Baby, You're a Lost Cause (Jones Patterson, Part 2)

[he_2]

Sunday 6^th December 2020: Aberdeen 0-0 Glasgow Rangers (Scottish League Cup Final)

Venue: Hampden Park

Att: 51,866

SECOND HALF

The roar from the crowd as the action got back underway was electric. Turning to face the action as Morelos got things underway, I had to admit that having the game goalless at the break was no bad thing for the occasion as a spectacle. As much as I’d love to have been three goals to the good, I wouldn’t have had goosebumps with only half of the stadium rocking.

Our start was quite as intense as it had been in the first period, the opening two or three minutes passing without incident. There was an early corner which was well headed clear by a red-shirted head. Joe Aribo scampered out to the right and with the assistance of a slightly fortunate ricochet managed to get the ball back into the box. Ryan Jack latched onto it, took a touch and then saw his shot blocked. It fell nicely for Ryan Kent and the winger picking his spot, calmly caressed the ball right footed along the lush Hampden turf, beyond the vain dive of Lewis and into the bottom corner of the net. As he wheeled away in celebration with a glance over his shoulder to check there was no flag, the half of the stadium to my left absolutely erupted in delight.

I tried to keep my emotions in check, allowing myself a little silent fist-pump and some urgent applause, a high-five with a couple of the coaching staff and most of all, an enormous sigh of relief. Now we’d see what Aberdeen had about them.

We went right back on the attack from the restart, Morelos forcing a corner that came to nothing, but signalled our intentions to keep going nonetheless. Tavernier combined well again with Morelos down the right and this time the Colombian’s cross wasn’t repelled. Indeed, this time was met with a bullet header by the onrushing Aribo yet Lewis was alert to plunge to his right and produce a very good save to push the ball behind.

The midfielder would only have to wait three minutes longer before grabbing his reward for what had been up to that point, a quite superb personal performance. Tavernier picked up a rebound and surged towards the by-line down the right flank. From there he sent a beauty of a cross in towards the far post where it was met by the head of Aribo some 8-yards out. Lewis didn’t have a hope this time as the ball flew beyond him into the top corner of the net.

As so often happens, one goal had brought with it a second within five minutes and we now found ourselves in control of the tie. You could see the despair filtering through the Aberdeen players, there were hands on heads, hands on knees and recriminations a-plenty. They looked gone.

Shortly afterwards, another Tavernier cross was met by the head of Aribo, this time a red-shirt did enough to put the midfielder off and his header went harmlessly over the top. We were picking up plenty of free-kicks as the opposition discipline began to falter. Another one was headed behind by Cosgrove in his own penalty area for a corner from which Troy Parrott arrived at pace to plant a free header narrowly over the angle of post and crossbar. He should really have hit the target.

I took the opportunity to replace Scott Arfield who looked to be tiring a little, with young Nat Young-Coombes in the attacking midfielder role.

Just past the hour mark Michael Ruth had Aberdeen’s first effort of the second period, a strike from 25 yards that rolled limply into the waiting hands of McCrorie and things began to feel a little flatter than they had been for most of the game. Reza Durmisi had been struggling since the first-half with a niggle, so I replaced him on 65 minutes with Jon Flanagan and also introduced Rhian Brewster, who was really champing at the bit, in place of the hard-working Troy Parrott.

The two early goals had certainly reduced the intensity of the match as a contest, Aberdeen’s belief had completely drained away whilst we continued to control the game but without carrying too much threat. With twenty minutes I was up urging the boys to redouble their efforts. Even I was beginning to feel fairly confident that we’d be returning across town with the silverware in tow, but I really wanted us to try and end with a flourish rather than just going through the motions and running the clock down.

Brewster cut in off the left flank after receiving a throw-in from Flanagan and laid the ball inside for Young-Coombes, his first-time left footed effort produced another smart stop from Lewis, this time diving to his left to hold on to the ball. A few minutes later he was forced into another decent save, this time from a Goldson header as the centre-half got up at the far post to meet another Tavernier free-kick delivery.

As the contest entered its final 10-minutes the Rangers fans were in party mode whilst those supporters that had made the journey down from the east-coast continued to give their boys strong backing. Ryan Kent found Rhian Brewster in space inside the penalty area with a cute and clever reverse pass. The angle would have backed the striker using his left foot – he didn’t, he elected to take the shot with his right and could only find the side netting.

Tavernier then blocked an intended cross from Ruth with his heel and Young-Coombes picked up the loose ball. He measured a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Morelos who drifted inside and then played a ball into the path of Brewster, just inside the penalty area once again on his left foot. This time the striker let the ball run across him, opened up his body before drilling a powerful right-footed effort across Lewis and into the bottom corner of the net.

It was a superb finish and had certainly answered the challenge that I’d laid down to him before the game. Emphatic stuff and if there had been any way back into the match for Aberdeen, the door had now been firmly closed in their faces.

‘That’s done it now, Macca,’ I said to my assistant.

‘Aye, well done, gaffer. Enjoy the next few minutes, lad.’ McAllister replied with a wide grin.

We took the foot off the pedal a little, understandably, and Aberdeen enjoyed a little spell of pressure that yielded nothing in terms of chances. Balls were tossed into the box more in hope than expectation. With 4 minutes remaining Tavernier went on a trademark lung-busting run down the right-hand side and still had the wherewithal to get a decent cross into the box. Joe Aribo met it yet powered his bullet header over the top.

‘Jonesy give us a wave, Jonesy Jonesy give us a wave.’ What option did I have wearing a smile I turned to the supporters behind the goal that we were attacking and acknowledged them, my wave greeted with an almighty roar. It felt good. It was a moment that was going to stay with me.

There were a couple of minutes of the 90 remaining when Ryan Kent led a break down the left-hand side and threaded a fine ball through for Young-Coombes. The young substitute confidently made his way into the penalty area and fired a low drive beyond the ailing dive of Joe Lewis into the bottom corner of the net to turn the party into a carnival with his first ever senior goal. And what a stage upon which to open his account. If Brewster’s strike had been the icing upon the cake, Young-Coombes’ was the jelly drop on top of the icing.

In all my many thoughts about the final, this had absolutely blown my best-case scenario square out of the water. It had been a magnificent display, probably our best of the season to date. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere as the last couple of minutes ticked away.

The whistle went and as one set of players began wild celebrations the other set slumped to the floor in despair. I shared a moment with the backroom staff before making my way across to commiserate with Derek McInnes. He was very generous in his praise of our performance, which was ever so gallant of him. Even more so as the result hammered another nail into his coffin. Three days later, after a 1-1 draw at home to Inverness Caley Thistle, he was sacked by the board at Pittodrie and replaced temporarily by Barry Robson.

I was accosted by Leah Young on the pitch whilst the stage was being put together for the presentation ceremony. She’d just finished interviewing Joe Aribo who had deservedly picked up the Man of the Match award from James Tavernier and plonked me in front of a perspex sheet full of various sponsors name.

LY: Jones, congratulations. You lived up to your tag as favourites, how do you feel?

‘I said before the game I made us slight favourites, it took us a while and we had to overcome a very determined side but yeah, as you say, we lived up to that tag. I couldn’t be happier, I’m absolutely delighted.’

LY: This is obviously a great moment for Rangers, looking forward can you build on this success and challenge for further silverware in the future?

‘I don’t see why not. That’s what we’re aiming for. This will give the players confidence going into the second half of the season and whilst obviously we’re there to be shot at now, I have plenty of faith in this set of players that they can use today as a building block to a successful future.’

LY: Were you concerned at half-time that perhaps in spite of looking the better side that maybe this might turn into one of those days?

‘I guess when you don’t take your chances that thought does linger at the back of your mind. I wasn’t disappointed at the break though, remember Aberdeen arguably had the two best opportunities of the half so we could easily have gone in behind at the break. We just had a chat at the break, reminded the boys to keep things simple, to remain patient and when a chance did fall for us to make sure we took it. Second half we were clinical in front of goal and that was really pleasing.’

LY: I think they’re about ready for the presentations, thanks, Jones, and many congratulations.

‘Thanks Leah.’

I rejoined the boys and watched on as the crestfallen Aberdeen players went up to collect their medals. Within a couple of minutes it was our turn, the boys going up one-by-one to collect their medals and take the acclaim of the crowd. Finally, it was my turn to climb the three steps onto the stage, shake hands with the presentation committee, take my medal and make my way to the rear of the group.

James Tavernier slowly made his way forward, placed his two hands on the cup, hesitated and looked behind him at his team-mates, a smile as wide as the Clyde across his face. Then he lifted it to the sky and the noise from the Rangers faithful was absolutely deafening.

For the 29^th time Glasgow Rangers were the Scottish League Cup winners. For the 1^st time I was a cup winner.

They say you never forget your first.

They aren’t wrong.

FULL TIME: Aberdeen 0-4 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Durmisi (Flanagan), Aribo, Jack, Arfield (Young-Coombes), Kent, Morelos, Parrott (Brewster)

[he_2]

Table as at Sunday 6^th December 2020:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Celtic	16	14	2	0	47	5	44	42
Glasgow Rangers	15	13	2	0	43	9	41	34
Heart of Midlothian	16	9	2	5	26	23	29	3
Motherwell	16	8	4	4	26	18	28	8
Kilmarnock	15	5	5	5	16	19	20	-3
Dundee United	16	4	8	4	16	22	20	-6
Livingston	16	4	6	6	18	23	18	-5
St Mirren	16	2	9	5	14	28	15	-14
Aberdeen	15	4	1	10	16	24	13	-8
Hibernian	16	2	6	8	15	28	12	-13
St Johnstone	16	2	3	11	9	28	9	-19
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	15	2	2	11	11	28	8	-17

 

Friday 4^th December

St Mirren

1

1

Hibs

 

Saturday 5^th December

Hearts	0	1	Dundee Utd
Livingston	3	0	St Johnstone

 

Sunday 6^th December

Motherwell

0

2

Celtic

[he_2]

We were tucked away in a booth in a bar, out of sight and out of mind of most. She’d arrived first, I was a few minutes later. ‘So sorry,’ I apologised as I removed my jacket, hanging it up on the peg that was attached to the wall. ‘Meeting overran.’ A waitress swooped upon us almost immediately.

‘Can I get you a drink, sir?’ She asked.

‘What are you having?’ I asked Leah, who was already nursing a cocktail of some sort or other.

‘Porn star martini,’ she replied.

I had a quick look at the menu before ordering myself an autumn ale and another cocktail for Leah.

‘Phew,’ I exhaled, offering Leah a smile. ‘Time to relax.’

‘Busy day?’ Leah asked.

‘So-so, had a quiet morning but just been in this afternoon with the recruitment team working on targets for next month.’

She took a sip of her drink through a straw. ‘Any hints?’

‘Haha, sadly not. Nothing anywhere near concrete right now. You probably have a good idea of areas that we’re looking to strengthen,’ I said.

‘Probably,’ she nodded.

‘So, we’re still getting targets together and doing a little preliminary research to see who might be available.’

‘Anyone heading out?’

‘Maybe one or two. Some of the younger lads might head out the door if their contract is up in the summer and they can organise something either temporarily or more permanently.’

‘So, any noise about Barisic or Morelos leaving should be ignored?’

I fixed her with a stare for a moment. ‘We’re not actively looking to sell.’ I replied.

She flashed me a smile. ‘There’s a little scope there to read between the lines.’

Ruefully, I shrugged before repeating myself. ‘As I say, we’re not actively looking to sell.’

The waitress returned with our drinks and set them down on the table. ‘I’ve set up a tab for you behind the bar,’ she said. ‘I hope that’s okay.’

‘That’s perfect, thank you so much,’ I replied.

‘Tell me then, Leah, what’s prompted this?’ I motioned my hands around the booth.

Looking at her drinks, almost measuring the contents of one against the other she took a moment before answering. ‘This isn’t easy, but I wanted to talk to you about what happened in the summer.’ She began, hesitatingly, as if trying to find the right words. I waited for her to continue. ‘When I rang you about the vacancy at Ibrox I wanted nothing more than for you to apply and get the job. I thought you would be a really good fit for Rangers, which you have been so far, but more than anything else…’ she tailed off suddenly and her gaze dropped to the table as she breathed a sigh that was coated in something, regret maybe?

‘Go on,’ I encouraged her softly.

‘Well…’ she returned her gaze to me briefly before taking a deep breath and almost blurting out ‘…well, I thought then we’d be able to stay together.’ Looking at her, it seemed almost as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She straightened up in her seat and was able to look me in the eye again, her hands busily playing with the stem of her glass. ‘The thing is, though, Jones, you didn’t seem at all interested in the job and so, I spent a lot of time resigning myself to the fact that we’d have to try the long-distance thing. And I was prepared to try it, really I was, it took a lot of thinking and talking and even a couple of therapy sessions to come to terms with that. Then, I turn up at Ibrox to interview Gary Mac and lo-and-behold there you are dressed up like a schoolboy on mock interview day. Damn, Jones, that was a shock I wasn’t prepared for at all.’

All of this was news to me, I had no idea at all. ‘The only thing I could do was cut myself off,’ she went on, hitting her stride. ‘That’s why I ignored your calls. I implored my bosses to send someone else in my place for your unveiling but they insisted, it was the last thing I wanted to do. It was self-preservation, isolating myself from you. I needed to look after myself, I was hurting – I still am, I guess, but I’m working through it all. And to that end, I wanted to ask you why?’

‘Why what? Why did I apply for the job without telling you?’ I asked.

She nodded.

It was my turn to take a moment to collect my thoughts. As Leah had clearly done, so I had spent a lot of time and effort thinking about us and what had happened, only without the benefit of knowing the reasons behind her cutting me off so suddenly and abrupt. Now I had that and many of my suspicions were confirmed.

‘After I moved north of the border it wasn’t altogether easy settling in. Quite young, taking on a fairly high-pressured job and suddenly living out of a hotel room, trying to convince myself that I was worthy of the chance that I’d been offered by Hearts, to put on an armour of confidence and self-assuredness that I didn’t feel at all.’

‘Yes, you’ve talked about that before.’

‘Absolutely. When I heard your Dad was ill last year and I sent those flowers and tickets – I did that because I was missing my folks quite a bit and was thinking about how I’d feel if I was that close to losing one of my parents. As well as wishing him a speedy recovery I guess I knew that you were a long way from home as well and that in some small way I wanted you to know that I was thinking of you too.’

She nodded. ‘It was a really thoughtful touch.’

I smiled. ‘Thank you. Anyway, the next six months or so were amazing, honestly, being with you made me happy. It gave me confidence that I was in the right job, you gave me confidence as a person that I’ve not felt before and well, since you’ve laid your cards on the table, I ought to do the same, I had fallen for you hard.’ I saw her eyes widen as I said that.

‘How hard?’

My turn to take a deep breath. ‘F-ing hard.’ I replied. ‘The idea of moving abroad and knowing that you couldn’t, that was really hard. Like, really hard to get my head around. So, when you rang me telling me to put the telly and I read that Stevie had taken the Palace job, all of a sudden there seemed to be a little bit of hope, a chance – albeit a slim one – that maybe I wouldn’t have to move away.’

‘Why the quavering f- didn’t you tell me this?’ She asked, her tone hard. ‘At the time.’

Looking down at my bottle and contorting my face slightly. ‘I was scared.’

‘Scared?!’

I exhaled deeply rubbing my face with my hands as I did so. ‘Yes.’

‘Of what?!’

‘Of giving us false hope, or something like that. I wanted to protect myself, I wanted to protect you – I wanted to protect us from having this little glimmer of hope that we wouldn’t have to try and do the whole long-distance thing and getting our hopes up. I mean, the thought of doing that and then being disappointed if I didn’t get the job, goddamn, that would have been so bloody awful to have dealt with. Absolutely crushing. Like you, I’d resigned myself to giving long-distance a bloody good go…’

Finally, I looked up and into her eyes that were slowly filling with tears.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I thought you were looking for an excuse to break up with me!’ She exclaimed.

I was genuinely taken aback. ‘What?!’

‘I thought you hadn’t told me because you wanted us to split up. I thought you’d given up on us.’

‘Jeez, whatever gave you that idea?!’

‘You didn’t bloody tell me about going for the Rangers job, you fool, did you? When I saw you waiting for your interview at Ibrox I just couldn’t fathom whilst you didn’t tell me. I thought you’d done it because you didn’t want to be with me, it made me wonder what other secrets you were keeping for me. Jeez, Jones, I couldn’t handle it.’

I could feel tears falling down my cheek.

‘F-ing hell, Leah. I really made a mess of this, I’m so sorry!’ I used my sleeve to wipe them away. ‘I thought that if I could somehow get the role and then tell you, that’d it’d be the best possible surprise, you know? I had it my head as being like the ultimate in romance.’

She laughed through her tears. ‘Bloody hell, Jones, you’re an idiot. As sweet as that idea is and was, don’t ever do that to a girl again.’

‘Oh, believe me, I’ve learned my lesson!’ I reached over to put my hand over hers, ‘I’m really sorry.’

She gave me a smile. ‘I’m pleased we’ve been able to get all of this out in the open, even if it’s five months later than it should have been.’ Removing her hands from underneath mine she sat back in her seat and motioned to get the attention of a waitress. ‘Another drink?’

We sat there for another three hours, slowly drinking and talking. Football, life, just like it had been before the misunderstanding. When we got to 11pm, I settled the bill and offered to pay for her to get a cab home. ‘There’s no need, Jones,’ she said as I helped her on with her coat. ‘Thank you though.’ She reached up to kiss me on the cheek. ‘I’ve enjoyed tonight, in the end.’

‘Me too, Leah. Me too.’

[he_2]

Friday 11^th December 2020: Glasgow Rangers v Hibernian (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 50,817

Managerial Record v Hibernian: P 6 W 3 D 2 L 1 F 14 A 7

I couldn’t believe how much lighter of spirit and soul I felt following that chat with Leah, it had been an evening full of catharsis for both of us, we were back texting regularly although not back together. There was unquestionably still feelings on both sides of the relationship, but we agreed that we both needed time to think about what we’d talked about so frankly before deciding on how we moved forward – if indeed, there was a ‘we’ to move forward with.

