Schalk says slow defence makes Rangers easy prey
ALEX SCHALK admitted that he and Ross County preyed on the lack of pace in the Rangers defence and impatience in the home crowd to prise a point from a dissatisfied Ibrox yesterday.
The Dutchman, who scored in the 18th minute and missed a glorious chance before half-time, was content with the 1-1 result — a third Ladbrokes Premiership draw between the sides this season.
And he revealed he was licking his lips at taking on Clint Hill and Phillipe Senderos, playing in front of an audience demanding improvement from Rangers’ 4-1 defeat at Hearts in midweek.
‘Their experience will help them in situations but when we saw their team sheet, we saw their centrebacks and that was where we had to get our opportunities,’ said Schalk (pictured). ‘I assumed they analysed us, with me playing up top behind their defence. My main strength is my pace and that’s how we scored the goal. You could say I missed an easier one than I scored. ‘The second one was an open goal. I slipped and the ball hit my other leg. That happens. I had another shot as well. Now in the end you get away with a point and you are very satisfied. ‘Our challenge was to get a result and that’s what we did. You come here and you know the fans will get on their case if they’re not showing 100-per-cent effort or not trying to play the ball forward.
‘I think we did very well first half to play compact and on the break. The way they played their first half wasn’t like Rangers, especially at home to give up that much space.
‘After the goal, you saw the crowd get more nervous and they were starting to moan. We tried to turn the crowd against them and that worked in the first half. It gets in your head, I think.
‘Especially for the Rangers players when nothing is working. Maybe it’s about the mentality then.’
Rangers responded well in the second period but could only muster a
Lee Wallace strike for their pressure, allowing Aberdeen to overtake them on goal difference.
Jon Toral, the on-loan Arsenal midfielder who set up his captain for the equaliser, complained: ‘We must perform at the levels required to win the games. We haven’t managed to do that in the last two matches.
‘What went wrong in the first half is that we went behind. The performance on Wednesday was at the back of our minds as well.
‘When County scored we got a little bit nervy but we came back and put up a strong performance in the second half.
‘I was fighting relegation back in Spain in the first six months of this season. I played in front of crowds in Granada, who were not happy either with the way things were going.
‘Here at this big club the demands are to win every game as well.’
Warburton noted that Rangers once again failed to make the most of their time spent pressurising the opposition defence as Scott Fox produced three big saves for County.
‘I’ve been told we had 15 corners to one, 22 attempts but we scored one goal,’ he said. ‘We have to look at that. There were countless free-kicks but three or four over the bar.
‘That’s where we need that bit of quality in the final third. There was chance after chance in the second half but you have to put the ball in the net.’
County manager Jim McIntyre said: ‘It’s a crisis whenever the Old Firm lose one match. So we tried to make sure we frustrated them but also offered more of a threat than the last time we were here.’