Captain Fantastic
Legendary Rangers captain, John Greig, celebrated his 79th birthday yesterday. The current Ibrox skipper, James Tavernier, marked the occasion with a stunning winner against St Johnstone.
ST JOHNSTONE 1 O’halloran (51) RANGERS 2
Roofe (58), Tavernier (79)
It was one in, two out and three points banked for the Light Blues at Mcdiarmid Park yesterday.
Steven Gerrard was back in the Rangers dugout following a period of coronavirus self-isolation.
Missing, though, and for the very same reason that kept his manager away, was Connor Goldson.
The Englishman had played every minute of his club’s previous 81 competitive games, a quite remarkable record.
His absence here was yet another example, if one were needed, of the ability of Covid-19 to disrupt everyone’s routine.
And as happy as he was to get back on the pitch bumping fists at the end of another victory, Gerrard got a reminder of one the tougher parts of the experience when he had to watch Filip Helander stretchered off injured.
That is a serious worry in terms of the Lyon game on Thursday but for now, Gerrard was happy.
“In the first half we didn’t do much wrong but in the second we went a goal down and it became more complicated,” he said.
“But we are champions for a reason. Champions find ways and they find answers. That’s what my team has done today, so credit to the players.
“We competed really well, we did the ugly bits well, but it was just that bit of quality we were lacking. It was the last pass or cross where we just needed a bit more.
“But it certainly came to get us the three points.
“Because in any game of football that’s a world-class finish from James.”
Having lost his inspirational skipper Jason Kerr to Wigan, Callum Davidson has been active in the transfer market signing centre-halves Lars Dendoncker and Efe Ambrose.
For yesterday’s match he opted to put both on the bench, starting Shane Rooney in a back three.
Ali Crawford, another new recruit, was given a debut in midfield.
Arguably more important than the personnel was the attitude, given the home side was still in search of their first league win of the season.
And Saints were OK on that score. They snapped into their tackles from the first whistle, none more so than David Wotherspoon.
Rangers could not afford to relax as, though on the back foot, Saints were always a threat on the break.
Chris Kane was left shaking his head ruefully when failing to get a decent contact on a Rooney cross that teed him up nicely.
It was a warning the Light Blues failed to heed with Saints grabbing the lead soon after the break.
O’halloran chased what appeared a lost cause and when Filip Helander floundered under pressure, he pounced, firing a shot across Mclaughlin high into the net.
It was the boost the game needed. Rangers tore up the park and, within a few minutes, they had their equaliser.
Ryan Kent darted into the box, lured a foul from Muller and then bounced up to congratulations for earning his side a penalty.
Kemar Roofe took the kick and converted with a flourish for 1-1.
Saints players clearly felt the award was soft and Liam Craig had an angry exchange with the scorer as he attempted to pick the ball up and run it back to get the game restarted.
Alfredo Morelos and Rooney lent support to their team-mates and ref Collum booked all four for their trouble.
Rangers tails were up and they grabbed a stunning second thanks to James Tavernier.
The latter hadn’t scored so far this season but his stunning 25-yard effort up and over keeper Zander Clark was worth the wait.
“A lot of the lads are asking, did I cross it? But no, I got it out of my feet and thought: ‘I’m just going to have a shot here’” he said.
“It managed to go up and down so I’m just really pleased that I contributed to the team getting a win.
“Getting the dip on it was key to get it over the keeper. It was similar to the Dundee United free-kick last season.
“He’s a big lad so I had to get it up and down.”