Focus then switched back to football and getting ready for the visit of relegation threatened Hibernian. After Jack Ross had been sacked back in October, Paul Lambert had taken on the role and came to Ibrox firmly ensconced in the hot-seat, just after his 1-month anniversary, and focused on pulling the Edinburgh side away from the danger zone. Things were slowly improving, the only defeat in their previous four games since he’d taken over was a 2-1 defeat at home to Celtic. Since then they’d picked up a vital win at Inverness, gained a fine point at home to Motherwell and another vital point at St Mirren. Early signs were that Paul was focusing on making Hibs difficult to beat.

For our part, I was keen to see if that second half performance in the League Cup Final was a sign of the shackles that had largely been applied (of course, all this is relative) since the beginning of October were finally being loosened to give way to a more confident, free scoring outfit or not.

I made two changes from the cup-winning side, Borna Barisic returning at left-back in place of Reza Durmisi whilst Rhian Brewster was preferred alongside Alfie Morelos alongside Troy Parrott up front.

We began the game full of confidence as you’d expect from a side that was coming off the back of a 4-0 win yet failed to make the early breakthrough that I’d hoped we might. Indeed, Lambert had Hibs well organised and although we dominated possession, we found it very hard to break his side down. They defended the 18-yard box superbly and any efforts were from distance and not particularly threatening.

On 20 minutes we finally managed to get in behind when Ryan Kent was released by a decent ball by Barisic down the left-hand side in behind Stephen O’Donnell. Kent hit the afterburners and outpaced the back-pedalling green shirts, to find himself clean through on Ofir Marciano. I couldn’t see from where I was, but he must have given the goalkeeper ‘the eyes’ as Marciano went one way and the ball nestled neatly in the other corner to open the scoring.

That saw the visitor’s game plan unravel. They needed points in their battle against the drop and had been set-up to frustrate, not to carry the game to us at all. With a sudden need to get back into the game, we had the opportunity to turn the screw, something that we did with gusto and a healthy appetite.

Four minutes after going ahead, a corner was headed clear and picked up ten yards outside the Hibs penalty area in the inside left channel with plenty of space to work with. Looking up, he swung a left footed ball out to the right-hand corner of the penalty area was it was met on the half-volley by Filip Helander. The execution of the strike was one that any striker would have been delighted and although Marciano got a hand to the effort, he could only help it into the top corner of the net. A terrific strike, quite out of character from the Swede who didn’t show that kind of prowess, even in training. 2-0, and Helander ran off to celebrate nursing an expression of mild disbelief of his own.

By the half-hour mark, the game was over as a contest as we struck for a 3^rd time inside 10 minutes. Although there was a modicum of fortune as the ball ricocheted off a defender’s heel into the path of Rhian Brewster, the build-up that had involved Connor Goldson, Helander, Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent and Scott Arfield threading the ball through the eye of three or four needles deserved a goal and Brewster’s finish caught Marciano a little unawares and the ball was beyond him before he was able to move.

In the 36^th minute Hibs were handed a golden opportunity to get themselves back into the game, Goldsone making the rare error and getting caught underneath the ball allowing Niklas Bendtner the opportunity to find space, attack our penalty area and fire a powerful shot goalwards. It fizzed across the face of goal and not far wide, had it been on target Rob McCrorie would have gotten nowhere near it purely because of the power in the strike.

That was a momentary blip, however, as four minutes later Aribo’s fine ball had sent Kent scampering clear in behind O’Donnell once again. Cutting inside and into the penalty area, this time Marciano wasn’t fooled and went the right way as Kent opened up his body, yet the result was the same. He found the bottom corner and ran off to celebrate his 13^th goal of the campaign.

That simply was game over five minutes before half-time.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 4-0 Hibernian

We’d been irrepressible in that 20-minute spell in which we’d scored four times, taking our tally across the previous 90-minutes to 8-goals without reply.

‘Boys, that’s magnificent stuff, well done. Listen, we’ve a lot of games ahead over the next three weeks, don’t overdo it in the 2^nd half. Keep the ball, keep working them, take any chances that come your way but listen, I’m not going to kill you if you take your foot off the gas a little. If they score then we push again. Keep yourselves fit, any hint of a twinge or knock and let us know, we’ll take you off and get it checked out.’

A simple half-time message, there really wasn’t much else to say.

The second half took a little while to get going, when it did it very nearly produced the goal of the season which, given some of those we’d already seen, was quite something. Edmundson had played a long ball forward and looked to have overhit it somewhat, Marciano being the favourite to claim it. However, out of nowhere Brewster appeared on the scene and in mid-air hit a first-time volley from 16-yards out as the ball dropped out of the sky. It thundered back off the upright with Marciano in no-man’s land and the intake of breath from around the entire stadium was palpable as the striker executed the skill and went so close to a fifth goal.

With 8 minutes remaining, Brewster seized on another poor defensive clearance and from the left by-line, cut it back for the waiting Morelos who was just outside the 6-yard box. At the very least the Colombian ought to have hit the target from that range, instead he went for power over accuracy and fired wildly off-target.

That was the extent of the second half action save for a further five yellow cards to add to the seven that had been dished out before the break in what had been, at times, a little bit of a fractious affair. Did that take the sheen off our win? Not for me it didn’t. We’d needed to win to keep Celtic honest ahead of us and we’d come away from the match without any injury issues ahead of our visits to Dundee United and the league leaders over the coming 8-days. No, this was very much a case of job done by half-time and then seeing the game through intelligently after the break.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 4-0 Hibernian

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson (Edmundson), Helander, Barisic (Durmisi), Jack (Kamara), Aribo, Arfield, Kent, Brewster, Morelos

[he_2]

Table as at Sunday 13^th December 2020:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Celtic	17	15	2	0	51	7	47	44
Glasgow Rangers	16	14	2	0	47	9	44	38
Motherwell	17	9	4	4	27	18	31	9
Heart of Midlothian	17	9	2	6	28	27	29	1
Kilmarnock	16	6	5	5	17	19	23	-2
Dundee United	17	5	8	4	18	22	23	-4
Livingston	17	4	6	7	18	25	18	-7
St Mirren	17	2	10	5	14	28	16	-14
Aberdeen	17	4	2	11	17	26	14	-9
Hibernian	17	2	6	9	15	32	12	-17
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	17	2	4	11	12	29	10	-17
St Johnstone	17	2	3	12	9	29	9	-20

 

Wednesday 9^th December 2020

Aberdeen

1

1

Inverness

 

Friday 11^th December 2020

Rangers

4

0

Hibs

 

Saturday 12^th December 2020

Aberdeen	0	1	Motherwell
Livingston	0	2	Dundee Utd
St Johnstone	0	1	Kilmarnock
St Mirren	0	0	Inverness

 

Sunday 13^th December 2020

Hearts

2

4

Celtic

[he_2]

Tuesday 15^th December 2020: Dundee United v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)

Venue: Tannadice

Att: 11,644

Managerial Record v Dundee Utd: P 1 W 1 D 0 L 0 F 4 A 0

Midweek sent us on a bit of a Tuesday afternoon road-trip, headed north to Tannadice Park and the challenge of taking on Robbie Neilson’s upwardly mobile Dundee United side. The Terrors were enjoying a very impressive first season back in the SPL, sitting comfortably in the top half, five points ahead of 7^th placed Livingston and were coming into the game on the back of five matches unbeaten in the league. Indeed, since we’d beaten them just over three months previously at Ibrox, they’d lost just once – predictably against Celtic. That equated to just the sole defeat in their previous 12 matches.

We would be in for a stern test.

I was without Filip Helander for the trip due to suspension for cautions accumulated, which gave an opportunity to George Edmundson alongside Connor Goldson at the heart of the back four. The other change was bringing in Reza Durmisi for Borna Barisic who I was resting for the weekend Old Firm tussle. I did consider replacing Alfie Morelos with Troy Parrott, the Colombian had only netted three times since we’d previously met the Terrors. That was 3 goals in 11 games. Looking back, with a couple more years under my belt I would have made the change, given Alfie a bit of a breather and gone with Troy who, particularly after his hat-trick at St Johnstone, was probably perfectly entitled to have expected more starting opportunities than he was getting. He kept his head down though and didn’t complain, which I felt, would stand him in good stead for whatever happened in the future.

The weather was utterly miserable, cold wet and windy, so I wanted us to warm up the fans who had travelled up to support with an early goal.

In the 9^th minute a cross into the box was half cleared to the edge of the penalty area. It was picked up by Ryan Jack who fed Joe Aribo and his slipped it into the path of the overlapping Reza Durmisi. The Danish left-back got into the penalty area and as he looked to go past Logan Chalmers, felt his ankle clipped from underneath him. Down he went, out went the official’s arm and he pointed to the spot. The young full-back was desperately unhappy at the decision but after a couple of looks, he shouldn’t really have had any complaints, I wouldn’t have done had the award gone the other way.

Once everything had settled down a and a little bit of nonsense on the edge of the box between Scott Arfield and Jonathan Afolabi had been dealt with, Alfie Morelos took responsibility in the absence of Barisic. Benjamin Siegrist went to his left, the ball went to his right – not particularly near the corner – but that barely mattered. The net rippled and that early strike had been supplied and Morelos moved into double figures alongside Ryan Kent and Rhian Brewster.

Any hopes that we might go on another rampant streak of goalscoring were swiftly dashed as Dundee United showed just why they’d had such a good start to the campaign and, in particular, why they were in such a good place in the league. They kept their shape excellently and continued to play football. They weren’t too shy to try and attack us, luckily we were defensively very good as well and kept the lively pairing of Afolabi and Laurence Shankland largely in check.

Chalmers’ difficult afternoon got no better as, on 28 minutes, his pass left Jeremie Frimpong rather short. Ryan Kent nipped in to win the ball and set Joe Aribo on the gallop forward. At pace he sidestepped and sashayed his way past Kamil Drygas and then Josh Grant before firing a left-footed drive across Siegrist into the far corner of the net. A really well taken by the midfielder who was continuing his magnificent form and taking himself onto 5-goals for the season.

The cushion of the second goal did see the impetus shift slightly further in our direction. A couple of minutes after going 2-0 up, some lovely one-touch football ended with Ryan Jack setting up his Kentish namesake to dribble inside onto his right foot and from just outside the penalty area curl a shot very narrowly wide of Siegrist’s left-hand post with the goalkeeper clutching at thin air.

A couple of minutes further on and a Tavernier free kick into the box caused a few issues for the home defence. The ball fell for George Edmundson – his shot was blocked, but the ball fell for Scott Arfield. An adroit ball to his left found Goldson in space and the Englishman with an angle, much like that which Helander had scored from the weekend before, fired a powerful effort at goal. It was slightly too close to Siegrist who, nonetheless, diving to his left pushed the ball wide with a couple of strong hands for a corner kick.

It should have been 3-0 on 35 minutes when neat build-up from back to front saw the ball worked to the right-hand side for Tavernier, who had exchanged passes with the increasingly influential Arfield and sent a cross into the box. Siegrist came to claim, missed and Brewster could only direct his header a yard wide of the gaping net. ‘I was unsighted by the goalkeeper,’ the youngster claimed at the break to a little bit of derision from his laughing team-mates. It may well have been the case, however it was a golden opportunity that had gone begging.

HALF TIME: Dundee United 0-2 Glasgow Rangers

I was pretty content at the break. We’d largely continued where we’d left off in the previous game and a half, giving very little away at the back and looking like we’re carrying a threat quite regularly going forward. The message once again was very simple. Keep going, get the third goal and move onto the Old Firm at the weekend.

The home side re-jigged a little at the break after that ten minutes or so after we got the second goal that saw them rocking a little more than Robbie Neilson would have been happy with.

It took more than 25 minutes for us to really look like breaking them down whilst they did press and probe us, but we continued to look extremely solid defensively. They simply didn’t appear to have the guile or spark to break us down.

On 72 minutes Jon Flanagan, who had replaced James Tavernier, swept a lovely cross-field ball out to another substitute, Jordan Jones (on for Ryan Kent). He cut infield and played the ball into the path of Aribo. The midfielder, without breaking strike, struck the ball first time left footed and was desperately unfortunate to see it flash narrowly over the angle of post and bar.

A low-key but absorbing second period came to belated life with two minutes remaining. Once again Aribo was at the centre of things, riding a heavy challenge from Drygras to bring the ball forward and feed the third substitute, Glen Kamara. The Finn swept it wide for Durmisi who knocked it back inside for Kamara. An exchange of passes with Aribo and Arfield saw the ball worked right for Flanagan. He tried to get the ball into the box but saw his cross blocked. It came back out to him so he played it back for Arfield who ran onto it and fired a low shot at goal. A defender bravely threw himself at the ball and blocked it superbly. Unfortunately for him it fell right into the path of Morelos and with Siegrist on the floor having dived for Arfield’s shot, the finish couldn’t have been simpler.

My decision to keep the Colombian in the side had been vindicated, even Troy was off the bench to salute the goal. It would have been so easy for him to feel a little miffed and, quite honestly, hopeful that the strikers would simply fire blanks so that he got his chance.

Another three points, another three goals that took us to 50 league goals for the season some way before the hallway point of the league campaign. That was pleasing.

Once again, we’d not picked up any new injury concerns ahead of the big Old Firm clash at the weekend. With both sides still matching each-other with 17 matches each played (Celtic would put themselves a game ahead the following evening) there was even more at stake than simple local bragging rights.

Whilst Celtic would be hard at work hosting St Mirren (they would battle with 10 men to a 1-0 win to put themselves 3 points ahead of us), we would be resting up ready to get down to training on Thursday morning and begin the hard yards ahead of trying to upset the apple cart at Parkhead.

FULL TIME: Dundee United 0-3 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier (Flanagan), Goldson, Edmundson, Durmisi, Jack (Kamara), Aribo, Arfield, Kent (Jones), Morelos, Brewster

[he_2]

Table as at Wednesday 16^th December 2020:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Celtic	18	16	2	0	52	7	50	45
Glasgow Rangers	17	15	2	0	50	9	47	41
Motherwell	18	10	4	4	30	18	34	12
Heart of Midlothian	18	9	3	6	29	28	30	1
Kilmarnock	17	7	5	5	21	21	26	0
Dundee United	18	5	8	5	18	25	23	-7
Livingston	18	4	6	8	20	29	18	-9
Aberdeen	18	5	2	11	18	26	17	-8
St Mirren	18	2	10	6	14	29	16	-15
Hibernian	18	2	7	9	16	33	13	-17
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	18	2	4	12	12	32	10	-20
St Johnstone	18	2	3	13	9	30	9	-21

 

Tuesday 15^th December 2020

Dundee Utd	0	3	Rangers
Hibs	1	1	Hearts
St Johnstone	0	1	Aberdeen

 

Wednesday 16^th December 2020

Celtic	1	0	St Mirren
Inverness	0	3	Motherwell
Kilmarnock	4	2	Livingston

[he_2]

Saturday 19^th December 2020: Glasgow Celtic v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)

Venue: Parkhead

Att: 60,411

Managerial Record v Glasgow Celtic: P 5 W 0 D 4 L 1 F 5 A 9

Six days before Christmas and goodwill was in short supply at Parkhead. I think with this experience I’d nearly managed to complete Scottish Football. Wow, the Old Firm on the road is something else! Nothing I’d been part of before came close to preparing me for the utter hostility we received. Not even the home game with Celtic, the atmosphere had felt tame by comparison but then maybe that’s because we weren’t the ones on the receiving end of tens of thousands of passionate football fans supporting their side and pouring bile on us from a very great height.

It was a testing atmosphere and a gauntlet that I’d have to run, to come through if I wanted to manage at the very highest level. This was pressure, real pressure, and I simply could not be cowed. I had to stand up to it, I had to keep my head down, close my ears to the noise and find that focus where anything outside the bubble of whatever was happening on the pitch didn’t matter.

There were a couple of changes from the side that handsomely defeated Dundee United with Filip Helander returning from his ban to take his place alongside Connor Goldson and Borna Barisic returning for Reza Durmisi at left-back. Otherwise it was as you were.

The tone was set very early on. James Tavernier was breaking over halfway when Boli Bolingoli slid in two-footed and just below knee height. Credit to the referee, he was straight out with the red card as he ran onto the scene even though there was less than 80 seconds on the clock. The Celitc defender couldn’t believe what he’d done and was in tears as he trudged off, burying his head in his shirt. That was the absolute epitome of someone being over-psyched before the game and letting adrenalin get the better of him.

I was quickly onto the touchline to speak with Ryan Jack. ‘Jacko, listen, we have to stretch them now when we have the ball. Get the two full-backs to hug the touchlines and you sit in when we’re attacking if they leave two up and try and counter us, okay?’

‘Aye, got it boss.’ He turned and trotted off as we settled down into a nice pattern of passing that didn’t threaten a great deal but perhaps saw us with 60% or so of the ball. I didn’t mind that, if it meant we could wear the home side down by working the ball from side to side for an hour then that was more than okay by me.

What I hadn’t banked on was what happened in the 14^th minute when Alfie Morelos was dispossessed by Callum McGregor down our right flank. The midfielder looked up and saw Leigh Griffiths immediately on his bike, spinning off Helander and into the gap between the two centre-halves. The long pass forward was perfect and Griffiths, who was in the goalscoring form of his life was onto it in an instant. With one touch to bring the ball down, a second to get into the penalty area, the third saw the ball flash beyond Robby McCrorie and into the back of the net to give the hosts the early advantage.

Game-plan undone?

Well no, not really. We needed to be more vigilant of that ball in behind us – we did play a notoriously high line – but if we were to get any success then with the extra man it would come through being patient and continuing to work the ball wide, to probe for gaps. Obviously, it wouldn’t be easy against a side of Celtic’s quality in the cauldron of noise that had only increased in temperature since the goal. They’d be well organised and well drilled in playing with a man down – Neil Lennon wasn’t a fool – but we had to trust in our quality that we had enough to get ourselves back into the game.

On 18 minutes we were awarded a soft free-kick inside the D on the edge of the box. Ryan Kent stepped up and would have had the mother of all jobs to have got the ball up and down and on target. His effort was blocked but rebounded nicely for Helander who drilled a low shot at goal. With Marko Malencia rooted to the spot the effort took a nick off of Christopher Julien’s ankle and thankfully for the home side went a yard wide of the post.

‘Good, well done boys! Keep pushing, keep pressing!’ I urged from the sideline.

Although a man down, the home side had a number of players that were able to carry the ball from deep. Ryan Christie, James Forrest and most dangerously their on-loan Portuguese international winger from Wolves, Ivan Cavaleiro and it was his pace and trickery that saw him drive past a couple of challenges before firing a shot at goal left footed that McCrorie did well to get down to with his foot to block.

