Talking points

GUTSY RANGERS

Rangers have been accused of being too nice, of lacking heart, of not playing for their manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst this season. However, none of those charges could be levelled at them at Ibrox yesterday.

Rangers showed huge desire, great togetherness and no little skill after falling behind to an early Connor Barron goal in their cinch Premiership match against Aberdeen.

They are still, despite the comfortable 4-1 victory, not performing at their very best.

However, this vastly-improved display went a long way towards silencing their critics and augurs well for them going forward.

The home supporters in the 49,365-strong crowd left the stadium, for the first time in some time, satisfied with what they had witnessed.

DEFENSIVE DITHERING

Allowing Aberdeen forward Duk to get into a position to shoot in their own six-yard box was bad enough from Rangers. But failing to clear the ball after the Portuguese went to ground and claimed for a penalty was unforgivable.

They were far too busy protesting their innocence to referee Nick Walsh to prevent Barron from ghosting in and rifling beyond Allan McGregor.

It proved to be the only occasion their rearguard was breached. But they must avoid such needless lapses if they are to avoid any slip-ups in the weeks ahead.

MORE INJURY WOES

Van Bronckhorst could be dusting off his Puma Kings and pulling on a light blue jersey again at this rate.

He was without Conor Goldson, Filip Helander, John Souttar, Glen Kamara, Ryan Jack, Tom Lawrence, Ianis Hagi and Kemar Roofe going into the Aberdeen game.

The last thing he needed was his Turkish defender Ridvan Yilmaz pulling up in the sixth minute and hobbling off and then Ben Davies not being able to go back out for the second half.

Van Bronckhorst’s injury list is horrendous and could impact on his side in the final Champions League group game against Ajax in Govan on Tuesday night and domestically thereafter.