Wallace hurting after Parkhead reverse
LEE WALLACE did not put in all the hard miles with Rangers over the last four years in order to suffer agonies like yesterday on his return to Celtic Park.
The Ibrox captain was the only survivor from the April 29, 2012 visit when a 3-0 victory for the champions capped a devastating season for a club hurtling towards liquidation.
Since then he has endured myriad lows. They include bottom-tier defeats to Stirling Albion and Annan Athletic, losing a Challenge Cup final to Raith Rovers, and a 6-1 aggregate play-off final drubbing by Motherwell.
As Wallace spoke of a Rangers squad suffering from ‘heartache’, a 5-1 hammering at Celtic has hit him harder than any of the sore points along the journey back to the Premiership.
‘The previous four years were tough and I’m grateful that I’m part of the group who’ve got us back to the top flight, playing in this fixture,’ said Wallace. ‘The build-up to the game was superb.
‘But now I’m on the receiving end of a poor result and it’s a real low point in my career. It’s hard to put it into context right now because I am emotional.
‘But this is a fixture we want to be winning and this feeling now is probably worse than any defeat down the lower leagues. While it’s hurting, we have to move on and get back to winning ways.’
A home Ladbrokes Premiership game against Ross County next Saturday provides the opportunity for Rangers to try to begin the recovery process and find form.
Hamilton plundered a point on the opening day at Ibrox and a Kenny Miller stoppagetime goal was needed to beat Motherwell in their last home game.
Neither in the 2-1 win at Dundee nor in a 1-1 draw at Kilmarnock did Rangers exhibit the trademark tempo of last term’s second-tier title-winning triumph.
After participating in the away dressing-room inquest, Wallace conceded that Mark Warburton and his squad have a raft of issues to resolve before they can think about closing in on the leaders.
‘While there’s heartache in that dressing room among players and staff we’re going to have to quickly put it right,’ said Wallace.
‘We know we’ve not been as penetrative in the opening games of the season. We’ve not had that final-third edge, whether we’ve won, drawn or, in this case, lost.
‘We need that back, to take the risks we took last season. We need limited touches, ball movement, better rotation, be better in terms of dominating the ball, which is key for the manager.
‘We all know we didn’t get that enough. All those things were mentioned when we spoke. We will go away, look to learn and be better for it all.
‘What we need to do now as players is realise we’re only five games in. I said to the boys that the worst thing we can do is go away and feel sorry for ourselves.
‘We have to stay together.’