He was causing us all sorts of problems with the elusive positions he was taking up and his direct running. A couple of good blocks from Tavernier first and then Jack denied him further efforts at goal as Celtic enjoyed a spell of pressure, pinning us back for a few minutes. By and large we were bossing possession but creating very little whilst every time Celtic broke they potentially looked like scoring. That was a little bit of a concern to be perfectly honest, with half-time approaching and I was deep in thought about how to swing the game in our favour.

Cavaleiro was also something of a selfish goat at times too, something that was all too clear on the stroke of half-time when he once again ran from deep at the heart of our defence, outpacing Goldson. A simple ball into the path of Griffiths would have set the Celtic marksman in on goal, instead he choose to push the Scotsman out of the way, electing to go himself and ended up firing wastefully over the top from just outside the penalty area.

I was relieved, a second goal would have made life very difficult for us in the second half. Whilst it was still 1-0 we were right in the match.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Celtic 1-0 Glasgow Rangers

Letting the boys catch their breath I didn’t rant, nor did I rave. I kept things constructive. ‘Keep getting the ball wide, boys. Keep trusting in the process. You will get chances, take them. The most important thing is to keep our full complement on the field. You’ve already seen one or two of them niggling, trying to get you involved in their tawdry little bits and pieces, don’t give them the satisfaction of biting. Come on boys, believe, the game’s there for you still.’

I removed Scott Arfield and brought on Jordan Jones to try and stretch the home side a little more, with him and Ryan Kent coming in off either flank to create space for the full-backs we’d surely be able to create something at some stage. As and when we did, we had to take the chance.

Eight minutes after the restart Kent swung in a free-kick from wide on the left after Barisic had been baulked illegally. The delivery was right into the mixer where there must have been a dozen shirts of varying hues. The one in all mauve came out to collect, got nowhere near the ball and as the ball sailed over him, Connor Goldson simply stooped to nod the ball into the gaping net from no more than a couple of yards out.

Green and white hooped shirts besieged the referee imploring him to blow for a free-kick for a foul on Malencia, but there was none to be seen. Goldson’s 3^rd goal of the season had levelled things up.

The delight on our bench was unbridled, I really felt that they were there for the taking now. If we could get the second goal then they’d need to come at us which would create gaps for us to exploit on the counter. That next goal couldn’t have been more crucial.

Two minutes later, however, all of that went out of the window as for some completely inexplicable reason James Tavernier chose to rake his studs down the calves of Cavaleiro a couple of yards outside the penalty area. It was a spiteful challenge to put it politely and the referee once again had absolutely no hesitation in brandishing the red card. Tavernier tried to plead a case that wasn’t there to be pleaded before reluctantly leaving the arena.

‘You absolute d-head!’ I spat at him as he walked past me down the tunnel, completely unable to hide my fury at his foolishness.

After the free kick we dropped Jordan Jones into a right wing-back role to try and still get forward but also nullify the increased threat from Cavaleiro who had managed to get up gingerly to try and run off the knock he’d received in the challenge.

Neil Lennon was urging his side forward and as we were preparing another change with Troy Parrott getting ready to replace the ineffectual Morelos, a ball down the right from Hatem Abd Elhamed once again found Griffiths in space in behind one of our centre-halves, this time Helander. I feared the worst but thankfully this time the ball was on his weaker right foot and the ball went harmlessly behind. Gary Mac was apoplectic about the defending, turning the colour of a Ribena berry prior to juicing as he berated the tall Swedish defender.

With 20 minutes remaining excellent build-up down the left saw the ball moved inside for Callum McGregor. Again, Griffiths found space in between the two centre-halves and when the ball was fed through to him, again I fully expected the net to bulge. It didn’t, because McCrorie made an excellent save, plunging to his left to push the ball behind for a corner kick. The sigh of relief, tinged with mild despair, was palpable on the bench around me. I thrust my hands into the pockets of my coat and patrolled the technical area deep in thought.

From the corner Jozo Simunovic headed the ball back across goal where the recently introduced Mikey Johnston could only head over the top with his first touch as he looped the ball towards the far post. Could we survive? Could we get one more chance ourselves?

Another corner delivered this time to the near post was met again by the head of Johnston and once again, the header was marginally too high, skimming a coat of paint off the top of the crossbar on its way behind. That was with 11 minutes remaining.

Four minutes later, after a good spell of pressure in which we worked the ball from one flank to the other and back again, going backwards when we needed to but keeping the ball, Aribo found Kent who for once found a couple of yards of space in which to operate. He found Brewster inside the six-yard box with the angle against him and chose to try and beat Malencia at his near post. The ball thudded against the outside of the upright and behind for a goal-kick when a drilled cross across the 6-yard box might have been better with Parrott waiting for a tap-in and a couple of Celtic defenders who might have gotten a touch into their own net.

With the game moving into stoppage time there was final opportunity for Griffiths, who once again found himself in between our two centre-halves for the umpteenth time and was located by another excellent McGregor pass. Through on goal, for the third time McCrorie made an excellent stop to deny the league’s top scorer a late winner that, if I was completely honest, wouldn’t have been unwarranted for the home side.

We held on, we came away with a point and after scoring 14 goals in our previous 4 matches had shown another side to our game from that free-flowing free-scoring one in recent weeks. We’d knuckled down, worked hard and ground out a point from a game that on balance we should have come away with nothing.

I wasn’t particularly pleased with the performance but with another match around the corner just three days later against Inverness Caley Thistle, I didn’t think there would be much to be gained by holding too much of an inquest. File it away, take the point and move on.

There were three matches to be played in the next 10-days to complete that frankly ludicrous winter schedule and before we could enjoy two and a half weeks away from competitive action. If we could get to that point of the season and still be unbeaten in the league, still be in touch with Celtic then we could look forward to a very interesting 2021.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Celtic 1-1 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Jack, Aribo, Arfield (Jones), Kent, Morelos (Parrott), Brewster

[he_2]

Table as at Saturday 19^th December 2020:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Celtic	19	16	3	0	53	8	51	45
Glasgow Rangers	18	15	3	0	51	10	48	41
Motherwell	19	11	4	4	34	18	37	16
Heart of Midlothian	19	9	3	7	29	30	30	-1
Kilmarnock	18	8	5	5	22	21	29	1
Dundee United	19	5	8	6	18	27	23	-9
Livingston	19	4	6	9	22	32	18	-10
Aberdeen	19	5	2	12	18	27	17	-9
Hibernian	19	3	7	9	19	35	16	-16
St Mirren	19	2	10	7	14	33	16	-19
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	19	3	4	12	14	32	13	-18
St Johnstone	19	3	3	13	11	30	12	-19

 

Friday 18^th December

Dundee Utd

0

2

St Johnstone

 

Saturday 19^th December

Celtic	1	1	Rangers
Hibs	3	2	Livingston
Inverness	2	0	Hearts
Kilmarnock	1	0	Aberdeen
Motherwell	4	0	St Mirren

[he_2]

Tuesday 22^nd December 2020: Glasgow Rangers v Inverness Caledonian Thistle (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 48,723

Managerial Record v Inverness Caledonian Thistle: P 1 W 1 D 0 L 0 F 2 A 0

Three days before Christmas and still nearly 50,000 supporters found the time, the effort and the money to come our and watch the side as we took on Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the Highland side boosted by an excellent 2-0 win over Hearts at the weekend which moved them off the foot of the table and back within touching distance of guaranteed safety. The gap between them and Livingston in 7^th was down to a much more bridgeable 5 points rather than the infinitely more daunting 8 points that it had been before the weekend.

I chose to make some changes, rest some weary legs and give a chance to others. Dropping out were the suspended James Tavernier, Borna Barisic, Joe Aribo, Scott Arfield and Rhian Brewster. Replacing them were Ross McCrorie at right-back, Reza Durmisi, Glen Kamara, Nat Young-Coombes and Troy Parrott respectively. I’d had a long chat with Tav after his dismissal – his second of the season – at training and told him that he really needed to tidy that side of his game up. If he couldn’t keep himself on the pitch then he was naff all use to me. I was prepared to draw a line under this red card with the usual fine under the club’s disciplinary code that he’d signed up to, but a repeat performance would see his future and place in the side under jeopardy.

To be fair to him he accepted the challenge understanding that he was a senior member of the side and should be setting a better example. He’d miss three games and if someone impressed majorly in his absence then he’d have enough of a battle getting back into the side.

The opening 20 minutes of the game were fairly turgid. We were controlling the game in terms of possession, the visitors understandably choosing to sit back and look to break when given the chance. Whilst we passed the ball crisply enough there wasn’t enough intensity about our play and we looked no better than mediocre. At that point we really should have taken the league.

A Mark Ridgers clearance only found Young-Coombes who controlled the ball nicely and then burst towards the penalty area, the defence appearing to part like the red sea in front of Moses. Ridgers redeemed himself with a smart stop but the ball find kindly for Troy Parrott with the goal gaping. Somehow, and I have no idea how, left footed the Irishman found the side netting rather than rather larger part of the onion bag that had its arms open in welcome waiting for the ball.

I’m not sure anyone in the ground could believe their eyes at the miss.

To Parrott’s credit, he got his head down and went in search of the next opportunity which fell to him five minutes later after Kent’s pass found him inside the penalty area. Taking a couple of touches to work himself an angle, this finish was rather better as he did at least find the target, unfortunately Ridgers made a very fine stop turning the powerful strike over the crossbar. From the corner delivered by Durmisi Ryan Jack made tracks and got on the end of the ball at the far post but couldn’t keep his header down.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 0-0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle

That was as good as it got in the first period. The visitors were delighted to go in goal-less at the break having had little of the ball and even less in the way of efforts in goal.

‘I know it’s been a tough few weeks,’ I said once the boys had sat down and collected their refreshments, ‘but that was soporific stuff. I know it’s Christmas in a few days and we all went to be merry and bright but we’ve got work to do today, lads. The passing is fine, but there’s f- all cutting edge out there. I tell you what, they’re living the dream in there. Coming to Ibrox, goal-less at the break and for most of that first half they’ve just had to sit in because we’re just playing in front of them. Once, just once we’ve looked dangerous and that’s when Nat drove at them. Should have scored, didn’t, okay, so we make the next one happen. Except we haven’t.’

‘More, I need a lot more boys. Because I tell you something, if I don’t get it, if you don’t give those supporters out there who have jacked off mulled wine and carols around the tree this evening something to cheer then mark my words, not only will you be in on Christmas Eve, you’ll be in on Christmas Day as well. Now, take the next 7 minutes or so to get your heads switched on properly and get the game won.’

Again, I used that time to have a quiet word with two or three of the boys, trying to encourage them and look at a couple of things on the screen that we should be looking to do to manoeuvre them out of position and create chances.

Four minutes after the break Filip Helander met a Durmisi free-kick at the far post and planted his header thudding into the midriff of Ridgers when anything a couple of feet either side of the goalkeeper would have opened the scoring.

Within a minute Ryan Kent popped up on the right flank and powered towards the by-line, just inside the penalty area. As he cut back onto his left foot his ankle was taken from underneath him by Charlie Trafford. The whistle went, the arm went out and the penalty was awarded. Alfie Morelos stepped up casually, Ridgers went the right way and the spot kick was far too close to him, diving to his left he made a good stop to push the ball behind for a corner.

That was too much for me to bear, the Colombian striker was instantly removed from the action before the corner kick could be taken and replaced by Rhian Brewster.

The move paid instant dividends, even though Brewster wasn’t directly involved. The original corner kick was headed clear but recovered by Goldson who returned the ball to Durmisi. The left-back had acres of space to measure his cross and found Ryan Kent’s head, 10 yards out and he planted it powerfully beyond Ridgers into the back of the net for his 14^th goal of the campaign.

That brought such a sigh of relief throughout the place and the mufflers that had been placed over us in the first 50 minutes suddenly disappeared. There was an extra spring in our step, an extra yard of pace, the passing a shade crisper and more precise. The tempo had increased and you got the impression that the boys could sense blood.

Three minutes later another Durmisi corner kick saw Troy Parrott drift in off from beyond the far post, meet the ball on the 6-yard line, fairly central, and plant a superb glancing header beyond Ridgers inside the far corner of the net. The game had turned firmly in our favour inside that three-minute spell and now if was a case of ‘how many’ we might get.

Durmisi, enjoying himself now, sent a 30-yard free kick a shade wide of Ridgers’ right-hand post before the goalkeeper made a fine save to his right after Young-Coombes had made done will to get into the penalty area, find space for a shoot at goal and drive it low towards the far corner.

That we had to wait until the 66^th minute to claim our third goal of the evening felt like a long time given our complete and total dominance of the match at that stage. Predictably it was another Durmisi dead-ball that caused the confusion, Helander rose highest to head against the upright and as the ball rebounded back into the heart of the 6-yard box Glen Kamara reacted quickest to nod the ball home from a couple of yards for his 3^rd goal of the season.

Three minutes after falling behind to what felt like an unassailable deficit, James Vincent woke us up with a free-kick that rippled the side netting on its way a foot or so the wrong side of the post. That’s all we needed to go and put the seal on the second half performance. Kamara poked the ball into the penalty area where Brewster was unable to work himself space for a shot. Instead he adroitly laid the ball off the substitute Jordan Jones, who had come in off the left flank, and he calmly stroked the ball right-footed into the far bottom corner of the net for his 4^th goal of the season and our 4^th of the evening.

From where we’d been at the break, I hadn’t imagined that 25-minutes later we’d find ourselves 4-0 up, but that was a testament to the quality I had at my disposal and their ability to find a couple of new gears when they were required to break down a decent side.

With 9 minutes remaining a free-kick from Brewster dropped in behind the Caley back-four for Young-Coombes, Ridgers did well to deny the youngster his first ever league goal with a smart block down by his near post. I was more than happy as the boys saw the final ten minutes out, taking their foot of the pedal and conserving themselves for the tricky looking visit to Motherwell on Boxing Day.

‘Much much better, boys,’ I said to them after the game. ‘Outstanding second half, exactly what I was looking for. Well done. In tomorrow for a little training session and then have a couple of days with your families.’ Nothing more to say, they’d earned a couple of days break.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 4-0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Ross.McCrorie, Goldson (Edmundson), Helander, Durmisi, Jack, Kamara, Young-Coombes, Kent (Jones), Morelos (Parrott), Brewster

[he_2]

Table as at Wednesday 23^rd December 2020:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Celtic	20	17	3	0	55	8	54	47
Glasgow Rangers	19	16	3	0	55	10	51	45
Motherwell	20	11	4	5	34	19	37	15
Heart of Midlothian	20	10	3	7	30	30	33	0
Kilmarnock	19	8	5	6	23	24	29	-1
Dundee United	20	6	8	6	21	28	26	-7
Aberdeen	20	6	2	12	21	28	20	-7
Livingston	20	4	6	10	22	34	18	-12
Hibernian	20	3	7	10	20	37	16	-17
St Mirren	20	2	10	8	15	36	16	-21
St Johnstone	20	4	3	13	13	31	15	-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	20	3	4	13	14	36	13	-22

 

Tuesday 22^nd December

Aberdeen	3	1	St Mirren
Livingston	0	2	Celtic
Rangers	4	0	Inverness
St Johnstone	2	1	Hibs

 

Wednesday 23^rd December

Hearts	1	0	Motherwell
Kilmarnock	1	3	Dundee Utd

[he_2]

Saturday 26^th December 2020: Motherwell v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)

Venue: Fir Park

Att: 13,677

Managerial Record v Motherwell: P 6 W 4 D 1 L 1 F 17 A 7

This was a tricky little post-Christmas match. The short journey to Fir Park, just South-East of Glasgow to meet a Motherwell side who were looking increasing likely to pick up a Europa League spot come the end of the season. 37 points from their 20 matches so far and a +15 goal difference – the only positive goal difference outside the Old Firm – had seen Stephen Robinson’s side go into the game four points ahead of Hearts. Not only that, they were the only side apart from Celtic to have taken points of us so far.

Although they were coming off the back of a disappointing 1-0 reverse at Hearts in midweek, they’d shown already this season that they could bounce back strongly after a bad result or two. At one point they’d gone four matches without a win and responded with three straight victories scoring 8 goals without reply in the process. We’d also been drawn against each-other in the 4^th Round of the Scottish Cup which would restart the competitive campaign after the new year.

Injuries, suspensions and sickness forced me into a number of changes once again. Ross McCrorie and Robby McCrorie were both missing through illness which meant a recall for Alan McGregor in goal and Jon Flanagan at right-back, meanwhile Reza Durmisi had tweaked a calf against Caley Thistle so he dropped to the bench in favour of Borna Barisic. Further forward Ryan Jack’s ban meant that Joe Aribo returned and Glen Kamara was able to retain his place after scoring in midweek, Scott Arfield returned for Young-Coombes whilst up front Troy Parrott replaced Alfie Morelos.

We went off like a train. From kick-off the ball was worked to Ryan Kent and he saw space. Whenever he saw space there was only one thing he liked to do and that was to run into it, to attack it. He did so with plenty of vigour and with no-one in front of him had an effort at goal. It wasn’t quite directed as he might have wished and Trevor Carson made a fine early save to show that he, unlike his team-mates had switched on from the start.

Peter Hartley scrambled the ball away and it was picked up by Joe Aribo. He too chose to attack the penalty area and no more than 2-yards outside the right corner of the 18-yard line, he was tripped by Liam Polworth. Free-kick. Barisic stepped up, curled it towards the far post and Carson, noticing that the ball was probably going to sneak inside his far post was at full stretch to spectacularly parry the ball behind for a corner kick.

This was exactly the start I’d urged from the boys, to carry the game to Motherwell and try and force early errors from them. I wanted an early goal to settle us down and give us . 45 seconds on the clock and already a couple of chances had produced good saves from the Northern Irish international keeper.

Clearly, we weren’t able to maintain that level of pressure, creating a couple of chances every minute and to be fair to them, Motherwell weathered that early storm well, sorted themselves out and began to make like a lot more difficult for us.

On 8 minutes Barisic was dispossessed down our left flank and the ball forward by Liam Donnelly saw Simon Murray in acres of space. Helander was in hot pursuit but the Motherwell man, not long returned from a spell in South Africa, had too much pace for the Swede. His effort in the end was perhaps a little tamer than he might have wished and McGregor was able to comfortably hold on.

