OUT WITH THE OLD.. IN WITH THE BLUE Gio given hope host of changes won’t hurt Gers
THE talk among thousands of fans who had ventured south was as much about two stars not involved as the 22 Rangers players who were.
Calvin Bassey sat out the sunshine friendly as his clubrecord move to Ajax entered the final stages while Malik Tillman watched from the stands after completing his loan switch from Bayern Munich 24 hours earlier.
But for Gio van Bronckhorst the focus was very much on the park and on his evolving side with under a fortnight to go until the season kicks off for real.
And for the boss there were signs by the seaside that the ripple effect from their transfer activity – which has seen Joe Aribo exit, soon to be followed by Bassey, with Tillman, Antonio Colak, Tom Lawrence and Rabbi Matondo all coming in the way – will be as calm as the Irish Sea lapping up on the sun-drenched Blackpool waterfront.
The Ibrox gaffer gave four summer signings a run-out among the old guard as well as a handful of youngsters.
Among them was 20-year-old Charlie McCann, who netted an impressive second-half volley to settle the outcome after Borna Barisic had opened the scoring.
Colak looked powerful and energetic leading the line for 78 minutes and was deprived of a first goal in light blue by an offside flag.
Matondo showed lightning and ball control in a 30minute cameo alongside Lawrence, while John Souttar was denied a debut goal by Daniel Grimshaw’s fine save.
What Tillman can bring to the table will likely be seen in Ibrox friendlies against West Ham and Tottenham this week.
But van Bronckhorst is already confident he has a ready-made replacement for Aribo.
He said: “We lost Joe and want to have the same squad as last year, so with Malik arriving we have it looking as it should be.
“He is a midfielder with a lot of good passing, good movement and can score goals. He is quite physical, so he will give us a lot of strength in there.
“We have a really competitive squad and we want competition for positions. When we knew of the interest in Joe, we moved quickly to Malik. I’m happy he is joining us and he’s excited.”
Bassey’s looming departure leaves a question mark on the left side of defence but Barisic reminded those watching that he was the original lefty in recent years at Ibrox.
His 50th-minute opener – for which he chased down a loose ball in the corner, won it back and cut inside before curling an effort past Grimshaw with his right foot – was impressive.
So too was McCann’s 76thpace
minute strike, which arrowed into the bottom corner from 20 yards after a corner was half cleared.
Van Bronckhorst said: “Borna has played well and the way he scored, we lost the ball, he won it back and his shot was great.
“Also the shot from Charlie for the second goal, we don’t score those goals last season – shooting from distance. We have players who can shoot from distance and you need that sometimes.
“For some players it was their first game of pre-season and I was really happy nearly everyone could feature and get minutes.
“We prepare now for a big week because we are playing two really good quality opponents. After that we have a week to prepare for the start of the season.”
On what was the traditional
Glasgow Fair weekend exodus from the Clydeside, there was a sea of light blue on the Fylde coast. Rangers supporters filled more than half of the 16,500 capacity ground and were treated to a bright display from their heroes just seven days after a blackout brought their opening pre-season friendly against Sunderland to a premature end. Colak sidefooted James Tavernier’s low cross in off a post after a sweeping 29thminute move down the right but his celebrations were cut short by an offside flag.
The game burst into life when Barisic curled home the opener five minutes after the break and Ryan Kent almost added No.2.
Rangers were well in control and even the introduction of seven subs 61 minutes in didn’t upset their rhythm. Lawrence and Matondo were thrown on along with Souttar, whose strike from Niko Katic’s knockdown blocked.
Matondo got fans out of their seats with a blistering run, only for his cutback to evade everyone.
But with 14 minutes remaining, McCann fired home the second before Seasiders sub Beryly Lubala reduced the deficit.
RANGERS: McGregor 6 (McLaughlin 46, 6), Tavernier 7 (Souttar 61, 5), Goldson 6 (King 61, 5), Sands 6 (Katic 61, 5), Barisic 7 (Devine 61, 5), Jack 6 (Davis 46, 6), Kamara 7 (Arfield 46, 6), Lundstram 6 (Lawrence 61, 5), Wright 6 (Matondo 61, 5), Colak 7 (Middleton 78, 3), Kent 6 (McCann 61, 5). Subs
not used: McCrorie, Zukowski, Kelly.