CATCH US IF YOU CAN

Aribo throws the gauntlet down to title rivals

JOE ARIBO helped fire Rangers seven points clear at the top of the Premiership — and declared the 3-0 win over Dundee as a statement result.

Aribo’s deflected opener gave the Ibrox side the lead in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s first home league game in charge, with an own goal from Ryan Sweeney and an Alfredo Morelos strike sealing the result.

The win widens the gap to secondplaced Celtic, who travel to face Dundee United at Tannadice today, to seven points.

Aribo (right) said: ‘We’re buzzing with the result firstly but also happy with the performance.

‘We knew how important it was to start fast and try to get as many goals as possible.

‘We want to put a statement out to the rest of the league. Hopefully we can keep doing that.’

Aribo’s goal was his fifth of a season in which he has been a stand-out player for Rangers. An integral performer for Steven Gerrard, he now wants to prove equally useful to Van Bronckhorst who deployed him in an advanced midfield role yesterday. He continued: ‘We are enjoying the way the manager wants us to play. ‘He’s brought in his own style and it has taken us some time to get used to it. I’ve always said I want to improve my numbers here and leave an impact on the game.’

Aside from scoring the opener with a shot that deflected in off Liam Fontaine, it was also Aribo whose cross forced Sweeney into the intervention that saw him divert the ball past goalkeeper Adam Legzdins for the second goal.

For Van Bronckhorst, the performance was another building block as he imparts his ideas to the Rangers squad. He said: ‘Joe is

a good player and very important for us. His overall performance, defensively and offensively was really dynamic.

‘We were very controlled today which is what you want when you play at home.

‘You’re now starting to see what we’ve been working on. We work hard to get our passing game and the speed we want, especially against opponents who are really organised.’

Aribo was also at the heart of the day’s main controversy when he was fouled by Dundee substitute Leigh Griffiths.

Griffiths, on loan from Celtic, had been subjected to verbal abuse from the crowd from the moment he first emerged to warm up in the first half and the challenge on Aribo was met by howls of derision.

Dundee boss James McPake questioned referee Alan Muir’s decision to issue a yellow card and also accused the Rangers players of trying to get his man sent off.

Connor Goldson and Borna Barisic both approached the officials in the aftermath, while Morelos was also cautioned for getting involved with Griffiths.

McPake said: ‘Leigh gets a hostile reception everywhere he goes. He’s a character who can take it. You could see what they were trying to do, in my opinion. He got booked and then there’s a riot about to happen because it’s Leigh, Rangers players coming from everywhere.

‘Fair play to my players. That’s what I want to see from my team — Paul McMullan, Liam Fontaine, Ryan Sweeney, Paul McGowan all coming together to help their team-mate.

‘To me there was nothing in it but I was miles away. If it was worthy of a booking, then Alan has got one right.’

McPake was himself booked for something said a few minutes later but denied directing the offending comment at fourth official Scott Lambie.

‘I didn’t say it to the fourth official,’ he said. ‘I apologise for him thinking it was. It doesn’t take a genius to work out who I (actually) said it to.’

Up next for Dundee is Ross County, who issued a 5-0 thumping on their recent visit to Dens Park in October.

‘That one still hurts and we’ll use that,’ he added. ‘This is a defeat, it’s raw and it hurts but I’ll wake up on Sunday morning and say it has been a good week.

‘We have nine points out of 15 in this set of fixtures. We’ve won more points in the last five games than we did in the first 11.

‘The goals we lost are unlucky and avoidable. Adam is saving the first one but Liam Fontaine did the right thing trying to block it. At the second Ryan Sweeney has to deal with a helluva cross and at the third the ball ricochets off about four people and Morelos has a tap in.’

With qualification for the Europa League knockout stage secured, Van Bronckhorst now has the luxury of a largely pressure-free trip to Lyon.

‘We’re in a great position after working hard against Sparta to reach the next stage, so we’re looking forward to Lyon,’ he said.