A little warning sign nonetheless.

Ten minutes later and we were awarded a golden opportunity to take the lead. Barisic swung in a free kick from the left edge of the penalty area and as Glen Kamara went to attack it he was unceremoniously heavily leant on by Declan Gallagher. Down went the Finn, out went the finger pointing to the spot from the referee and out came the yellow card for the Motherwell man.

Barisic took responsibility for the spot kick and there wasn’t a lot wrong with his effort. He struck low and hard towards the bottom corner of the net, Carson though dived to his left and produced a magnificent one-handed save at full stretch to firmly divert the ball away and behind for a corner kick.

That lifted the home crowd significantly and they really got behind their side raucously. For a relatively small ground, the noise was substantial and for a while they really smothered our attacking threat really well whilst beginning to push forward to win a few set pieces in promising positions. About 10 minutes before the break it was from one of these swung in by Liam Polworth that saw Hartley outjump a huddle of blue shirts to attack the ball, it didn’t go far wide by McGregor was absolutely rooted to the spot. Had it been on target we’d have suddenly found ourselves behind.

On the stroke of half-time there was a potentially pivotal moment. Borna Barisic was dispossessed on the edge of the Motherwell penalty area as he looked to dribble his way in. Richard Tait came away with the ball and in the Croatian’s keenness to win back possession, he went in rather too heavily from behind and caught the Motherwell man. Having been booked less than ten minutes before, Alan Newlands had little option but to show Barisic a second yellow card and cap a thoroughly miserable afternoon for the full-back.

HALF-TIME: Motherwell 0-0 Glasgow Rangers

‘Things have become infinitely more difficult all of a sudden, haven’t they? Look, we haven’t been at our best today so far and we’re a man down but, with some intelligence we can win this game.’ I told them. ‘You’re going to have to dig in, to dig deep and each give that little bit extra to cover the man advantage they’ve got, but I know you’ve got it in you boys.’ I continued to encourage and to cajole, I made a slight tactical change withdrawing Ryan Kent a touch into a more authentic wide midfield role, just to offer a little more protection to our left flank defensively but, and I made this absolutely clear to him, he still had licence to push on. If and when he went, then it was down to Glen Kamara to step in and just cover that space that he’d left.

The opening dozen or so minutes of the second half saw us have most of the ball but only threaten from long range, we didn’t get in behind the Motherwell back four nor did we really get into the penalty area. Then, in the 59^th minute a short throw-in by Flanagan found Aribo on the right-edge of the penalty area. Turning, he sent in an early cross which was met by a bullet header from Kamara. The ball left the midfielder’s head and flew past Carson into the back of the net to give us the lead.

I didn’t celebrate, I couldn’t celebrate, I immediately made a change. On came the half-fit Reza Durmisi at left-back, Troy Parrott being the man sacrificed whilst Ryan Kent came on with the fresh legs of Jordan Jones replacing him to attack and support my now lone striker Rhian Brewster from a wide left attacker position. I had no idea whether or not this switch would do what I’d intended, which was to revert a little more to our natural shape, but I was certainly hoping for the best.

Now the hard work really began.

Five minutes later Jones was released down that inside left channel by a raking ball from Helander. Using his pace the substitute ran directly for goal and fired an angled drive goalwards. The effort was on target but Carson was equal to it and firmly pushed the ball over the top.

A couple of minutes after that opportunity excellent work by Aribo saw him wriggle into the penalty area and turn the ball inside towards Brewster. A defender got in the way but Brewster’s tenacity saw him not only win the ball but also get a shot off that was well blocked by the sprawling Allan Campbell.

With four minutes remaining, after a seriously professional second half showing in which we’d given away absolutely nothing, Durmisi combined with Jones to see the winger play a first-time ball into the path of Brewster who was running at full tilt. With one touch to beat a defender, a second to shimmy past Carson with his third he tapped home for a beautifully taken goal and one that he thoroughly deserved for his selfless efforts of the second half.

That was the points sealed and with Celtic apparently still scoreless at home to St Johnstone it was feeling like a potentially pivotal moment in the title race. Sure, we were only just over halfway through the season – this was matchday 20 of 38 – but such was the scarcity of dropped points by both sides that any slip up could prove crucial.

Jones almost capped his excellent cameo with a goal, narrowly heading over at the near post but it didn’t matter. This was as professional a job as I could have hoped to have seen, particularly after playing a man short for 45 minutes of the game.

After five minutes of stoppage time Newlands brought proceedings to a half. News filtered through that Celtic had indeed been held by the strugglers from Perth and so now we were just a point shy of them with a game in hand, the same goal difference but we’d now scored two more than they had. It was tight, perilously so, but many commentators had handed us the advantage.

I was asked that question afterwards in about three different ways, each time I played a straight bat. ‘There’s a lot of football still to be played,’ I said. ‘Plenty of points will be dropped between now and the end of the season,’ I said. ‘Nothing is decided in December,’ I said. Yet, privately, in spite of our terrific form, it was hugely frustrating every time we picked up another win to find out that Celtic had matched us. I’d been waiting for them to slip up, now it was up to me – and us – to take full advantage. Foot to the metal, no let-up.

FULL TIME: Motherwell 0-2 Glasgow Rangers

Team: McGregor, Flanagan, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Aribo, Kamara, Arfield, Kent (Jones), Parrott (Durmisi), Brewster

[he_2]

Table as at Saturday 26^th December 2020:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Celtic	21	17	4	0	55	8	55	47
Glasgow Rangers	20	17	3	0	57	10	54	47
Motherwell	21	11	4	6	34	21	37	13
Heart of Midlothian	21	10	4	7	31	31	34	0
Kilmarnock	20	9	5	6	25	24	32	1
Dundee United	21	6	8	7	22	30	26	-8
Aberdeen	21	7	2	12	23	29	23	-6
Livingston	21	4	7	10	24	36	19	-12
St Mirren	21	2	11	8	16	37	17	-21
St Johnstone	21	4	4	13	13	31	16	-18
Hibernian	21	3	7	11	20	39	16	-19
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	21	3	5	13	16	38	14	-22

 

Saturday 26^th December

Celtic	0	0	St Johnstone
Dundee Utd	1	2	Aberdeen
Hibs	0	2	Kilmarnock
Inverness	2	2	Livingston
Motherwell	0	2	Rangers
St Mirren	1	1	Hearts

[he_2]

Tuesday 29^th December 2020: Glasgow Rangers v St Mirren (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 50,817

Managerial Record v St Mirren: P 4 W 3 D 1 L 0 F 10 A 1

The final game of the calendar year saw St Mirren make the short trip from Paisley to Ibrox Park. It was a huge game, Celtic’s surprising goalless draw on Boxing Day against St Johnstone meant that if we were able to finish the year with anything better than a draw, we’d be on top of the table going into the New Year.

When taking the job I’d hoped that we might have been in a position to mount a challenge in the new year, try and put Celtic under pressure as they’d been in the final weeks of the season before when, quite honestly, a bit of a bottle job from the Gers handed the title to our cross-city rivals. To go into the new year on top of the pile was beyond my expectations. The feeling around the club, around the dressing room was strong, confidence was high – as you’d expect from a club unbeaten in 20 league matches – but at no stage did I really feel that we were really touching complacency. The one or two minor signs had been firmly stamped out and with the competition for places we had in most areas the boys knew that any dropping of their standards would mean time out of the team. No-one wants to be sat on the bench or in the stands when the team is winning matches.

St Mirren were still keeping their heads above water largely due to the number of draws they’d picked up over the season. They were in a bit of a rut, however, having not won since beating Aberdeen in the middle of October – a run of no fewer than 12 matches up to this match-up and as a result I was meeting up with a manager under intense pressure.

By and large there was a solidarity between managers, although the challenges and pressures faced by each of us differed, we all had them and there was a tacit understanding between us as a result. Behind the scenes the managerial network was pretty strong, there was always someone on the end of a phone call if you needed someone to chat to at any point. Up to this point almost every opposition manager I’d come into contact with had been really generous with their time to me and I was looking forward to getting to a point in life, and managerial experience where I’d be able to play a similar role for younger managers making their way. Of course, you didn’t get on personally with everyone you encountered, but there was still an underlying respect for the job they were doing.

Once again I shuffled the pack a little. Robby McCrorie returned in goal whilst Ryan Jack came in at right-back – the fourth player to start there in as many matches. Jon Flanagan moved across to the left-back berth in the absence of the banned Borna Barisic, Reza Durmisi fit enough only for a spot on the bench. Further forward I brought Alfie Morelos back in for Troy Parrott.

We found ourselves on the front foot early on, 5 minutes were on the clock when Joe Aribo picked up Filip Helander’s ball forward. He tiptoed forward, jinking this way and that to open up space for a shot at goal. He fired it low left footed but Dean Lyness dived to his left at full-stretch to turn the ball behind for a corner with an excellent save to deny the midfielder a fine goal. Ryan Kent delivered the corner kick towards the far post where it was met by a stretching Helander, he wasn’t quite able to direct his header on target and it drifted behind for a goal kick.

That set us onto the right track and quarter of an hour or so later a free-kick on the left edge of the penalty area was curled in by Kent to be met once again Helander. This time the Swede headed the ball down across the face of goal and was on target when it hit Ilkay Durmus and deflected into the net. The goal was originally given to the hapless St Mirren man but was swiftly credited to Helander after it was deemed that his original header was on its way into the net anyway.

90 seconds later and after Ryan Jack did well to anticipate a Paul McGinn cross and head it clear, Scott Arfield picked it up and launched a swift counter-attack. He found Kamara who first-time played a super through ball for Morelos. The Colombian was fairly centre of goal as he tried to tuck it beyond Lyness, however the goalkeeper did brilliantly well to stand up as long as he could and block the effort behind for another corner kick.

There wasn’t long to wait until the next opportunity came our way and once again it was Kamara who was the creator. The Finn was really growing into his role in the midfield and beginning to flourish. He picked up Connor Goldson’s header and from just inside the Saints’ half sent in another killer through ball for Brewster to run onto. One touch took him clear of the last defender and the second fairly lashed the ball powerfully beyond Lyness and into the roof of the net to double our advantage. That took him into double figures in terms of league goals and up to 17 in all competitions.

At this stage it looked as though we might end up running riot. We didn’t though, we had a couple of other half chances in the remainder of the first half but failed to create anything of note and went in at the break the two goals to the good.

HALF-TIME: Glasgow Rangers 2-0 St Mirren

’45 more minutes of hard graft, boys. Give me that in the second half and you can put your feet up for a few days over New Year. But, I need you to dig deep and keep going, don’t think the game is won yet. We’ve seen enough this season to know that sides in this league have enough about them to keep us honest. Be professional, be strong, keep the intensity high and get the job done. Let’s finish the year top of the pile and see how the view suits us!’

Nothing more to be said at that point, I was perfectly content with the first half, we had the advantage and as much as I’d have liked us to go and win 5-0, like I did every match, this time I wanted the points more than anything else to get to the top of the mountain – if the SPL could legitimately be described as a mountain, that was probably a bit of a stretch.

Of course, the first thing that happened after I’d preached professionalism to the boys was a rush of blood to the head. Alfie Morelos obviously had a little bit of baggage following him around but he’d been nothing but spot of for me in terms of discipline and attitude. A couple of minutes after the restart Lewis Gordon dispossessed the Colombian and you could almost see the fuse physically blow in Morelos’ head. He launched himself into a vicious, high and horrifically reckless challenge on the Saints’ left-back. Thankfully he was up on his feet almost immediately whilst Morelos was sent packing with the inevitable red card.

This concerned me for more than one reason. Obviously, a challenge like that has absolutely no place on a football pitch and Morelos would deserve everything he got as a result. More worryingly it was a fifth dismissal of the season and a 3^rd in four matches. I liked the boys to play on the edge and we did get a lot of grief for the number of yellow cards we picked up. That wasn’t something that worried me, I didn’t really care how many yellow cards we picked up, it was part and parcel of the intense manner in which I wanted us to play the game – I’d had the same thing at Hearts – but I trusted the boys not to overstep the mark, to keep their heads. That wasn’t happening at the moment. I mean, taking this challenge by Morelos, the boy was going nowhere, we’re 2-0 up, there’s absolutely no need for him to make any sort of tackle, never mind one so heinous.

From the free kick, Jermaine Hylton picked the ball up deep, ran at Goldson, jinked past him and worked an angle for a shot. McCrorie was well positioned and made a decent stop, holding onto the ball.

‘Come on boys, switch on!’ I implored from the sidelines. There wasn’t much of a reshuffle required, we stuck with the same shape, just with one up-front and asking Scott Arfield to try and play five or ten yards further forward to make sure Brewster wasn’t too isolated up top.

Just before the hour mark a mix-up between Goldson and Jack saw Hylton dispossess the right-back, play the ball inside for Damian Gaska to surge onto. The Polish attacking-midfielder hit the target with his effort but once again McCrorie was well positioned to dive to his left and hold onto the ball.

Moments later the self-same player, on a caution, went in late on Joe Aribo in the centre-circle as my midfield general looked to play the ball forward. The challenge was completely needless as Aribo completely overhit the ball and it rolled out for what would have been a goal-kick. Play was brought back for the free-kick, Gaska – who had blown a gasket – was shown his second yellow and despatched to go and fight over the soap with Morelos.

10 v 10 and I hoped we’d be able to regain some element of the lost control over the previous dozen or so minutes. We did, and once again looked the more likely to add to the scoreline. A Ryan Kent corner was headed over the top at the far post by Brewster from a tight angle before the winger then from an unlikely position chose to shoot from a free kick which had so much power behind it that even though it was more or less straight at Lyness, it moved a heck of a lot in the air and he was forced to parry the ball away as he was knocked onto his backside by the power on the hit.

In the end, apart from that slightly nervous period in between dismissals it was another match in which we’d been in almost complete control, another match that gave us three points and another clean sheet – our 6^th in our past 7 matches. That was quite a record.

‘Well done, boys,’ I said after the game, Morelos having been sent up to the player’s lounge early so as not to sully the atmosphere unduly. ‘That was pretty well spot on. Top of the table going into the New Year, that’s exceeded what we’d planned for. Go away, have a few days off with your families, enjoy your Hogmanay and we’ll see you back on Wednesday next week.’

‘Keep yourselves ticking over, we’ll be open if anyone needs treatment at all. Friday we’re flying over to Holland, we’ve put in a friendly at Groningen for Saturday week, then back on the Sunday to get prepped for the restart against Motherwell. Well done again, lads. Onto bigger and better things when we get back.’

I was totally unable to hide my delight after the game as I went into the press conference.

Petar Genchev: You’ve managed to extend Rangers’ impressive run over St Mirren, how do you feel about that particular record?

It’s not something I really think about. I know you folks in the media and the fans like to talk about these things. I’m delighted that we’ve been able to keep the fans happy by extending whatever run we might have had, but I’m even more so by going top of the table this evening.

Kyle Connell: As you’ve alluded to, Jones, that result takes Rangers top of the league. You must be pleased with that?

Absolutely. I’d hoped we’d go into the New Year within touching distance of Celtic but we’ve managed to go one better than that. It gives us a platform for us to build on and something to work towards maintaining in the new year. It creates a positive atmosphere, the boys are absolutely buzzing in the dressing room, and hopefully we can take a optimistic approach going forward.

KC: You’ve also managed to extend your unbeaten run. The team is looking nigh-on unbeatable at the moment, is this a run you think you can keep going?

As I said, confidence is really high at the moment but we’ll do what we’ve always done and just focus on the next game which is the Scottish Cup tie against Motherwell. We can’t look any further forward than that, if we do, we’ll be taking our eye off the ball. That said, we’re bullish going into every game at the moment.

PG: There’s a feeling amongst some pundits that the players will suffer from over-confidence. Do you fear that could become a problem?

If that confidence tips over into complacency then that’s on me. It’s my job to keep the boys grounded, to make sure they’re mentally ready for each challenge ahead. If that doesn’t happen then that’s on me.

Leah Young: We’ve literally just heard that St Mirren have parted company with Jim Goodwin. What are your thoughts on that?

What?! Have they? When did that happen?

LY: Literally just before you arrived. We received a statement telling us that Jim wouldn’t attend the post-match press conference and had been relieved of his duties.

Wow, I’m gutted on his behalf. He’s a great guy and you saw his boys giving him everything out there this evening. I have a lot of sympathy for him, I know they were struggling a bit for results and that other games haven’t gone the way he might have wanted. Look, it’s never nice when one of your counterparts loses their job, it’s a stark reminder that the life of a manager is a precarious one and that things can turn very quickly, it’s even worse when you’re responsible for administering the last rites though. Gee, I’m pretty stunned at that news. I wish him well with whatever comes next, of course.

I thanked the gentlefolk of the press and went off in search of Jim, finding him coming out of the visitor’s dressing room having said his goodbyes to his players.

‘I’ve just heard the news, Jim. Wow, I’m stunned. Really sorry this has happened.’

‘Ah, that’s football,’ he replied in his strong Irish brogue. ‘I knew results hadn’t been good enough and half-expected the boot after this. I thought they might wait until morning to pull the trigger though.’

‘Ah man, it’s an unforgiving business.’

‘Aye, that it is.’

We talked for a few minutes, he was very complimentary about our side and chances going forward, which was really nice and generous of him considering, I wished him all the best for whatever came next. Although disappointed and clearly hurting, I could sense a determination within him to set things right and get back into the game as soon as he could. As it happened, that was exactly what happened as within a month he had been installed as the replacement of Gordon Strachan at Livingston, the former Scotland manager having returned to Pittodrie to take on the Aberdeen job at the place where almost 40 years before he’d been part of the side that famously beat Real Madrid in the European Cup Winners Cup.

