Dembele hammered home a hat-trick against Rangers and made merry against Manchester City in the Champions League, Dodoo was down and out with an ankle damaged just a quarter of an hour into his first Ladbrokes Premiership start on the Rugby Park astroturf.
Four minutes into injury-time at Firhill, the agonies of the aborted start to the former Leicester City forward’s Rangers career were all over with the last classy kick of a wide-open game.
Taking a pass from Kenny Miller, Dodoo showed veteran calm to tuck home a lovely finish and pinch all three points with his second goal of a spectacular introduction made on the hour mark.
For the second Saturday in succession, Rangers were only great late. Following last week’s Harry Forrester winner at home to Dundee, they stayed true to the maligned methods of Mark Warburton and played their way through Thistle to claim what had long looked an unlikely victory.
From the jeers at the substitution of the tireless Forrester and groans at a reluctance to pile directly forward for a response to Kris Doolan’s 76th-minute strike, the travelling support celebrated wildly at the discovery of a scoring spark to their season as Rangers moved above Aberdeen.
With last season’s top scorer Martyn Waghorn out of favour and a candidate to be sold in January — Bristol City are keen — the emergence of 21-year-old Dodoo could not be timed better.
As funds are at a premium, chairman Dave King would like the transfer kitty to be spent wisely. Replacing £1.8million Joe Garner with Dodoo, pinched shrewdly for a nominal development fee of around £400,000, saved the day yesterday.
Ahead of a dangerous remainder of 2016 in which they face Hearts twice, plus Aberdeen and Celtic at Ibrox, this was valuable currency in terms of top-flight points as Rangers shifted up to the runnersup berth and eight points behind the champions.
Uncharacteristically lethargic in a comprehensive 2-0 loss at Motherwell last Saturday when Mark McGhee’s side matched their 3-5-2, Thistle reverted to four at the back. Alan Archibald got an excellent response from his players so it was no wonder several of them slumped to the turf in devastation as the final whistle swiftly followed Dodoo’s deadly deed.
Thistle were more combative and far livelier than a week ago, creating early openings against a Rangers defence which included Danny Wilson for the first time since Thistle lost 2-0 at Ibrox on October 1.
A stray header from his defensive partner Rob Kiernan dropped kindly to David Amoo. Wes Foderingham sprang smartly down to his right to bat away and Chris Erskine’s followup was blocked by Lee Wallace.
Doolan was detailed to cause trouble in behind Kiernan and Wilson, and he forced Foderingham into a save when shooting on the spin after Adam Barton’s flick.
Constructing meaningful moves was a hardship for Rangers in the first half. From a short corner, Miller stole space to flash a header and Thorsten Stuckmann repelled on his line.
Liam Lindsay was excellent, too, with a perfectly timed slide tackle to take the ball as Forrester took aim at goal and a terrific block to deny Garner on the turn. This was the reaction Archibald wanted from his young centre-half, who was the fall guy at Fir Park.
The reaction from Garner to his frustrations were, disappointingly, rather typical of what we have witnessed. When he collected a booking for leading with his arm in an aerial clash with Lindsay, he had been cautioned as many times as he had found the net in his 12-game Rangers career.
That is ‘only’ three times but he does tend to tread a thin line with his discipline, as Lindsay’s centre-half colleague Barton would attest after Garner took a late, low swipe at him as he launched a ball upfield.
A hamstring strain for Josh Windass saw him withdrawn at the break. Playing in a central role, substitute Barrie McKay botched an exchange with Miller right in the middle of his own half. The pair were bailed out by Foderingham pushing out Erskine’s netbound drive for a corner.
Forrester could not be faulted for his effort — there were jeers from the Rangers fans at the decision to take last week’s matchwinner off with 15 minutes to go — and the tireless wide man had a strong penalty claim rejected when Adbul Osman impeded his progress.
As play swung from end to end, Thistle were given hope of a first victory over Rangers in 23 years.
Stevie Lawless, just on as a sub, provided the delivery from the right and while James Tavernier got a chunk of the header by Doolan, the ball settled sweetly back down for the Partick Thistle striker to tuck home.
Had Foderingham not reached to tip a Ryan Edwards 30-yard dig over the bar within a minute of the restart, there would have been no victory heroics from Dodoo.
On 81 minutes, Dodoo met Miller’s ball first time on the volley with stunning control and accuracy to steer his finish beyond the towering Stuckmann.
Then, after Thistle captain Osman slipped, the home side caved in late again. Miller was once more instrumental, slotting in Dodoo on the left side of the area and he guided the ball home with all the calm of a training ground exercise.