HERO CAMPBELL ON CLOUD NINE
Hibs salvage a point after Lundstram and Morelos see red as Collum causes rage
WHERE to start? The obvious place is at the end, at which point Josh Campbell executed a tremendous half-volleyed goal that salvaged a point for Hibs from this firecracker of a match.
Stoppage-time goals have accounted for all five of the Premiership points accrued by Lee Johnson’s team this season and the celebrations that broke out around Easter Road were reminiscent of the reaction to Martin Boyle’s equaliser in the Edinburgh derby a fortnight ago.
An hour earlier three sides of the stadium had been howling their half-time indignation at referee Willie Collum for awarding the penalty kick from which James Tavernier gave Rangers the lead.
As is so often the case with Scottish football’s most talkedabout referee, he ended the day disparaged by both sides.
In between two excellent secondhalf goals from Tom Lawrence and Boyle came a pair of red cards which left Rangers wielding the greater degree of injustice.
The first, flashed by Collum after John Lundstram took the cynical option to fell Boyle, seemed harsh – a view shared by both managers. Also open to interpretation were the actions of Alfredo Morelos, who extended his lamentably long list of indiscipline by twice throwing an arm out at Marijan Cabraja as the pair eyed up a high ball.
Beloved by the Rangers support, the plain truth is that the striker is no help to Giovanni van Bronckhorst at the moment. Patently overweight and yet to start a game this season, this latest misdemeanour will only cement Antonio Colak’s status as the starting forward for the foreseeable future.
With Champions League football on the line in Eindhoven this midweek, Van Bronckhorst needs better from his most gifted centre-forward.
After three processional Premiership victories this was a reminder for Rangers that the league programme still retains the ability to rattle and surprise.
And yet at the outset, it looked as if Hibs were trying their best to smooth their guests’ path to goal. After losing at Livingston last weekend it was no great surprise that Johnson should seek to freshen his team yet the decision to deploy a back three against a frontline featuring the speed of Ryan Kent and Rabbi Matondo looked risky.
That Hibs remained competitive was as much down to bad decision-making on Rangers’ part as much as anything.
With a shuffle and sprint, Kent did his usual trick of taking three players out of the game before neglecting to shoot when the game’s first goalscoring opportunity opened up for him.
Similarly, Lawrence chose to pass when presented with a free hit inside the box.
Kent was at least offering some kind of threat — Colak’s scoring ratio has been impressive this season but on a day when his role was largely spent outside of the penalty area, his deficient hold-up play was exposed.
With less than half an hour played Johnson made the bold call to change both personnel and shape with a double substitution.
Ewan Henderson, booked after clattering into Borna Barisic, was one of the men to give way as was veteran defender Paul Hanlon.
Hanlon hadn’t done much wrong but his withdrawal allowed the manager to deploy Cabraja as an orthodox left-back while Christian Doidge came on at centre forward.
What Hanlon may lack in athleticism he makes up for in nous and in his absence the remaining centre-backs combined to hand the initiative to Rangers.
To be fair to Ryan Porteous his reading of the game was good as he intercepted on the edge of the box. The decision to turn back and play the ball to David Marshall sowed a seed of doubt in Rocky Bushiri’s mind and, as Colak moved to close down, the officials deemed the Belgian’s tug sufficient to merit a penalty.
Tavernier converted with his usual conviction.
The news that the captain had signed a new contract last week was undoubtedly good for Rangers. The 30-year-old’s goals and assists will always far outweigh the defensive flaws in his game yet his poor concentration let Hibs in for the equaliser.
Some loose play on the right from Matondo didn’t help but Tavernier was caught dreaming as Campbell played a searching ball down the channel for Elie Youan to chase.
Raw, yet clearly full of potential, the Frenchman capitalised on Tavernier’s lapse and bore towards the byeline, delivering a low cross that Boyle turned over the line in a manner not dissimilar to that comeback goal against Hearts. Rangers were soon back in front. Kent found Barisic on the overlap and the Croatian dug out a tremendous cross, one that was begging for the headed finish that the willing Lawrence provided from close range.
Rangers were now well placed to close out the game and Van Bronckhorst sent on Scott Arfield and Morelos in place of Lawrence and Colak.
Yet the plan was soon in tatters. Another piece of careless Kent play put Hibs on the counter, and the pacy Boyle was the last player Rangers wanted to see carrying the fight. Aware that he was never going to win the race, Lundstram decided to take him out.
Still well within the Hibs half, the tackle was certainly not sanctionable as a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Yet the height of Lundstram’s lunge was, in Collum’s view, enough to merit the ultimate sanction.
And so now both sets of players — and supporters — were riled up by a sense of injustice.
If you were polling Scottish football fans for the player least likely to keep his head in a moment of high tension, both Morelos and Porteous would feature strongly.
On the field for less than a quarter of an hour the Colombian can’t have been personally wound up. The first flick of the arm could be justified as a mere ‘feeler’. To do it again was a clear sign of intent.
Van Bronckhorst manned the barricades by removing both Kent and Matondo and inviting Hibs to give it their best shot for the last 17 minutes.
Without an out ball Rangers sat in with two rigid banks of four and the resistance broke in stoppage-time.
Cabraja’s cross found Doidge at the back post and, rather than head the ball back into traffic, the Welshman cleverly sent it back out and into space.
Campbell killed the ball on his chest and sent a dipping left-foot shot that floated high past Jon McLaughlin from 20 yards.