Whilst the boys went off to enjoy a few days of peace and quiet, I had my sights firmly set on the opening transfer window and trying to navigate my way through that. Somehow I had a feeling it would be rather busier than it had been 12 months previously.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 2-0 St Mirren

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Jack, Goldson (Edmundson), Helander, Flanagan, Aribo, Kamara (Docherty), Arfield (Young-Coombes), Kent, Morelos, Brewster

[he_2]

Table as at Tuesday 29^th December 2020:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	21	18	3	0	59	10	57	49
Glasgow Celtic	21	17	4	0	55	8	55	47
Motherwell	22	11	5	6	35	22	38	13
Heart of Midlothian	21	10	4	7	31	31	34	0
Kilmarnock	20	9	5	6	25	24	32	1
Dundee United	22	6	8	8	23	32	26	-9
Aberdeen	21	7	2	12	23	29	23	-6
Livingston	22	4	8	10	25	37	20	-12
Hibernian	22	4	7	11	22	40	19	-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	22	4	5	13	18	39	17	-21
St Mirren	22	2	11	9	16	39	17	-23
St Johnstone	22	4	4	14	14	33	16	-19

 

Tuesday 29^th December 2020

Dundee Utd	1	2	Hibs
Livingston	1	1	Motherwell
Rangers	2	0	St Mirren
St Johnstone	1	2	Inverness

 

[he_2]

The first half of the January transfer window was extremely busy. A couple of younger lads left the club, Murray Miller, a 19-year old Australian midfielder headed back to his home nation to join up with Melbourne Victory on a free transfer whilst Chris McKee, a 19-year old striker who had been named on the bench for the first two matches of the season but was unused, moved to Dundee United, also on a free transfer. Although no doubt big moves for the two players involved, they barely caused a ripple amongst the fan base.

No, they were caused by much larger pieces of news with two players incoming immediately, another being confirmed for the following season whilst one that had been a key part of things in our rise to the top of the table departed for a club-record fee for an outgoing player. Two others were strongly linked with moves away and we received extremely tempting bids for one of them but managed to repel their interest.

It quickly became clear that Borna Barisic was beginning to agitate for a move away. He was aware of strong interest coming from the Chinese Super League and was keen to experience life in China. ‘What would it take for you to remain here?’ I asked him when we received a 3^rd bid from SIPG of Shanghai that equated to just short of £20million. Zoran Vidovic, his agent, was keen for his man to be allowed to discuss terms and informed us that if we didn’t let Borna do so that it would create a good deal of unhappiness. ‘We’ve got a great chance to pick up all sorts of silverware this season, for you to etch your name amongst a new set of legends, we can discuss a new deal that gives you a pay rise,’ I explained to him. ‘You’re a key man for us and I really don’t want to lose you.’

‘I like Glasgow and I like playing for the club a lot,’ he replied. ‘But I think I want to try different culture in China.’ Zoran then cut in with a figure that Shanghai were prepared to pay his client which made my eyes spin in their sockets. We had no way of matching it, we couldn’t even offer him half of what he could earn in the far east.

‘Well, look, you’re still under contract with us. Give us 24-hours to consider our options and we’ll give you a firm answer tomorrow morning. Okay?’

‘Please, be quick, we want quick resolution,’ Zoran replied. ‘No more than 24-hours please. Thank you.’

I shook hands with both men as did the Director of Football, Ross Wilson, whose office we were in. Once they’d left we sat down and he called for some coffee.

‘Well,’ he began. ‘What are your thoughts?’

I took a moment to collect my thoughts. ‘I think we’re going to have to let him go.’ I said after a minute or so.

‘Go on,’ Ross encouraged.

‘it’s a good deal for us financially, one of our highest earners goes, we received £20million or so in the bank over the next 12-months that we can use to re-invest in some of those areas that we need to strengthen, we don’t have an unhappy player on our hands potentially causing unnecessary disruption in the dressing room.’

‘Agreed,’ he replied. ‘But what about the more immediate problem of filling the gap he leaves?’

‘We’ve had promising initial discussions with West Ham over getting Aaron Hickey in on-loan for the rest of this season, as you know,’ I replied. ‘Letting Borna go would let us seriously pursue that. I know the kid, I know what he would offer us and he knows the system. He’d be an ideal short-term option. Whether we could do anything with them beyond the rest of this season, that remains to be seen.’

‘So, let’s assume that all goes as planned. What about next season when Reza returns to Italy?’

‘What are your thoughts on Alfonzo Pedraza?’ I asked him. ‘You’ve been out to see him in the flesh.’

‘Honestly, if anything he might be an upgrade on Borna, he looks better defensively but would give us plenty to offer going forward as well.’

‘So, we contact Villareal then and tell them we intend to speak to him under the freedom of contract rules.’ I state. ‘It sounds like he’d fall within our price range wages wise, there’d be no fee involved.’

‘Also agreed.’ Ross replied.

‘I’ll leave those two in your capable hands, then’ I told him.

We gave Borna the green light to speak to Shanghai the following morning by which point we were already in advanced negotiations with West Ham over a 6-month loan-deal for Aaron Hickey. By the time Barisic had boarded the plane at Glasgow airport for the far east, Hickey had put pen to paper and the 18-year old full-back, who had so far just made the solitary appearance for the Hammers, was back on board. I was absolutely made up to be working with the kid again and was looking forward to see how he’d developed in the 12-months since I’d last worked with him.

On the 12^th January Borna Barisic was announced by Shanghai to quite a fanfare. Yet, the move didn’t work out as he might have hoped. Due to the strict rules on foreign players which allowed clubs to register no more than 5 foreign players – including those from Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Macau, Borna found himself behind Nicolas Otamendi, Oscar, Marko Arnautovic, Danilo Pereira and Granit Xhaka in the pecking order. 18-months later he found himself still at Shanghai, but transfer listed having not played a single minute of league football. A cautionary tale, if ever there was one.

As one Croatian departed another arrived in his stead. We’d been long looking at Dinamo Zagreb’s attacking midfield Lovro Majer and had managed to negotiate a 6-month loan deal to bring him in to the club, see how he settled in to life at Scotland and with Rangers from the Balkans. If all went well then we’d pick him up on a 3-year deal for £3.5million in a permanent deal. If either party was unhappy with the prospect then we would walk away, no hard feelings. I really liked this deal and was delighted with the way in which Ross had managed to negotiate it. The initial outlay for the first 6-months equated to little more than £150k including our wage contribution and it gave us a good deal of flexibility, room for manoeuvre if required before we spent the relatively hefty outlay of £3.5million in the summer.

He arrived the day before the Scottish Cup tie at Motherwell, trained on the morning before the game and was so keen to play that we named him on the bench.

By then we’d also tied up the deal for Alfonso Pedraza from Villareal who had agreed a 5-year deal beginning on 1^st July, something of a coup for the club since we managed to shake off a little bit of interest from La Liga in sealing the deal. Ross Wilson had certainly earned his corn in those couple of weeks.

Outside of the confirmed transfer news, Joe Aribo was being strongly linked with a move to the likes of AC Milan, however we received no bid and I was quick to refute any speculation to the contrary. The other player who did receive a firm offer was Alfie Morelos who was a target for Benfica and Sevilla. Neither bid matched our valuation of the player who, following our public support in the aftermath of his dismissal against St Mirren, was happy to stay put. In private the conversation had been very different and to be fair to Alf, he’d put his hands up and apologised.

After beating Groningen 3-1 in the friendly which saw goals for Glen Kamara, Ryan Kent and Troy Parrott, it was all sights on opening our Scottish Cup campaign at Motherwell. A fair part of that was to remind the boys of the need to maintain their discipline and put a stop to the flow of red cards that we’d been receiving prior to the new year. Would they listen? Time would tell!

[he_2]

Saturday 16^th January 2021: Motherwell v Glasgow Rangers (Scottish Cup 4^th Round)

Venue: Fir Park

Att: 13,677

Managerial Record v Motherwell: P 7 W 5 D 1 L 1 F 19 A 7

It had only been 3 weeks since our Boxing Day visit to Fir Park to take on Motherwell once again. It was tough to believe that this was the 8^th time in which I’d led a side against ‘Well, but apparently that was the case. I was boosted by the return of a contrite James Tavernier at right-back, whilst Riza Durmisi came in at left-back and Alfie Morelos, not yet banned because of this being a cup match rather than an SPL match, continued up front. Aaron Hickey and Lovro Majer were both introduced onto the bench from the off.

Obviously, I was very keen to do well in the Scottish Cup and we’d been given about the most difficult draw available to us, a trip to Parkhead excepted. Motherwell, keen to get back to winning ways set about us from the first whistle with a keen appetite and failed to let us settle into a rhythm at all. It wasn’t much of a spectacle at all, not helped by the stormy conditions at Fir Park. The hosts were shading things when, just 6 minutes before half-time, a ball into the box from Declan Gallagher was headed away by Joe Aribo. It fell for Glen Kamara who did no more than complete the clearance with a long punt up-field. It bounced and suddenly Alfie Morelos was onto it. Streaking clear and on the angle he got into the penalty area and drove a powerful low effort at goal that was sneaking in at the near post – or would have done had the hitherto unemployed Trevor Carson not been alert enough to dive to his left and make a fine save, firmly pushing the ball wide of the post.

As it happened, had Carson failed to make the save and the ball had ended up in the back of the net, it would have been chalked off as a late flag against Morelos pulled the action back, offside would have chalked the effort off.

HALF TIME: Motherwell 0-0 Glasgow Rangers

I wasn’t happy at the break at all, we’d been so disjointed in our play, it was as though we’d been away from action for two and a half years rather than two and a half weeks. The half-time inquest was longer than usual, the boys were told in no uncertain terms using many words of four letters or thereabouts. I needed to see an awful lot better after the break, from everyone.

Scott Arfield was the unfortunate soul to pay the price for our lamentable performance and I sent on Lovro for his debut. It was a little bit of a lion’s den that I was throwing him into but I didn’t feel there was any harm in just plunging him into the deep end.

Seven minutes after the restart we were still deep in our stupor, David Turnball sent a terrific ball in from the right hand side that found Andy Halliday in absolute acres of space at the far post, thankfully for us Robby McCrorie was alert enough to narrow the angle and made a good block at his near post to keep the effort out. Next to me Gary Mac was barely able to contain his fury and certainly wasn’t mincing his words. In fact, the invective was so blue that the fourth official had to step across and ask him to cool his jets a little since the family enclosure wasn’t a million miles away.

Finally, belatedly, we did rouse ourselves. Better late than never, I suppose. Most pleasingly, my new addition was heavily involved as he received a pass from Tavernier and looking up, swung a lovely ball from right to left delivered perfectly onto the instep of Ryan Kent on the left edge of the penalty area. The winger simply nudged the ball into the path of the express train that was Reza Durmisi and the Dane took a couple of touches to take the ball on before firing a rasping low drive across Carson and into the bottom corner of the net.

1-0, deadlock broken and a huge sigh of relief. I really hoped that would ease us into the game, lift our confidence and begin to get us back to the standards we’d shown before the festive period.

On the hour mark the pendulum swung even more in our favour. James Tavernier was making tracks down the right flank when Motherwell’s substitute, only introduced to the action three minutes before, scythed through the full-back with a tackle every bit as gruesome as Alfie Morelos’ had been in the last game before the break. Nick Walsh ran over to the scene and before he arrived already had the red card in his hand. Up it went, Polworth took his punishment and Motherwell were down to ten.

We did improve – not very much – but we were at least passing the ball with a bit more intent. With 20 minutes remaining Ryan Jack, on for Glen Kamara burst into the penalty area and tried to beat Carson at his near post but was only able to find the side netting and then 10 minutes later Parrott, on for Morelos, met Durmisi’s corner with a bullet header. It was going wide until it thudded off the back of the stunned and unfortunate Liam Donnelly and rebounded into the back of the net.

Fortune was clearly very much in our favour.

Two minutes after going behind, Joe Aribo was off the pitch receiving treatment for a nasty looking knock picked up in a perfectly fair tackle and the home side took full advantage. Simon Murray was released by a clever ball forward by Barry Maguire in behind Goldson. The striker kept his composure as McCrorie came out to narrow the angle and coolly slipped the ball underneath him into the bottom corner of the net to reignite the encounter.

For all of two further minutes.

Ryan Jack received the ball from Kent and looking up, swung a lovely ball out to the right corner of the 18-yard box where James Tavernier was waiting. One touch to control, a second to set himself and with the third he whipped a sizzling strike that fizzed low and true into the bottom corner of the net to restore our 2-goal advantage.

That did kill off the Motherwell challenge and seal our bumpy progress into the last 16 of the competition. I wasn’t especially pleased at the end of the games but was prepared to cut the boys a little slack. A repeat the following week at Aberdeen and things would be slightly messier. We were at least in the hat for the next round which, in cup competitions, is ultimately the name of the game.

FULL TIME: Motherwell 1-3 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Durmisi, Kamara (Jack), Aribo, Arfield (Majer), Kent, Morelos (Parrott), Brewster

[he_2]

Table as at Wednesday 20^th January 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Celtic	22	18	4	0	58	9	58	49
Glasgow Rangers	21	18	3	0	59	10	57	49
Motherwell	23	11	5	7	35	24	38	11
Heart of Midlothian	22	11	4	7	32	31	37	1
Kilmarnock	21	9	5	7	26	27	32	-1
Dundee United	22	6	8	8	23	32	26	-9
Aberdeen	22	7	2	13	23	30	23	-7
Livingston	23	4	9	10	27	39	21	-12
Hibernian	23	4	8	11	22	40	20	-18
St Johnstone	23	5	4	14	16	33	19	-17
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	23	4	6	13	18	39	18	-21
St Mirren	23	2	12	9	18	41	18	-23

 

Tuesday 19^th January

Hibs	0	0	Inverness
Livingston	2	2	St Mirren
St Johnstone	2	0	Motherwell

 

Wednesday 20^th January

Hearts	1	0	Aberdeen
Kilmarnock	1	3	Celtic

[he_2]

Saturday 23^rd January 2020: Aberdeen v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)

Venue: Pittodrie

Att: 20,961

Managerial Record v Aberdeen: P 7 W 4 D 1 L 2 F 16 A 8

Managerial Record at Pittodrie: P 4 W 1 D 1 L 2 F 7 A 7

Our league campaign returned with a trip to the east coast to visit an Aberdeen side that could best be described as resurgent. Since taking over, Gordon Strachan had weaved his wee magic to guide the Dons to three straight wins. Four if you included the impressive 3-1 success at Heerenveen in a friendly. St Mirren, Dundee United and Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup had been dismissed with a fair degree of comfort. That run had come to a shuddering halt in midweek as they went down 1-0 at Hearts, but I had a feeling that this was going to be a very different prospect from the one we came up against at Hampden back in December.

Those midweek fixtures, which saw everyone except ourselves and Dundee United play, saw us relinquish top spot thanks to Celtic’s 3-1 win at Kilmarnock. That left us a point behind the Bhoys but with a game in hand which would follow at some point. Everything was still very much within our own destiny and I was far from concerned. All we had to do was concentrate on ourselves, not worry about what Celtic were up to.

We should, in theory, have been fresher than our opponents who had been in midweek action. Aaron Hickey came in for Reza Durmisi for his Rangers debut, Ryan Jack replaced Glen Kamara alongside Joe Aribo and Troy Parrott came in for the suspended Alfie Morelos, three changes from the side that had rather leaden footedly made their way through the Scottish Cup tie at Motherwell and that I hoped would provide us with a little more zest than we’d shown for most of that game.

The difference in confidence amongst the Aberdeen players was clear to see from the get-go. They were snapping into tackles, buzzing around with a higher press and looking to make things happen rather than hoping they might. Players were talking to each-other, full of encouragement, there was an extra 5 or 10% in their attitudes. Although early days the change at the helm seemed to have done them the world of good.

It was also pretty good for my boys as well, they quickly realised they had to be on their mettle from early on. A long ball forward by Helander beat the high press and offside trap releasing Ryan Kent in on goal. The winger, so often precise with his finish, this time went to try and beat Joe Lewis at the goalkeeper’s near post. The former Peterborough man wasn’t deceived though and made a good block to push the ball wide for a corner kick.

The contest was extremely absorbing, both teams giving as good as they were getting. In the 18^th minute lovely interplay involving Sam Cosgrove, Luca De La Torre and Lewis Ferguson saw De La Torre receive the ball from Cosgrove and spotting the run in behind from deep by Ferguson, slipped the ball through. The midfielder with only Robby McCrorie to beat fairly smashed the ball past him and into the top corner of the net. Pittodrie burst into raptures and for a moment my boys looked shell-shocked. The delight was clear to see on Strachan’s face across the way and understandably so, it was hard not to admire the quality of the move that had given his side the lead.

We needed to find a reaction from somewhere.

They dusted themselves down and went again, Aberdeen obviously buoyed by holding the advantage pressed even more sharply, snapping at ankles tigerishly and with tenacity. On 25 minutes Aaron Hickey played a one-two with Kent and sent in a waspishly dangerous cross that was begging for a touch. There was no-one there to apply it so when it reached Tavernier he unleashed a powerful strike that Lewis did brilliantly to save at full length. Troy Parrott reacted quickly to keep the ball alive on the by-line and knocked it back to Tavernier who this time delivered a cross of his own. It was a little too far in front of Scott Arfield and behind Rhian Brewster, however Kent peeled off the far post back out of the 6-yard box and met it first time on the half volley. The early strike beat Lewis who was perhaps a shade late getting down and the ball found its way into the bottom corner of the net for the equaliser.

‘Get in!’ I shouted, uncharacteristically leaping out of the dugout punching the air more out of relief than delight. Back on terms pretty quickly was really important. The longer we were behind the tougher our task would become.

The game remained open and entertaining, although we began to look the more dangerous and likely to add to our advantage. Hickey went past Shay Logan and delivered a low cross into the near post. Kent, unable to get a shot away this time, instead turned it across the penalty area where it was met left-footed by Parrott first time. The effort was blocked by the brave Andrew Considine and broke for a corner kick.

A couple of minutes later and a break initiated by Aribo saw Brewster win a header on the halfway line, it fell nicely for Parrott who took a couple of touches to drift inside and then slip a nice reverse return into the path of Brewster who had broken clear of Considine. A couple of red shirts did manage to come across to cover and force the Liverpool man slightly wider than he’d have liked meaning that when he did get a shot away from just inside the penalty area it drifted a yard or so wide of Lewis’ left hand upright.

