LOAN RANGER TAKES A LEAP OF FAITH TO RESCUE McCALL’S MEN
Slovenian takes leap of faith for Ibrox men
APRELUDE or an epilogue. A taste of greater glories to come, or a final hurrah for a team fatally flawed in the art of defending. It’s probably a good thing Rangers have precious little time to dwell upon the questions raised by yesterday’s nervous play-off win over Queen of the South.
By the time a rested Hibs side leave Ibrox on Wednesday night, we’ll know a lot more about the chances of Stuart McCall’s men winning promotion via these entertaining endof-season eliminators.
The play-offs, as those who’ve been through them before can testify, are about as far removed from regular season football as it’s possible to imagine.
It takes something different, something extra, to get through.
Although they stretched the nerves of a 48,000- plus crowd, Rangers got the j ob done. Thanks in no little part to a player whose arrival as part of a Newcastle job-lot loan deal was met with as much disdain as applause.
Haris Vuckic, instrumental in setting up the Rangers equaliser and a hero at the back as he headed a Derek Lyle shot off the goal line, has trodden a vaguely similar path before — playing a part in Rotherham’s promotion to the English Championship via the play-offs last season.
‘Play-offs are always hard,’ said the 22-year- old Slovenian. ‘ You have to win games and come through games. That was the same for me at Rotherham last year.
‘But it’s a bit more pressure here, you know? Rangers want to be where they belong. We’re working hard to do that. Now we’ve got two games against Hibs and we’ll see where we’re standing.
‘I have a bit of experience of play-off football and playing home and away l egs, which should hopefully help me out. You just have to stay in the game and then hopefully you can get through.
‘It felt so amazing to go up via the play- offs last year. I now have it o n my CV that I won promotion — and I’d like another.’
Vuckic, denied the chance to take the winning penalty for Rotherham as their shoot- out with Leyton Orient failed to go the distance, added: ‘ If i t came down to penalties, I would want to score the winning play-off penalty for Rangers — but hopefully it won’t get to that stage and we will have won the game already.’ First they must get past Hibs, a team who appeared to have the Light Blues i n their pocket for most of the season … until the last meeting at Easter Road. Vuckic, with a nod to the 2-0 away win in Edinburgh i n March, said: ‘That result gives us great confidence. It’s good to know we can beat them. ‘They beat us in the two games before that, but we went a way and we sh o wed them what we can do to them. Twonil was a great win and I’m confident we can do it again.’
His confidence may not be shared by all who witnessed Rangers s quander c hances a nd gift openings to Queen of the South yesterday. This was a day of errors and misjudgments, misplaced passes and horrible howlers.
And that’s before we come to the comedy stylings of Bilel Mohsni, a man who can see an open invitation to run the ball into 40 yards of space — just killing time, nothing clever, nothing tricky — and transform it into a turnover.
McCall got away with giving the ‘defender’ a five-minute run- out yesterday, during which time he managed to concede one daft freekick in dangerous territory.
If he gets anywhere near the bench on Wednesday night, that may well be grounds f or the manager’s instant dismissal.
Mohsni’s inclusion was just about endured by the biggest crowd of the season yesterday, i f only because they felt this game had just about been won.
As jittery as they may have been, t he supporters l eft I brox — stopping only to buy tickets for Wednesday night — in a positively upbeat mood.
There were certainly phases of the afternoon when this felt like old times, with the joint rocking and swaying to hymns and battle cries.
‘It was as good an atmosphere as I have experienced,’ said Vuckic. ‘As soon as I came out of the tunnel, I saw a full stadium — and that gives you a massive lift.
‘Wednesday is going to be the same, hopefully. When we scored, the crowd gave us a huge response, which really lifted us.
‘It’s hard when you concede a goal and you can see the players looking down, but it was good that the crowd lifted us as well.
‘They started to applaud us and it was good for our confidence.’
Rangers will need that confidence against a Hibs team sure to be feeling refreshed and ready for battle. But maybe just a little rusty around the edges, given their lengthy lay-off?
Vuckic said: ‘ It could be an advantage that we’ve been playing, could be a negative. We’ve only got two days to recover — but we’ve got match fitness, having played two games in a row.
‘ Hibs have had 18 days j ust training hard. Even if they play a friendly, that is nothing compared to a play-off game.
‘ So hopefully we can t ake advantage. It all depends on the day. The most important thing is to stick together and work hard.’