TAVERNIER BENDS IT LIKE BECKHAM
Rangers skipper’s wonder goal takes Gerrard’s men to the Premiership summit
AS Zander Clark galloped forward to contest a corner kick deep into stoppage-time, Steven Gerrard can only have feared the worst.
Rangers had suffered from this sort of ending before. This time, and to Gerrard’s immense relief, the St Johnstone goalkeeper was not able to get his head to the cross, there was to be no late equaliser of the kind that led to Rangers’ elimination from last season’s Scottish Cup.
Instead, the plaudits can be enjoyed by the reigning Premiership champions’ captain James Tavernier, who lit up this topsy-turvy game with a moment of match-winning brilliance, a shot that was Beckhamesque in its execution as it flew beyond Clark and into the top corner of the net.
The win returned Rangers to the top of the table but one could well argue that Saints did not deserve this defeat.
Forced into fielding a patchwork team due to injury and some damaging transfer business on deadline day, Callum Davidson played on percentages in the first half and was rewarded as his team edged in front just after half-time thanks to a fine finish from former Rangers player Michael O’Halloran.
Saints would have further chances to score but it was Rangers who responded with conviction, first through a Kemar Roofe penalty and then that stunning Tavernier strike that returned last season’s league winners to the summit of the table.
A positive Covid test had forced Tavernier to miss the Old Firm victory over Celtic a fortnight ago and this time it was the normally ever-present Conor Goldson’s turn to miss out after being forced into isolation.
Leon Balogun, outstanding against Celtic, stepped inside but had an uncomfortable afternoon in which he never truly settled into the game.
Returning from his own personal lockdown was manager Gerrard, forced into isolation for the derby and the preceding Europa League qualifier against Alashkert.
His main selection issue surrounded the goalkeeping position. Young Robby McCrorie had deputised competently in the two previous games but was left out altogether to facilitate the return of the first and second choices to the match-day squad.
It was Jon McLaughlin and not first choice Allan McGregor who started and, within ten minutes, he picked up a booking for scything down O’Halloran who had beaten both him and Balogun to a speculative through ball from Liam Craig.
It was an encouraging start for the home fans who had drifted towards McDiarmid Park, aching for some good news after a horrible end to the transfer window in which their club’s two best players were sold.
They got a pre-match lift with the announcement that Davidson had signed a new long-term contract until 2025, yet the cold fact remained that the team on the pitch looked well short of the side that worked wonders to lift the League and Scottish Cups last season.
In addition to the sales of captain Jason Kerr and Ali McCann, Liam Gordon, Callum Booth and Murray Davidson were all out injured.
With new signing Efe Ambrose deemed fit enough only for a place on the bench this looked liked a fire-fighting job for the home team.
Davidson’s game-plan was simply to disrupt the champions’ flow. With wing-backs Shaun Rooney and Reece Devine tucking in to make a back five, the ball was repeatedly launched into the air, either for Chris Kane to contest with the Rangers defenders or O’Halloran to chase down the channels.
Gerrard’s men were struggling to get going.
While Roofe did his best to offer a focal point and fired off the first half’s only shot on target, his sidekick Morelos might as well not have been playing.
And with Ryan Kent off colour, Joe Aribo and Glen Kamara struggling for midfield space, there was precious little invention from the away team.
Clark did well to beat that 20-yard Roofe shot away but, other than that, he needed only watch a couple of speculative efforts from set-pieces clear his crossbar by metres. Saints’ ploy of looking for O’Halloran hit gold five minutes after the interval.
Defender Hayden Muller stepped on to the ball and sent a searching pass into the channel between Balogun and Tavernier.
O’Halloran got there and checked back before thumping his finish high into the far corner.
Gerrard would have been pleased with the response of his players, less so that it should require them to fall behind to deliver it.
Suddenly, Morelos was in the game, if inches short of connecting with Tavernier’s vicious low cross along the six-yard box. Some combination play between Kamara and Aribo worked the passage that led to Kent being fed inside the box for the penalty award.
Saints looked to have enough bodies goal side to cover but the former Liverpool man’s quick feet invited a stray leg from Muller as he checked back.
Referee Willie Collum’s decision met with little protest from the home players.
Roofe’s emphatic finish was the cue for a little added mayhem. As the goalscorer collected the ball and made back towards the centre circle he was obstructed by Craig.
Onto the scene came Morelos, toppling the St Johnstone captain with a shove before Rooney arrived to have his say.
All four players saw yellow and, perhaps sensing he’d got away with one, Morelos reacted by leaping jubilantly in celebration.
McCann’s de-facto replacement Ali Crawford had enjoyed a productive shift in midfield but blew his chance to restore the lead, skying his finish after Balogun got himself in a mess trying to deal with Kane’s cross.
And then O’Halloran teed up a second opportunity to respond. This time matched for pace by Filip Helander, the forward ran the Swede to the byline and then wriggled free before rolling the ball towards the back post.
Devine’s finish took a nick off Tavernier but wouldn’t have troubled McLaughlin.
Helander, the hero of the derby win, appeared to overextend in his efforts to cover and was carried off on a stretcher.
Having almost found his range with a free-kick that dipped over, Tavernier pulled out a moment of supreme quality to settle it.
Under no pressure as he collected a pass from Kent, he had time to dismiss the idea of a cross and instead wound his right leg back and unleashed a piledriving shot that sent the ball bending and looping beyond Clark and into the far corner.
ST JOHNSTONE (5-3-2):Clark; Rooney, Brown, Muller (Vertainen 83), McCart, Devine; Wotherspoon, Craig, Crawford (May 85); O’Halloran, Kane.
Subs (not used): Parish, Dendoncker, Ambrose, Gilmour, Ballantyne. .
Booked: Rooney, Muller, Craig.
RANGERS (4-3-3): McLaughlin; Tavernier, Balogun, Helander (Simpson 77), Bassey; Kamara, Davis, Aribo; Kent (Lundstram 82), Morelos (Sakala 78), Roofe.
Subs (not used): McGregor, Barisic, Arfield, Wright. Booked: McLaughlin, Roofe, Morelos.
Referee: Willie Collum.