HALF TIME: Aberdeen 1-1 Glasgow Rangers

It was delicately poised at the break, I was infinitely happier than I had been the week before though. Aberdeen were providing us with a far sterner test than Motherwell had and we were 100 times better than we’d been. ‘Next goal is going to be absolutely crucial,’ I said, stating the blindingly obvious. ‘Your intensity’s been good, the tempo’s been good, I just want a little more of a clinical edge in front of goal. You’ve shaded that first period,’ I lied, ‘and if you get the second goal then that’s going to be a huge test of their newly found confidence. Aaron,’ I turned my attention to my debutant, ‘don’t be afraid to push on more after the break. Remember when you were at Hearts and we had Glenn to cover if you pushed on?’ The youngster nodded. ‘Ryan or Joe will do that here, you have the same licence to get on here as you did then. I know it’s probably a little different to what West Ham want out of you, but I know you’ve got it in your locker, don’t be afraid to take a few calculated risks.’

Within 10 minutes of the restart, a period in which the pattern of the first half had resurfaced, momentum started to shift in our favour. A lovely flowing move that began with a goal-kick, involving 7 passes between half a dozen players ended with Tavernier sweeping the ball left into the path of Kent who found himself clear on goal. Again, he tried to beat Lewis at the near post and very nearly did trick the goalkeeper, however he got down and just managed to block the effort. Following up though was Troy Parrott and he gleefully slid the loose ball into the empty net to give us the advantage for the first time.

‘Now we’ll see what they’re made of,’ I murmured to Gary next to me as we were encouraging the boys to keep going.

A corner from Kent was headed wide by Brewster when he should probably have hit the target since he got a clear leap and run at the ball and then at the midway point of the second period Tavernier’s free-kick was met by the head of Goldson. The ball was headed narrowly wide so Kent, arriving late, stabbed the ball home at the far post and wheeled away to celebrate his second of the afternoon. A swift shrill of the referee’s whistle cut short the celebrations, the linesman had his flag raised, Kent having strayed offside as Goldson won the initial header.

The game entered the final quarter of an hour, Glen Kamara and Nat Young-Coombes had come on to inject some fresh legs into our efforts and sleet began to fall heaving. Kamara drifted inside and across halfway showing an impressive burst of pace. His through ball for Parrott looked to have been slightly overhit but the striker did extraordinarily well to manage to not only latch onto it, but also find the gap at Lewis’ near post from an absurdly tight angle to squeeze the ball beyond the stunned goalkeeper and into the net to give us the welcome cushion of a 2-goal advantage.

A real piece of instinctive goal-poaching by the on-loan Tottenham man who had absolutely taken the chance afforded him by Morelos’ suspension with both hands.

The value of the two-goal cushion was illustrated with just ten minutes remaining when after an excellent spell of possession, Mikkel Kirkeskov, Aberdeen’s Danish left-back who had come on as a substitute, delivered a cross into the far post. On reflection, Robby McCrorie should probably have come out to claim the centre, since he wasn’t under any pressure. Instead he left it to Filip Helander whose headed clearance fell for his fellow substitute Connor McLennan, 12-yards out, to thump an unstoppable first-time volley into the top corner of the net to reduce the arrears and revive the flagging home support for the closing stages.

This time it had been a defensive error that had given the goal away but the execution from the Aberdeen man had to be applauded. Simply outstanding.

We had to withstand a great deal of pressure from the home side in those final ten minutes. The back four were being pushed back and forced to defend the 18-yard line with the advanced midfield being pinned back and Rhian Brewster forced to drop deeper than usual to try and hold the ball up. Our shape, although much deeper than I wanted – I spent a lot of energy imploring the boys to defend higher up the pitch – was good and we didn’t give much away.

With just over a minute of the 90 remaining we managed to break forward in number as the home side overcommitted, Durmisi found Young-Coombes who cut the ball back for Aribo. His shot was blocked but the rebound fell for Kamara. Showing outstanding levels of awareness and calm, the Finn simply backheeled the ball back into the path of Aribo who this time fired home left footed from 10-yards into the corner of the net to restore our 2-goal lead and clinch those crucial three points.

Once again relief prompted me to catapult myself out of the dugout to attack the air with a combination of jabs and uppercuts.

We managed to see things out without further peril to the final whistle at which point I was straight across to Gordon before acknowledging our fans. ‘I tell you what, Gordon, we’ve not had a test like this in a good while. The difference you’ve made is immense.’

‘Ach, we’ve a lot of work to do,’ he replied, looking back at the pitch and his players who were forlornly shaking hands with their opponents and trudging off. ‘But thanks, I appreciate that.’

I made sure before they came in that the boys headed towards the sea of blue behind the goal we’d been defending in the second half and gave the fans a really good clap.

It had been a much-improved performance, an excellent result and a very good day indeed.

FULL TIME: Aberdeen 2-4 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob McCrorie, Tavernier (Durmisi), Goldson, Helander, Hickey, Aribo, Jack (Kamara), Arfield, Kent (Young-Coombes), Parrott, Brewster

 

 

[he_2]

Table as at Sunday 24^th January 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Celtic	23	19	4	0	59	9	61	50
Glasgow Rangers	22	19	3	0	63	12	60	51
Motherwell	24	11	5	8	35	27	38	8
Heart of Midlothian	23	11	5	7	33	32	38	1
Kilmarnock	22	10	5	7	29	27	35	2
Dundee United	23	7	8	8	24	32	29	-8
Aberdeen	23	7	2	14	25	34	23	-9
Livingston	24	4	10	10	28	40	22	-12
St Mirren	24	3	12	9	20	41	21	-21
Hibernian	24	4	8	12	22	41	20	-19
St Johnstone	24	5	4	15	16	35	19	-19
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	24	4	6	14	18	40	18	-22

 

Friday 22^nd January

Inverness

0

1

Dundee Utd

 

Saturday 23^rd January

Aberdeen	2	4	Rangers
Celtic	1	0	Hibs
Hearts	1	1	Livingtson
St Mirren	2	0	St Johnstone

 

Sunday 24^th January

Motherwell

0

3

Kilmarnock

 

[he_2]

Tuesday 26^th January 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Heart of Midlothian (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 50,817

Managerial Record v Heart of Midlothian: P 2 W 2 D 0 L 0 F 5 A 1

Our game in hand on Celtic came in the shape of a home game against 4^th placed Hearts on a cold January Tuesday evening. I shuffled things around a little once again with Reza Durmisi returning at left-back in place of Aaron Hickey who dropped to the bench for the game against his old side, the other change to the starting line-up saw Lovro Majer make his league debut and first start for the club in place of Scott Arfield. Alfie Morelos, somehow banned for just the one match, returned the bench with Troy Parrott and Rhian Brewster retaining their places up front.

We all knew what a win meant for our season, I didn’t need to say too much about the importance of grabbing three points. Even though a point would still take us above the Bhoys on goal difference I really wanted us to pile the pressure on them. The more we were able to heap the pressure on them the less we’d find ourselves under.

I thought we coped with pressure quite well, but the opening stages saw us showing all sorts of nerves. Five minutes in and after a silly challenge by Connor Goldson for which he picked up an early booking, Glenn Whelan’s free kick was horribly fumbled by Robby McCrorie and there was Jamie Walker to snaffle up the rebound to put the visitors ahead. Mercifully for us, and correctly, the assistant had seen that the attacking midfielder was a yard offside when Whelan struck the original effort at goal and his flag ruled the goal out.

It took ten or so minutes before we found any sort of rhythm. Reza Durmisi swung a free kick into the danger area from wide on the left where it was met by the towering head of Connor Goldson, outjumping a couple of black shirts to send his header skimming over the roof of the net.

Most of the rest of the first half was a turgid semi-spiteful affair with five cautions shared between the two sides. The best opportunity otherwise fell to the visitors just prior to half-time. Some good build-up saw Philip Heise glide forward and then send a neat ball through for Andy McDonald. The young winger’s movement had completely outfoxed Filip Helander and Durmisi who rather got in each-other’s way. Electing to shoot left footed he sent a powerful effort narrowly wide of McCrorie’s left-hand post.

Had it gone in and given David Moyes’ outfit a half-time advantage we wouldn’t have been able to argue too much.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 0-0 Heart of Midlothian

So, rather than argue with the score-line at the break I chose to do so instead with my players. ‘That, boys, was insipid sh*e, absolutely horrible to watch. Error-ridden nonsense. I tell you what, if you can’t hack the pressure that comes with leading the division then just let me know and we can shift you on. Maybe what happened last year wasn’t a one-off, maybe you can’t cope with the expectation. That’s okay, boys, really it is. If that’s the case we still have a few days and can fire you off to a second-rate club somewhere before the window shuts, just let me know.’

I removed Ryan Jack who had picked up some ligament damage just before the break and replaced him with Glen Kamara who had provided us with plenty of fire and zest in midfield. ‘Move the ball quickly, Kammy,’ I instructed him. ‘Stay close with Joe, get those combinations firing nice and early and we can begin to pick them off. Okay?’

‘Got it, boss.’

‘Good lad. Right, boys. Let’s not piddle this opportunity away. Sharper, quicker, get the ball wider and for the love of god, get those three points.’ I said by way of more gentle encouragement as the buzzer went ahead of the second period.

The restart was even more slovenly than what had gone before.

From our kick-off the ball got worked to Ryan Kent. Reza Durmisi went hacking forward on an early overlap as Kent was dispossessed by Tariq Lamptey. It fell for McDonald who from a couple of yards inside his own half went on a lung-busting run into the space vacated by Durmisi. Helander, rather than going to the ball and letting Goldson deal with the supporting Connor Washington, instead tried to track the run of the visitor’s striker allowing McDonald all the space in the world to advance into. Once he’d gotten into the penalty area he had the perfect angle for a shot at goal which he drove across McCrorie and agonisingly wide of the far upright.

By the time Heise had picked out the run of Washington in behind the centre-halves, the Hearts striker forcing a good save at his near post from McCrorie firstly and then from the corner fired a shot at goal after a poor headed clearance that required another fine save, my patience had run out. So had that of the supporters, the natives were becoming increasingly restless. I had to act. Off came Lovro Majer and Troy Parrott, on went Scott Arfield and Alfie Morelos. I needed something to change and really hoped one of these two could provide me with the wit, the guile and the spark to inspire us.

Within five minutes of the changes a cross from Durmisi was headed clear as Glen Kamara challenged for the ball. It fell at the edge of the box at the feet of Arfield. He had the opportunity to shoot, he also had the awareness to spot Morelos to his right and chose to lay the ball into the path of his fellow substitute. One touch and then whack! Morelos, rejuvenated from having sat out the game against Aberdeen, fired the ball beyond Daniel and into the back of the net to break the deadlock, completely against the run of play.

Wow, I’ve talked about breathing a sigh of relief plenty in these pages but my lord, nothing quite matched the roar that greeted this goal. A heck of a lot of angst suddenly lifted from the players, from me, from the supporters and the atmosphere felt infinitely lighter.

Eight minutes later and with the shackles off, Tavernier and Morelos exchanged passes down the right which saw Morelos played in. With four to aim for in the middle of the box, Morelos now oozing confidence struck an effort that beat Daniel at his near post and fizzed into the back of the net to suddenly extend our lead and, most likely, seal the three points.

The change had paid dividends.

Washington was denied with five minutes to go when he once again latched onto a fine ball by the influential Heise and saw his delicate chip over McCrorie clip the top of the bar on its way over the top and with two minutes remaining Brewster should have done a lot better when Kent’s cross from the right saw him with the whole goal to aim at. He rushed his shot and fired straight at Daniel.

Had he made it 3-0 that would have been rubbing Hearts’ noses in it, for an hour we’d been completely second best yet, coming away with what looked like a comfortable win on the face of it made me think for the first time that actually, we were probably quite a good side. Obviously, I knew we were a good side – 23 league matches undefeated was testament to that, but I meant in the ability to grind out something out of nowhere, having enough quality about the squad to find a spark from somewhere to make the difference in those games that we were struggling to make an impact in. Fine marginal gains from fine players. That was what counted.

I’d asked for three points and the boys had delivered so once again, in spite of the obvious deficiencies in performance, I once again took the result, gave the lads a day off and set our sights for the visit of strugglers St Johnstone at the weekend.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 2-0 Heart of Midlothian

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Durmisi, Jack (Kamara), Aribo, Majer (Arfield), Kent, Brewster, Parrott (Morleos)

[he_2]

Table as at Tuesday 26^th January 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	23	20	3	0	65	12	63	53
Glasgow Celtic	23	19	4	0	59	9	61	50
Motherwell	24	11	5	8	35	27	38	8
Heart of Midlothian	24	11	5	8	33	34	38	-1
Kilmarnock	22	10	5	7	29	27	35	2
Dundee United	23	7	8	8	24	32	29	-8
Aberdeen	24	7	3	14	25	34	24	-9
Livingston	24	4	10	10	28	40	22	-12
Hibernian	25	4	9	12	22	41	21	-19
St Mirren	24	3	12	9	20	41	21	-21
St Johnstone	24	5	4	15	16	35	19	-19
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	24	4	6	14	18	40	18	-22

 

Tuesday 26^th January

Hibs	0	0	Aberdeen
Rangers	2	0	Hearts

[he_2]

Saturday 30^th January 2021: Glasgow Rangers v St Johnstone (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 48,766

Managerial Record v St Johnstone: P 6 W 5 D 1 L 0 F 16 A 6

We weren’t quite at the business end of the season yet, but in the run-up to the game with struggling St Johnstone it felt as though we were approaching a crucial juncture in the campaign. Were we to win, with Celtic not playing until the following day, a visit to Inverness, we’d find ourselves five points clear of them with 14 games remaining. Clearly, this was far from a decisive advantage but if it was us that found ourselves five points behind with a game in-hand, I’d strongly feel as though whoever it was above us had a fairly substantial psychological advantage.

It was all change at McDiarmud Park with long-serving Tommy Wright having been given his marching orders in mid-December after 7½ years service at the club. Derek Adams, after more than 5 years south of the border, left his post as boss at Morecambe to take over – actually signing his deal on Christmas Day, believe it or not – and leading his charges to that 0-0 draw at Celtic that handed the title impetus to us. Since then, he’d also seen his side beat Motherwell but also lose crucial league matches against fellow strugglers Inverness and St Mirren as well as seeing his old club Ross County knock the Saints out of the Scottish Cup.

Regardless of those reverses, their results against Celtic and Motherwell had sharply kept what was required from us in focus. I took a lot of time to think about the team selection and chose, once again, to shuffle the pack. Taking advantage of Aaron Hickey’s ability to play off either foot he came in for James Tavernier at right-back whilst Glen Kamara returned in place of the injured Ryan Jack in midfield. Lovro Majer had picked up a knock in training so wasn’t risked and Nat Young-Coombes came in as did Jordan Jones for a rare start with Ryan Kent taking a rest. Up front I went with the two lads who had looked most in-form since the restart with Alfie Morelos back in the starting line-up in place of Rhian Brewster, who dropped to the bench.

For the opposition there was a really interesting addition from the previous time we’d played against St Johnstone as they included winger D’Margio Wright-Phillips, son of former Man City and England winger Shaun and grandson, believe it or not, of Ian Wright, no less. The 19-year old was also at Manchester City and had made his first steps into first-team football by taking a 6-month loan deal at McDiarmud Park with St Johnstone. He’d earned some rave reviews in his early showings for the club and was one we’d need to keep an eye on.

There was still an absolute bucket load of press speculation with less than 36-hours remaining of the transfer window over the futures of Joe Aribo and Alfie Morelos. There was nothing doing with either player, both had assured me they were committed to the club for the long-haul yet it was increasingly irritating to have all that noise in the background, having to refute the same old questions time after time.

Outside, it was another thoroughly filthy Glaswegian winter’s afternoon with never-ending rain sheeting across the stadium. The early running was largely made by the visitors but it was Alfie Morelos who fashioned the first goalscoring opportunity of the afternoon when he seized on a slip by Jason Kerr, worked himself space for an effort at goal but got it all wrong as he tried to guide it into the far corner with the outside of his boot but succeeded only in firing quite a way wide.

That settled things down a little and we began to stroke the ball around nicely. On 24 minutes Filip Helander won a header and then fed the ball first time forward for Jordan Jones to pick up deep. With Reza Durmisi on the overlap he played the ball wide for the full-back in acres of space and as he attacked the edge of the penalty box, looked to go beyond Anthony Ralston towards the by-line. The defender mistimed his challenge and the Dane went down. Penalty given immediately and this time it was Troy Parrott who took the responsibility upon his shoulders.

He stepped up confidently and firmly side-footed the ball past Zander Clark and into the bottom corner of the net to break the deadlock.

A quarter of an hour later and just five minutes before the break Ali McCann got his head to Durmisi’s corner kick. The clearance only went as far as Glen Kamara, who slammed his effort against McCann first time yet the ball broke kindly this time for Morelos who guided the ball into the back of the net from close range with an instinctive poacher’s finish.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 2-0 St Johnstone

That goal gave us a comfortable half-time advantage and led to a relaxed, but focused atmosphere at the break. With a blank midweek ahead as well before we returned to Scottish Cup action a week later, I felt as though the boys knew what was needing to be done.

After the break, that focus showed as Glen Kamara showed enormous intent in winning the ball back after being dispossessed immediately after the restart and found Durmisi, who surged down the left to the by-line. Although his cross was well claimed by Clark, the tone had been set.

Kamara again was involved when he forced a mistake from McCann, the visiting midfielder giving the ball away to Parrott some 30-yards or so from goal. With space to turn into, Parrott took the ball on, switched it onto his right foot and from about 15-yards out expertly slid his effort around Clark and into the bottom corner of the net to make it 3-0.

It was a superb start to the second period and we were 3-goals to the good without ever really getting out of 2^nd gear. Parrott now found himself on 9 goals for the campaign, these having come in just 13 starts, and life felt good.

I say that, of course, as the boss of a side about to go 5 points clear at the top of the table. Across the way, things were not so rosy for Derek Adams and his merry men, the life and joy having rather been sucked out of them.

Indeed, much of the second half was a little bit of a non-event. The points were pretty secure, St Johnstone were offering very little and there was little more than a background hum going around the arena amongst the supporters. That was until the 65^th minute when Stevie May latched onto a long ball forward and swung the ball left for Matty Kennedy, who had come inside off the left flank.

He drifted inside Tavernier and let fly from distance, the ball coming off the leg of Goldson and rebounding into the path of May. Looking up and seeing Robby McCrorie out of position, trying to cover that first strike, he hit a scorching strike from full 25-yards first time as the ball ran across him that flew like a tracer bullet no more than a couple of inches off the turf and into the bottom corner of the net.

It was by far an away the best goal of the contest and for a while reignited the match. St Johnstone pushed forward, the blue-shirts were forced to defend well.

