Good, but we can do better, says Gerrard as Gers demolish Dundee
RANGERS 4 Coulibaly (4), Kent (14), Tavernier (45), Middleton (84) dUNdEE 0
Kenny Miller’s return to Ibrox with Dundee was never liable to be easy. No one could have guessed it would be quite this hard.
With twelve minutes of this lop-sided contest remaining, the man who spent three spells at the club departed with his arm in the air to acknowledge the well-wishers’ cheers cascading down from all four stands. It would have been a touching moment were it not for the fact that also part of the backdrop was a red card being waved at his back by referee Kevin Clancy. Worse still, it was a straight red for a foul on Borna Barisic to add to the earlier yellow he had been shown for a clash with his former team-mate Andy Halliday. “We will absolutely appeal the decision – 100%,” said Dundee manager Neil McCann. “I spoke to Kenny afterwards and I saw it in real time that he got the ball. He said he absolutely got the ball. “Yes, he did catch the man, but there were several challenges like that and the card wasn’t brandished. “It’s a straight red he showed. I thought it was a second yellow, I have to admit. “I don’t think the first one was a yellow, though, I felt he was trying to get himself across Andy going back through. “I was surprised at the first yellow and equally surprised when I learned it was a straight red.” One of the strangest twists of this match was that while Rangers manager Steven Gerrard politely applauded Miller off the pitch, he was disinclined to pat his players on the back for their one-sided victory. “I’m not sure we got a great performance, to be honest. We got a win, an important win, we got four goals and a clean sheet,” he said. “It was OK. It was good enough but we will play better than that. “If you take into consideration the international break, people coming back late and only really getting the full squad together yesterday then we would have taken the result. “But we will have to play better. We have to play with more control. I didn’t like it going from end to end. “I want as many goals as we can get. I want to create a team that is ruthless and relentless and we weren’t today.” While it was true the hosts were patchy in places, there was plenty to like about their highlights. Gerrard had spoken about the importance to his side of getting Lassana Coulibaly back after a month out with a thigh strain but he couldn’t have anticipated the instant impact he would have here. Borna Barisic showed real enterprise when driving in from the left and unleashing a shot. Paul McGowan managed to get himself in the way but the rebound fell straight to Rangers’ Malian midfielder who smashed it into the net. Soon it was 2-0 with the home side using the momentum of their breakthrough to craft an eyecatching second. Ryan Kent, the winger on loan from Liverpool, had plenty to do when he picked up the ball in midfield and drove towards the Dundee goal. But with the help of a couple of one-twos from first Alfredo Morelos and then Scott Arfield, he slalomed his way to some 10 yards out from where he finished in style. Only a fine save from Elliot Parish prevented him netting his second before half-time, the keeper hurling himself to his right to parry the Englishman’s drive. He had no such answer, however, to James Tavernier’s emphatic penalty conversion, Morelos having drawn a foul out of Darren O’Dea as he darted into the box. That wasn’t the end of it either, Rangers substitute Glenn Middleton showing quick feet when nipping in to capitalise on a failed clearance by Genseric Kusunga. From a Dundee perspective it was a brutal goal to lose at the end of a tough afternoon. And while they did produce some nice passages of passing play, it was also true the final score line could have been much worse with Morelos, Connor Goldson both missing chances and Kyle Lafferty hitting the crossbar with a header.