Wonder Stevie G has soft spot for The Buffalo
Where would Rangers be without Alfredo Morelos?
It’s a question Steven Gerrard must ask himself on a regular basis.
The Colombian striker came off the bench to seal a victory over Livingston and also picked up his sixth Premiership booking of the season.
Getting that yellow card means he will be suspended for the game against Dundee in a fortnight.
His manager, however, admits he’s still in love with “The Buffalo”.
Gerrard said: “From day one I’ve told everyone I love him. That hasn’t changed, it’s growing.
“I want to keep him here as long as possible because he makes my job a lot easier.
“I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep him here for as long as possible.
“I’ll fall out with people to keep him. That’s how much I like him.
“He has scored 16 goals this season but there are no targets from me.
“I just want him to score as many as he can. “There’s no doubt about it, he’s going to shatter what he got last season and in previous seasons.”
It’s almost certain he will also pass last term’s total of 12 bookings in all competitions. He has already picked up 11 this season. Gerrard had no complaints about Morelos having his name taken for dissent and took responsibility for the plethora of bookings.
He said: “I need to share some of that blame.
“I’m asking him to be in peoples’ faces, to be aggressive, to press and really do what other centre-forwards do to our defenders. “His performance for 30 minutes was superb.
“We’ve just got to enjoy him because he’s a top player.”
Rangers were 1-0 up when Morelos replaced Lafferty on the hour, but the points were far from safe.
Allan Mcgregor had again produced a couple of fine saves and a Lithgow shot clipped the outside of the post.
Young Glenn Middleton found it hard going on the left wing yesterday but he curled in a beauty of an in-swinging corner kick from the right for Rangers to open the scoring.
Daniel Candeias used the pace of the ball and sent a header flying past Kelly.
You don’t associate the Portuguese winger with headed goals but he couldn’t miss when the delivery was this good.
The breakthrough came just after Arfield had been denied by a great save from Kelly and a Candeias follow-up was headed off the line.
There were 84 minutes on the clock when Morelos eased tension in the home support when he skipped past two defenders in the penalty area and slammed the ball home with his left foot. Two minutes later he was cautioned and two minutes after that he crossed for Arfield to fire home a third goal.
There’s never a dull moment with Morelos about!
Livingston gave a typically robust and disciplined performance but missed suspended striker Dolly Menga.
Rangers slackened the pace after the break and allowed the visitors a sustained period of pressure.
It was the sort of spell Steven Gerrard’s men can’t afford to replicate against Villarreal on Thursday.
Livingston boss Gary Holt was proud of his players.
He said: “In the second half we were the better team so the result was harsh.
“We should have had a penalty in the first half and possibly one in the second.
“The first was when Gallagher was fouled by Middleton.
“It would have been soft but it was a definite penalty.
“I asked the referee and he felt there had been no contact.”