10-minutes after finding ourselves pegged back, Aaron Hickey picked up possession deep in the left-back area. He set a long-ball of his own forward for Jordan Jones, who neatly took it down and then glided past his marker. A neat ball inside found Parrott in plenty of space and the young Irishman thumped the ball first time left-footed home to complete his hat-trick. Or so he thought. The assistant on the nearside raised his flag and as Parrott was still deep in celebration by the corner flag, Zander Clark was readying himself to take the free kick.

The young Irishman to his credit didn’t let his disappointment overwhelm him. From the free-kick, he exchanged a one-two with Nat Young-Coombes and sent the attacking midfielder scampering in on goal. Lacking a little of the assuredness of his team-mate, the former Palace and Chelsea youngster did hit the target but Clark was able to make a fine save, pushing the ball over the bar to maintain the 2-goal deficit.

The final 15-minutes passed without too much incident and we were able to reflect on a job well done back in the dressing room after the game. We’d won without too many issues, had no injuries and most importantly had absolutely pelted the pressure onto Celtic by moving 5 points clear. Their game in hand now against Inverness was pretty much an absolute must-win as was their next visit to Ibrox, assuming we didn’t drop any points in the meantime, in just three weeks.

With the transfer window closing the following day and one or two loose ends to tie up with some of the younger lads moving on, I would be at work. Everyone else would be able to enjoy a quiet day off before we settled down to look ahead to the last-16 of the Scottish Cup.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 3-1 St Johnstone

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Hickey, Goldson, Helander, Durmisi (Tavernier), Kamara, Aribo (Ross.McCrorie), Young-Coombes, Jones, Morelos, Parrott.

[he_2]

Table as at Saturday 30^th January 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	24	21	3	0	68	13	66	55
Glasgow Celtic	24	19	5	0	60	10	62	50
Motherwell	25	11	6	8	36	28	39	8
Heart of Midlothian	25	11	6	8	34	35	39	-1
Kilmarnock	23	10	6	7	30	28	36	2
Dundee United	24	7	8	9	24	34	29	-10
Livingston	25	5	10	10	31	41	25	-10
Aberdeen	25	7	3	15	26	37	24	-11
St Mirren	25	4	12	9	22	41	24	-19
Hibernian	26	4	10	12	23	42	22	-19
St Johnstone	25	5	4	16	17	38	19	-21
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	25	4	7	14	19	41	19	-22

 

Friday 29^th January

Aberdeen

1

3

Livingston

 

Saturday 30^th January

Hearts	1	1	Kilmarnock
Motherwell	1	1	Hibs
Rangers	3	1	St Johnstone
St Mirren	2	0	Dundee Utd

 

Sunday 31^st January

Inverness

1

1

Celtic

[he_2]

It wasn’t easy to keep minds on the impending Scottish Cup tie during the week. There were four league matches being played in midweek, one of which saw Celtic take on Aberdeen. Very keen to make up for being held by bottom of the table Inverness Caley Thistle, Neil Lennon’s boys put on a thrilling show against their old manager Gordon Strachan’s new club, winning the game 5-0.

That moved them back to within a point of us, however we were now the side with a game in hand. Being ahead having played a game less was still an extremely strong position in which to find ourselves, of course, and although it was too early to suggest that our Old Firm meeting just before my birthday would prove to be a title decider, a win for either side there would either blow the title race wide open once again or, at the very least, tighten our grip on the likely destination of the trophy.

One bonus of this week was the lack of transfer speculation. Even Leah, who I met up with for dinner on the Wednesday evening to avoid watching the Celtic match (no, we weren’t back ‘on’!) said that life at Sky Sports was very different compared to what it had been like the week before. ‘So much less of those pompous in the know type bells who just have to keep making stuff up to try and remain relevant.’ She told me.

Over the previous couple of months we had seen quite a bit of each-other but agreed to keep things platonic, at least for the time being. What had occurred between us, for whatever reason, hadn’t been a pleasant time for either of us. It was good for me to have a social life once again outside the pressure cooker of Ibrox Park and even though an inordinate amount of our time was taken up with talking about football, it was a very different and more relaxed way of doing so than at work where every detail of every conversation was set towards a certain aim and to try and bring about some sort of gain whether marginal or grand, financial or performance-wise. Sometimes that environment could be relentlessly draining, particularly after thirteen competitive matches in a spell of just nine weeks.

Away from the training pitch and preparation, conversations remained ongoing with the recruitment team about what we wanted ahead of the following season. We were looking at contract renewals for key players, evolving the list of targets – adding and removing players, finding others to monitor. Some with next season in mind, others looking two, three and even four years ahead.

There were meetings with Craig Mullholland, the club’s head of youth development to get a little more gen and info on players that were coming through the ranks, one or two of those who were out on loan such as Kai Kennedy and Stephen Kelly, both of whom it was felt could make an impact of some kind on the first-team the following season. We discussed others who might be available if needed between now and the end of the season if injuries began to bite during the run-in. There were one or two who could step in if required and two or three others who we’d look to send out on-loan to gain some experience of first-team football in the summer.

Bringing players through was something I was very keen to try and promote. Whether or not that was partly down to my own tender years was up for discussion but from early on, there was something really enjoyable about giving a youngster their first steps in first-team football and watching them flourish. It’s not something I’d done as much as I’d have liked at Hearts. Jay Charleston-King made a real impact towards the end of the season and had I remained at Tynecastle, I’d have looked to have pushed him on. Harry Cochrane was the other lad who I probably should have blooded but didn’t and he’d impressed this term with the chances he’d been handed by David Moyes.

This season I could point to Nathan Young-Coombes as a kid I’d identified in the age-group sides as one to try and bring through. He was quick, determined and had a silken first touch for someone who had just turned 18. Up to the end of January he’d made 11 appearances, just over half of which had been starts, and hadn’t looked at all out of place when given the opportunity. His goal in the League Cup final against Aberdeen had been a wonderful moment and with the right handling, the kid had a really big future at the club. It was probably a little bit of a misnomer to suggest he was ‘home-grown’ since he’d signed from Chelsea and had spent most of his formative years at Crystal Palace, however we certainly were able to take credit for giving him his first taste of first-team football and he was taking to that like a duck to a pancake.

Away from Ibrox there were plenty of commitments within the community for the boys and myself, just as there was every week. Visits to schools and community outreach projects, a weekly visit to the children’s ward at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, to supporters club Q&As in local pubs or working men’s clubs, to a couple of affiliated youth football clubs. I always enjoyed getting out and about and meeting fans, it helped to break the bubble that could quickly consume you when you were constantly thinking about football and to keep you grounded. Occasionally there was some light and good-natured banter from Celtic supporters who you might have come across. Not once did that ever overstep the mark.

All of that helped to bring matches around nice and quickly, to make the weeks roll by and always keep action at the forefront of one’s mind. Whilst, after the St Johnstone match, the Scottish Cup tie against Hibs felt a long way off, before I knew it, it was matchday at Ibrox once again.

[he_2]

Table as at Wednesday 3^rd February 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	24	21	3	0	68	13	66	55
Glasgow Celtic	25	20	5	0	65	10	65	55
Motherwell	26	11	6	9	37	30	39	7
Kilmarnock	24	11	6	7	32	28	39	4
Heart of Midlothian	25	11	6	8	34	35	39	-1
Dundee United	25	8	8	9	26	35	32	-9
Livingston	26	5	10	11	32	45	25	-13
Aberdeen	26	7	3	16	26	42	24	-16
St Mirren	26	4	12	10	22	43	24	-21
St Johnstone	26	6	4	16	21	39	22	-18
Hibernian	26	4	10	12	23	42	22	-19
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	25	4	7	14	19	41	19	-22

 

Tuesday 2^nd February

Dundee Utd	2	1	Motherwell
St Johnstone	4	1	Livingston

 

Wednesday 3^rd February

Celtic	5	0	Aberdeen
Kilmarnock	2	0	St Mirren

[he_2]

Saturday 6^th February 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Hibernian (Scottish Cup 5^th Round)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 50,817

Managerial Record v Hibernian: P 7 W 4 D 2 L 1 F 18 A 7

The last-16 of the Scottish Cup had seen us matched with the same opponents that had knocked me and Hearts out the year before. That game had gone to a replay before Hibs had done for us, even though we’d been the favourites and although now with Rangers we once again carried that mantel, I was not counting my chickens. Our cup form had seen us produce a number of patchy performances with results very much usurping style, with the exception of the League Cup final and I felt as though this tie was ripe for a potential upset.

What looked like Hibs’ early renaissance under Paul Lambert looked to have come to something of a stuttering halt in the league. Three draws and a defeat since the new year may have signalled steady progress, but only a single goal scored in those four matches pointed to rather wider issues. Indeed, they’d only managed to score four goals in their previous 7 league matches so, even though defensively they were a lot sounder than they’d been when we last met and hammered them 4-0, without getting more goals at the other end they were going to continue to find life tough and remain in the relegation dogfight.

I reverted to a more familiar and regular starting line-up with the only change from the side that had gotten to this stage against Motherwell being up front where Troy Parrott retained his place ahead of Rhian Brewster, who remained on the bench.

We had to weather an early storm from the visitors who began like a runaway express. Stevie Mallan swung in a free kick from the left that Nicklas Bendtner met with a thumping header. Robby McCrorie was well beaten but the ball thudded down off the woodwork and thankfully the rebound came to nothing. A real let-off and one that we took full advantage of a few minutes later.

Reza Durmisi sent in a ball from the left flank that Troy Parrott helped on for Ryan Kent. The winger saw his way to goal blocked off and as the ball fell back to Parrott, he unleashed a powerful effort at goal. Ofir Marciano at full stretch made a fine save, pawing the ball away with his right hand but there waiting and following up was Alfie Morelos who did well to adjust his body shape and turn the loose ball into the net to give us the early advantage.

That settled whatever nerves were floating around somewhat, particularly after the early scare, and Scott Arfield did well to collect a loose clearance on the quarter of an hour mark before taking the long route round the edge of the box to find an angle for a shot at goal but just missing the target with his powerful effort from just inside the area.

Then, the former Burnley man linked up well with James Tavernier to send the right-back scampering forward down the right flank. His ball into the box found the late arriving Glen Kamara and although he did well to direct his header on target, Marciano was able to make a good save to his left, the effort lacking a little bit of power.

It was proving to be quite an open affair with Hibs fully committed to attacking themselves. A fine move down their right flank saw the ball worked forward for Mallan, so often a thorn in my side when I was in Edinburgh. A neat first touch took Filip Helander out of the equation and as he reached the penalty area looked to beat McCrorie with an early snap-shot only to find the side netting the wrong side of the post from his point of view.

At the other end, a little spell of head tennis after a cross from Joe Aribo ended with Kamara firmly heading his effort into the midriff of Marciano who did well to hold on with Parrott sniffing around for any fumble or rebound, firmly snaffling out any danger before Parrott was played in moments later by a slick pass from Morelos and inexplicably, especially for a man in such form, screwed his shot a couple of yards wide of the post from no more than 8-yards out when it looked easier to at least have hit the target.

Ryan Kent added to the catalogue of missed opportunities at both ends when, ten minutes before the break he met a Durmisi corner unmarked at the near post and headed badly over the top when again, he should have hit the target and we were very nearly made to pay when Stevie Mallan curled a peach of a free-kick from 25-yards that again beat McCrorie all ends up but again, not the woodwork. It hit the angle of post and bar before bouncing just behind for a goal-kick.

A minute later and from our own corner we spent so much time fannying around that Hibs took things into their own hands and broke with pace and purpose. The ball was worked to Daryl Horgan who twisted, turned and tied Tavernier into knots before drifting past him and finding himself with only McCrorie to beat. He did that, but agonisingly also beat the post by a matter of inches with a dinked finish and the ball went just wide of the upright.

Confidence was flooding through the visitors, they were hassling and harrying us and forcing mistakes. The next was from Tavernier who was dispossessed by Horgan in a dangerous area. Fine build-up involving Bendtner and the winger saw Jakub Wolksi played in, only a quite brilliant covering challenge by Helander denied the Pole a clear shot at goal.

On the stroke of the interval we retorted with a decent move of our own, building up down the left-flank with Durmisi and Parrott working well before finding Kent. As he always did he cut inside onto that dangerous right foot and looked to place the ball in the bottom corner of the net. His effort was too close to Marciano though and the goalkeeper made another good save, once again holding on with Morelos sniffing around.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 1-0 Hibernian

Somehow, we’d gone into the break ahead in what was proving to be another devilishly tricky cup tie. It should probably have been about 3-3 yet, although we hadn’t been particularly good defensively I wasn’t too unhappy with the overall performance. The intensity had been good and we had attacked with a fair amount of vigour and intent. Hibs had put a lot into their first half performance and deserved huge amounts of credit for pushing us all the way.

So the half-time chat was conducted in a calm, grown up manner with players having their say and us coaching staff having ours. It was felt that the second goal was absolutely crucial since, in Tav’s words ‘That Horgan lad is running on mustard tonight’ and Connor Goldson stated that ‘trying to mark Bendtner is like trying to staple butter’ so we’d be looking to grab that with an all-out assault from the restart.

Within 90 seconds of that resumption and with our first attack a purposeful run from Aribo, finding space deep and receiving the ball from Tavernier, saw him surge towards the edge of the box, cut onto his left-foot and fire a powerful effort at goal. It was fairly central and Marciano did well to push the ball over the crossbar where either side of him would have caused him rather more issues. Still, it was another good save from the Hibs keeper.

For the next 25 minutes or so we poured everything forward yet were met with a stubborn green wall. Then, when an attack was repelled rather than just hoicking the ball forward aimlessly and letting us begin again, Hibs would break in numbers and with purpose, stretching us defensively and giving us a severe test. It was such a good watch, even from my point of view with a vested and increasingly nervy interest.

With 20 minutes to go Lucas Boye carried the ball forward from deep inside his own half and lacking support had the confidence to go it alone. It was a shame for the game, almost, that when he got his shot away he lost his balance and it ended up going well wide, since it would have graced the encounter perfectly.

Finally, with the 85^th minute halfway done, Ryan Kent swung a corner in from the left-wing and Glen Kamara continued his excellent form by getting the run on his marker and meeting the cross with a terrific thumping header that rocketed past Marciano and into the bottom corner of the net. 2-0 with only a few minutes remaining, such a crucial goal and such a crucial time to score it. Waves of relief swept through Ibrox and there were Hibs heads in Hibs hands. It had been tough on them, absolutely, but again that little bit of extra quality that we were able to call upon had come to the surface.

A crucial goal indeed!

Two minutes later Melker Hellberg seized intercepted a Kamara header intended for Aribo and led another break. Over halfway he came, heading out to the right before his cross was cleared to halfway. Paul Hanlon picked it up on the left-hand side and played a delicious ball down the line for Horgan to cause yet more problems, this time for Ross McCrorie who had replaced Tavernier earlier on. He wriggled beyond him with a swing of the hips and drop of the shoulder, sent the ball to the far post where sub Vykintas Slivka headed down and then Bendtner outmuscled Goldson to latch onto the knockdown and slide it past Rob McCrorie to keep the tie very much alive.

The final six minutes that included stoppage time felt like six months, I was on the edge of the technical area inwardly kicking every ball, contesting every header, two-footing every challenge. Hibs gave it everything but we battened down the hatches and remained solid. The final whistle when it came brought with it another huge sigh of relief. So much so that my legs felt a little wobbly, such was the stress that I’d been under and nervous energy flying around my body.

I commiserated with Lambert and wished him well for the rest of the season. ‘Not too many sides have tested us like you did today,’ I said. ‘Have that level of performance every week and you’ll be fine.’

Back in the dressing room the boys were as relieved as I was. ‘Well done, lads, that was a huge test and you’ve come through it. Wasn’t the prettiest but you dug in, worked hard and got through.’

My relief was clear for everyone to witness as I did the post-match press circuit and for once, I promised myself that I’d take a day off the following day as well to have a much-needed breather.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 2-1 Hibernian

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier (Ross.McCrorie), Goldson, Helander, Durmisi, Kamara, Aribo, Arfield, Kent, Parrott (Brewster), Morelos

[he_2]

Tuesday 9^th February 2021: Livingston v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)

Venue: Tony Macaroni Arena

Att:

Managerial Record v Livingston: P 5 W 5 D 0 L 0 F 14 A 2

It was quickly back to league action and a visit to lower mid-table side Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena as we looked to cement our place at the head of the table and once again pile the pressure onto Celtic who hosted Motherwell the following day.

The hosts, although apparently sitting in a very comfortable 7^th position in the table were in a bit of strife. A malaise had set in, apparently under Gordon Strachan at first and then continuing under Stewart Downing’s caretaker charge and then Jim Goodwin. Just a single win in their previous 11 matches, ironically enough defeating Strachan’s Aberdeen side 10 days before this one, had seen the cushion between themselves and the relegation play-off spot shrink to just 2 points. Things were damned tight down there at the bottom of the table!

Reza Durmisi had picked up another knock against Hibs at the weekend so he sat this one out, Aaron Hickey returned, we were still without Ryan Jack and Ross McCrorie was also lacking fitness so Jon Flanagan and Mathias Kranevitter made rare appearances on the substitute’s bench.

We started sluggishly, once again, with Livingston clearly keen to try and get an early goal upon which they could then fall back and defend. A free kick into the box saw us at sixes and sevens trying to defend. Steven Lawless picked up the loose, slightly overhit ball and tucked it back inside for Scott Pittman who was clear on goal. Rob McCrorie made a fine stop from the first effort and then from the acutest of angles Pittman tried to tuck the rebound inside the near post. He was darned unlucky to see the effort hit the base of the post and rebound out where Connor Goldson completed a hurried clearance, leaving us able to breathe a sigh of relief.

It took us a while to get going, we were sloppy in possession and slow to react when we did lose the ball. This wasn’t like the weekend where we were playing well with Hibs equally proficient, this was a case of us being slovenly and Livingston looking to take full advantage. Lawless once again came to the fore on 13 minutes when he got onto a ball from Khanya Leshabela, knocked it through for Lyndon Dykes who was only denied by a smart piece of anticipation from Rob McCrorie who smothered at the striker’s feet.

