True grit like this can seal title for Stevie G’s troops
RANGERS 1 Hagi (33) HIBERNIAN 0 Steven Gerrard chose two words to describe the way his side maintained their unbeaten league campaign – resilience and character.
The Rangers boss watched the Ibrox men dig deep to hold off a determined second-half fightback by Hibs to claim their 12th league win-in-a-row.
It was the Edinburgh outfit that last denied Gerrard’s men full points when they drew 2- 2 at Easter Road in September.
This was a case of gritting the teeth and marching on with a narrow victory.
Gerrard would have loved more of a flourish from the Light Blues, but he was content with claiming three points that could be crucial in the title race.
He said: “Resilience and character are a must.
“If we want to go the distance, it’s not always going to be easy.
“Teams are not just going to lie down and let us beat them.
“We saw last week with Motherwell we were faced with a challenge, a different challenge and we had to adapt.
“And while we didn’t get that second goal this time, you know you’re going to have to rely on your big players to stand up and be counted.
“I thought we did that. Barisic has made a match- saving block to maintain maximum points, then Allan Mcgregor comes and takes an important cross, so everyone is standing up and doing their roles.
“We’re in a much better place than we have been previously when faced with this situation because recruitment wise, we’ve got much better players in the door now.”
Gerrard’s heart must have been in his mouth when Hibs almost scored in the first minute. Josh Doig went careering down the left wing and slung over a cross that Boyle connected with at the back post but sent wide.
From there, the Edinburgh men had to defend in numbers for most of the first half as Rangers enjoyed more than 70% possession.
Unlike the Motherwell match, there were far more forward passes from the men in light blue.
Having Hagi and Aribo in the starting line- up makes Rangers better equipped to create openings.
Hibs had on- loan QPR goalkeeper Dillon Barnes in for the injured Ofir Marciano.
The 24-year-old had to react sharply to push away Goldson’s point- black header from a corner.
Earlier, he’d been grateful to Paul Mcginn for blocking a net- bound effort by Balogun.
Hibs looked dangerous on the break but Ianis Hagi’s third league goal of the season came as no real surprise.
Kemar Roofe was the creator, burrowing his way into the penalty area and crossing for the Romanian to stab the ball home. It was a goal that showed there’s a lot more to Roofe than just a scorer of spectacular strikes.
Hibs pushed further up the pitch after the break and put the home defence under considerable pressure.
They had a claim for a penalty when Hagi cleared with a high boot close to Newell.
It’s the sort incident that prompts claims these days, despite there being no intent.
Another shout for a foul in the box came when Porteous went down under a challenge from Tavernier.
Balogun had a great chance to relax Rangers but the keeper reacted well to save his close-range shot after a corner.
Hibs put Rangers under severe pressure during the last half an hour and Gerrard’s men toiled to transport the ball out of their own half for long.
They could have done with Ryan Kent to take the ball for a run, but he had one of his quieter outings.
There were several crucial blocks and headers needed to keep the Hibees out.
Morelos was stopped from making it two in added- on time when he was denied by another good save from Barnes.
Although Rangers were hanging on at the end, they came through another big test.
Earlier in Steven Gerrard’s tenure, they might have crumbled.
The big question is – can Rangers remain as resolute moving into 2021?