Gerrard delighted as Light Blues’ points give them first strike in race for the title
Steven Gerrard believes Rangers’ opening day victory at Aberdeen was a clear statement of intent.
With Celtic, who are chasing 10-in-arow, not in action until today, the Light Blues struck first in the race for the 202021 title.
They picked up all three points and were further boosted by a near flawless debut display from new signing Leon Balogun.
“It’s a marker for us because all eyes were on us today in the first game,” said Gerrard, on what was his second win at Pittodrie in five attempts.
“When the fixtures came out, everyone was saying: ‘Oh, it’s Aberdeen away, will they drop points?’
“There were questions on us today so we’ll go away pleased at picking up three points and getting a clean sheet. “But no-one will get carried away. “Aberdeen ran us all the way to the end and we’ll dust ourselves down for Europe.
“But we have to build on this now.” Balogun, the defender signed from Wigan this summer after impressing for the Latics as they came so close to avoiding relegation from the Championship, suffered a bump on the head after being pulled into the post at an Aberdeen corner.
But he got compensation when his team-mates gave him a round of applause after the game.
“It was special for me to get that,” he said. “They told me this is a tough place to make your debut so I’m happy.
“I enjoyed the game a lot. I was looking forward to getting started.
“As a defender it’s also good to get a clean sheet.
“We accomplished that so it’s a good start for us.
“I am just happy I was able to perform in the way I performed.
“That said, you are only as good as your last match so I need to rest-up ahead of the next game.
“I want to help the group be successful.”
Aberdeen had defender Andrew
Considine sent off late-on but manager Derek McInnes was philosophical about both the red card and his side’s defeat.
“I would need to see it again. You normally receive a lot of red cards in the first couple of games of the season.
“Andy has raised his studs so you are always running the risk.
“I don’t think he has hurt the boy. “Is that a red card 10 or 15 games into the season? Who knows?
“I don’t think we really can have too much to complain about given the fact that he has raised his studs.”
“I felt that we had some good periods in the game.
“We just didn’t show enough quality to get that equalising goal.
“Nonetheless I am encouraged that in our first game in five months or so the level of performance was more than decent and will get better as we go along.
“We respect that we were up against a decent opponent today.
“The last couple of times we have drawn against Rangers, the 0-0 at Ibrox and the 2-2 game here, we have had to do a lot of things well to get our point.
“We just weren’t quite at that level today to get that in that second half.”
The Aberdeen manager was meanwhile more than content with the performance of his debutant Ryan Edmondson, whose loan deal was sealed last Friday night.
“We are delighted to get him,” he said. “He is young and you can see he is a bit raw at times. But he has got potential and he gives us something a bit different.
“We have been working since last Saturday night to try to get somebody in and we wanted somebody who has been training and has been in and about somebody’s first team.
“He is obviously a bit behind, but he is probably a bit further ahead of where Sam Cosgrove was when he first came in.
“He does score goals at his own level, he is highly thought of at Leeds, he will be signing a new contract there in the next few weeks.”
Aberdeen will look to get their season going when they take on St Johnstone in another 12.30pm kick-off next Saturday.