It took almost 20 minutes for us to knit anything worthwhile together and even when we did it came from a mistake from the home side. A loose pass on halfway was intercepted by Ryan Kent and off he set leaving a trail of yellow shirts in his wake as he attacked the penalty area. No-one could get near him and as he got into the box, he fired a low left footed shot beyond the hitherto unruffled Ross Stewart and into the bottom corner of the net to give us the lead against the run of play.

Once again, the individual quality at my disposal had paid handsome dividends.

The goal seemed to almost flick a switch, we were a different team after we’d gone ahead. Confidence flooded through us, passes reached their intended targets and we looked like a side that was top of the table and unbeaten in all competitions in almost 6-months. A couple of minutes after going ahead Morelos did well down the right flank after receiving a Tavernier throw-in and got a good cross into the box. Once again, Glen Kamara arrived late and got up well to power a header at goal. It beat Stewart all ends up but thumped against the post and away from any waiting blue shirt to be cleared by a yellow one.

Although much better, we still didn’t have things our own way and we still looked decidedly dodgy when being asked to defend set pieces. A free kick into the box once again caused hesitation amongst the back four and a poor header out dropped nicely for Ricki Lamie to aim a volley at goal. It went through a forest of legs, left McCrorie rooted to the spot and must have taken a coat of paint off the outside of the upright on its way wide of the post. Desperately unlucky. Or lucky, depending on your point of view.

We continued to be better and more assured in possession but rarely seriously threatened the hosts. We also considerably improved defensively with Goldson taking responsibility and leading from the back. At the break I wasn’t entirely happy but we were ahead.

HALF TIME: Livingston 0-1 Glasgow Rangers

‘You know as well as I do that wasn’t good enough, boys,’ I said quietly. ‘First quarter of an hour was embarrassing and although we’ve been better, I need more.’ One or two of the boys had been looking a little leggy, so I made an immediate change with Jordan Jones coming on for the goalscorer Ryan Kent, whilst I had it in my head to make a couple of other changes relatively early on in the second period if the impetus didn’t shift.

It didn’t, we continued to look the better side but not by much, and we certainly weren’t dominant. Mathias Kranevitter, who had really struggled to make any impact since his summer move to Scotland before I joined came on before the hour mark for Kamara whilst just after the hour mark the fresh legs of Rhian Brewster were introduced for the ineffectual Troy Parrott.

Finally, on 64 minutes and a little out of nothing the second goal arrived. A corner kick from Tavernier was headed clear by a yellow shirt but only as far as Goldson who nodded back into the danger area. It fell nicely for Morelos just outside the 6-yard box and he did well to turn his body and fire home first-time beyond the helpless Stewart to double our lead. Once again, the angst that had been building lifted, from myself at least.

Five minutes afterwards we once again rode our luck after giving the ball away cheaply, Layton Stewart was played in, managed to hold off the challenge of Helander and got a shot away at goal. McCrorie was alert to the danger and made a good block, pushing the ball away and once again the tension began to descend.

With 20 minutes remaining, a ball into the Livi box from Tavernier saw Kranevitter unceremoniously wrestled to the floor by Nicky Devlin. It was a clear penalty, the referee had a great view of it and he duly pointed to the spot. Tavernier, shrugging off his previous failure from 12-yards, took responsibility and stepped up with a good deal more conviction than he had on that occasion. Stewart went the right way but the pace of the strike beat him and Tavernier coolly turned to celebrate his 4^th goal of the season and, somehow, in spite of a fairly insipid overall effort we were three goals to the good. It turned out later that this had been our 100^th goal in all competitions as well, not a bad milestone for early February.

As had happened at the weekend, just as we looked to have the game sealed we switched off and allowed the opposition back into it. Steven Lawless was played in behind the snoozing Tavernier by a neat ball and as he got into the penalty area, with everyone expecting a cross or cut-back, he tried to sneak one in at McCrorie’s near post. The goalkeeper reacted to block the effort but the rebound fell for Layton Stewart who gleefully accepted the chance to reduce the arrears and slammed the ball into the welcome caress of the gaping net.

We still had a two-goal advantage and rationally, I didn’t *think* Livingston were likely to grab two late goals to peg us back. As it happened we probably enjoyed our best spell after their goal, largely because they were pushing on a bit and leaving gaps. Aaron Hickey went close to his first career goal with a 25-yarder that went just over the top and landed on the roof of the net before a raking Joe Aribo strike from a similar distance beat the flying Ross Stewart and thundered back off the crossbar.

That finally killed off the Livingston challenge that had provided us with so many problems and we were able to see out the closing stages in some degree of comfort. Once I’d gotten back into the sanctuary of the dressing room and begun to reflect, coming away with a 3-1 win when not playing anywhere near your best wasn’t a bad sign at all. So, it was well-done all round along with a cautionary note that we’d need to make sure our performances improved in coming weeks. I didn’t want to get into the situation or mindset where results trumped everything else, I wanted us to be seen as an entertaining and free-flowing side, not one that simply ground out results. That was needed at times, of course, and was certainly a useful characteristic, but I was striving for more. Always striving for more.

FULL TIME: Livingston 1-3 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Hickey, Aribo, Kamara (Kranevitter), Arfield, Kent (Jones), Parrott (Brewster), Morelos

[he_2]

Table as at Wednesday 10^th February 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	25	22	3	0	71	14	69	57
Glasgow Celtic	26	21	5	0	67	10	68	57
Heart of Midlothian	26	11	7	8	34	35	40	-1
Motherwell	27	11	6	10	37	32	39	5
Kilmarnock	24	11	6	7	32	28	39	4
Dundee United	25	8	8	9	26	35	32	-9
Livingston	27	5	10	12	33	48	25	-15
Hibernian	27	5	10	12	25	42	25	-17
Aberdeen	27	7	3	17	28	45	24	-17
St Mirren	27	4	12	11	22	45	24	-23
St Johnstone	27	6	5	16	21	39	23	-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	26	5	7	14	22	43	22	-21

 

Tuesday 9^th February

Hibs	2	0	St Mirren
Livingston	1	3	Rangers
St Johnstone	0	0	Hearts

 

Wednesday 10^th February

Celtic	2	0	Motherwell
Inverness	3	2	Aberdeen

[he_2]

Saturday 13^th February 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Dundee United (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 49,600

Managerial Record v Dundee Utd: P 2 W 2 D 0 L 0 F 7 A 0

Before we knew it we were back in action once again, the visit of in-form Dundee United providing the opposition as they looked to further cement their already good chances of securing a place in the top-6 run-off at the end of the season to cap an impressive first campaign back in the top flight. Since the winter break they’d lost just once in their half dozen matches, kept four clean sheets and a fortnight later would also provide us with our opposition in the last 8 of the Scottish Cup.

One change to the starting line-up with Rhian Brewster returning to the side in place of Troy Parrott, otherwise it was as you were. I was expecting a tough challenge from this one since I knew how well oiled and drilled Robbie Neilson had the Tangerines. And with the weather below freezing, snow continuing to blow in and the white lines having to be painted blue, this one was very much a case of points over performance – especially with the Old Firm looming just 8 days later. If we were able to go into that one four points ahead of Celtic (we had our game in hand in midweek at Kilmarnock) then we’d have quite a contest ahead of us.

The groundstaff had done wonders to get the game on, whilst the boys were warming up beforehand I’d gone down to say a big thank you and gave them all vouchers for a couple of drinks in one of the bars after the game. I really appreciated the efforts they’d gone to as I was really keen to get the game played.

Early on Aaron Hickey gave the ball away and it was worked forward for Laurence Shankland. He delightfully beat Helander and found himself surging towards goal. As Connor Goldson came across to cover the striker hit an early snap-shot from 25-yards which stung the hands of Rob McCrorie and he gathered at the second attempt. That was an early sighter and an early warning sign.

The tricky conditions made flowing football difficult, it was firm underfoot and there were little patches of snow forming on the surface. On 20 minutes McCrorie made a good claim from a corner and quickly sent Brewster scarpering over halfway with an excellent piece of distribution. His pass was slightly behind Morelos who did well to gather it and get a shot away only to find it blocked. He regathered possession and eventually found Hickey who nudged the ball on for Ryan Kent. The winger struck the ball first time and it flew beyond Benjamin Siegrist into the bottom corner of the net.

The flag was immediately up the moment the ball left Kent’s foot and the most marginal of offside decisions had gone against the winger. The goal was chalked off and celebrations were called back with the greatest of reluctance on the part of the boys in blue.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 0-0 Dundee United

We found ourselves goalless at the break with both sides really failing to make much more of an impression on their opponents. I urged the lads just to keep battling away, not to give anything away and when a chance came our way, which I was certain it would at some point, to make sure it was taken. Concentration was key, the slightest lapse could easily be punished.

Just past the hour mark, after Troy Parrott had replaced the strangely ineffectual Morelos, Ian Harkes forced a magnificent save from the alert McCrorie from a terrific free kick that had the goalkeeper at full stretch to his left to firmly push the ball away after he’d managed to superbly curl the ball around the wall from 25-yards and then with 10 minutes remaining we finally began to impress ourselves on the match.

Scott Arfield brought the ball forward and although his ball forward had been intercepted, the Tangerine shirted defender had slipped and allowed Parrott to seize possession. He found Brewster first time in front of goal and where a fully confident Brew-dog, as his teammates chose to call him, would have scored, Rhian was suffering a little bit from not having scored in a month and a half and his effort was too close to Siegrist, the goalkeeper saving well.

I thought that was our chance squandered. They had been so few and far between that I didn’t expect us to fashion another one and was beginning to resign myself to us dropping points with a goal-less draw.

The corner was drifted in by Ryan Kent and headed away at the far post. Brewster scurried to collect possession and from the left-hand side floated a delicious cross into the box. There was Goldson to meet it firmly with a downward header that seemed to skip a little off the turf and gather pace. Siegrist dived to his right but was a fraction late, the ball beat him and nestled in the back of the net to give us the lead.

How emotions can transform within the blink of an eye. From resignation to rejoicing, the defender had come up trumps with his 4^th goal of the season and yet another that was absolutely crucial. It felt like another big moment, not just in the match but in the season as a whole.

A couple of minutes later a ricochet fell kindly for Kent who set-off on one of his lung busting runs that saw no-one get within the same postcode as him. Into the penalty area he worked an angle for a shot but his radar was awry and it drifted a good couple of yards wide. 9 times out of 10 he’d have hit the target and 6 of those times probably scored. Not on this occasion.

Then Kamara surged over the halfway line and sent a lovely ball out to the right-hand side into the path of Tavernier. The full-back attacked the corner of the penalty area and with no defender coming across to close him down chose to have a shot at goal. The connection was good, the direction slightly amiss, it was too close to Siegrist and a firm right hand from the Swiss goalkeeper sent the ball far behind for a corner kick. Kent swung the flag kick in towards the far post where Parrott climbed highest to meet it, Siegrist was well positioned though and held on well.

We had a couple of other half-chances and kept the visitors well at bay. In the end it was a job well done and more comfortable in those final 10 minutes or so than I had expected. The three points had given us a real chance to go into the Old Firm match four points ahead of our old rivals and although they had a blank midweek so would arguably be the fresher side, if we could beat Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, we’d have all the momentum behind us.

A fascinating week lay ahead.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 1-0 Dundee United

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Hickey, Aribo, Kamara, Arfield, Kent, Morelos (Parrott), Brewster

[he_2]

Table as at Sunday 14^th February 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	26	23	3	0	72	14	72	58
Glasgow Celtic	27	22	5	0	69	10	71	59
Heart of Midlothian	27	12	7	8	38	37	43	1
Motherwell	28	12	6	10	38	32	42	6
Kilmarnock	25	11	6	8	32	29	39	3
Dundee United	26	8	8	10	26	36	32	-10
Livingston	28	6	10	12	34	48	28	-14
Aberdeen	28	8	3	17	30	45	27	-15
Hibernian	28	5	10	13	27	46	25	-19
St Mirren	28	4	12	12	22	47	24	-25
St Johnstone	28	6	5	17	21	41	23	-20
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	27	5	7	15	22	44	22	-22

 

Friday 12^th February

Hearts

4

2

Hibs

 

Saturday 13^th February

Aberdeen	2	0	St Johnstone
Livingston	1	0	Kilmarnock
Motherwell	1	0	Inverness
Rangers	1	0	Dundee Utd

 

Sunday 14^th February

St Mirren

0

2

Celtic

[he_2]

Wednesday 17^th February 2021: Kilmarnock v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 13,476

Managerial Record v Kilmarnock: P 5 W 3 D 1 L 1 F 12 A 4

A short Wednesday evening trip to Rugby Park saw us take on Kilmarnock who continued to find themselves in the thick of the race for the Europa League. An indifferent resumption following the new year break had seen them exit the Scottish Cup and take 7 points from a possible 15. Coming off the back of a poor 1-0 reverse at Livingston at the weekend I felt there was an opportunity for us to add to their misery and assist my former employers at Hearts iat the same time.

There was a temptation to change things around with the Old Firm clash looming, but I chose instead to make just the one change with the fit again Lovro Majer returning in place of Scott Arfield, who dropped to the bench. My gamble did not pay early dividends.

By the time there was 25 minutes on the clock I’d been forced into a couple of changes. Neither one appeared serious and I did brush both off after the game as precautionary, however on 20 minutes James Tavernier came off to be replaced by Jon Flanagan and four minutes later Ryan Jack replaced Joe Aribo. Both starters had felt a little niggle and not wanting to risk anything, I removed both of them. I knew just how easily and quickly a niggle could turn into something more serious. Whether or not either player would be fit for Celtic, I didn’t know, I just wasn’t taking any risks.

Before I’d made either change Kent had headed a Tavernier cross down into the middle where it was met on the half volley by Glen Kamara, a brave block repelled the Finn’s effort. Kent managed to retrieve the loose ball and rather overhit his own cross, luckily though Tavernier was backing up. Feinting to cross again he actually cut it back into the path of Aribo who unleashed another 25-yard howitzer which beat Antonio Santurro in the home goal and ended up just a yard or so wide of the post.

Then, as Tavernier was off receiving treatment, Aribo went down after a challenge and Kilmarnock broke with purpose. Dom Thomas’ initial effort was excellently saved by Robby McCrorie. The rebound fell for Eamonn Brophy and as the striker was about to turn it into the net, out of absolutely nowhere appeared Connor Goldson and he produced a magnificent covering challenge to deny him. The ball ran once more for Thomas but his touch was heavy and McCrorie was able to gather.

After the reshuffle it took us a few minutes to readjust. Indeed, we weren’t quite at it for the rest of the half and I was really wanting to get the boys in and sat down for 10 minutes so we could get everything sorted out. Although Flanagan was a like-for-like swap, he wasn’t as comfortable getting forward as Tavernier whilst Ryan Jack coming on for Aribo wasn’t quite such a like-for-like change. I needed to have a chat with Jacko and Kam to get them on the same wavelength.

Absolute calamity hit the home side 8 minutes before the break when Flanagan’s cross was blocked and picked up by Calum Waters. The full-back, under not that much pressure, had the ball on his weaker right foot and seemed to hurry a rather panicked clearance. It flew into the back of his own team-mate, Stuart Findlay and rebounded off the startled and helpless defender’s shoulder beyond Santurro and into the back of the net. We’d taken the league in the most fortunate and absurd circumstances imaginable!

HALF TIME: Kilmarnock 0-1 Glasgow Rangers

We were ahead at the break and barely deserved to be. I wasn’t too hard on the boys at the break, it had been a fractured first half with the changes and we’d not quite managed to settle into any rhythm.

‘Forget about what’s just gone, boys and look at the next 45.’ I began calmly. ‘We need to switch the focus of our attacks a little. Jon,’ I looked at the former Liverpool full-back, ‘keep getting forward down that right-flank, but boys, I want the main focus of our forward thrusts to be down the left-hand-side. First fifteen minutes or so look left as much as you can and then mix it up a little. Use Jon, use Lovro as your outlets and try and stretch them both sides again.’ I said.

‘Middle of the park,’ I said, looking at Jacko and Kam. ‘Usual thing for you, Jacko. Box to box, get your foot in and keep it simple. Kam, I want you to play the role Joe was playing. A little more advanced, take the ball and use it, make things happen. Don’t be afraid to take risks. If they don’t come off, try again. I’m not going to cane you for that. Make yourself available when Jacko has the ball.’ I turned my gaze to Lovro Majer. ‘Maj, you as well. Jacko has the ball, you find space and get ball. Yes?’

‘Yes, boss.’ The Croatian nodded.

The second half began in a much more open fashion, the boys were acting on my instructions well and utilising the left-flank nicely, Kamara and Jacko looking much more assured in the middle of the park. From one break, Kamara picked up the ball after Hickey had been well tackled and surged into the penalty area before squaring the ball for Majer. Swivelling, he hit a shot first time left footed only to see it blocked and all of a sudden Killie were breaking with pace. The ball was worked towards Brophy and as he got into the penalty area he lashed a shot towards goal. Had it been on target the pace would have tested McCrorie, as it was it flew fairly high and fairly wide of the target but certainly served as a warning that the home side were firmly in the contest.

I made a further change just ten minutes into the 2^nd half, my last one of the day with Troy Parrott coming on for the leggy looking Rhian Brewster.

The move didn’t pay instant dividends as another break from the hosts saw Dom Thomas work space for a shot that was well held by McCrorie before at the other end a decent move saw Hickey receive the ball just inside the penalty area in exactly the kind of area that Borna Barisic used to enjoy inhabiting. His powerful left footed effort got a crucial touch from Santurro and that was enough to deflect the ball onto the upright before Dionkou completed the clearance.

The match as a whole was far better than it had been before the break, whilst we were on top in the possession stakes every time Killie broke they carried a huge threat. From another such break Greg Kiltie fired narrowly over the top with McCrorie little more than a spectator. From the goal kick the ball was worked forward nicely and Kamara released Morelos with a searing through ball. The Colombian was in such a run of form that I expected the net to buldge as he took the shot early, he didn’t get the connection he’d have wanted though and the ball flew a good couple of yards wide, harmlessly in the end.

As the half approached the midway point another attack down the left saw Hickey find Parrott inside the penalty area on the left. Looking up, he hooked a lovely cross towards the far post where from about 12-yards out it was met by the stooping head of Jon Flanagan who had tiptoed unnoticed in behind everyone. He sent his header down and back across Santurro, finding the bottom corner of the net to double our lead.

2-0 and a goalscorer probably even less expected than the first-half own goal. Flanagan understandably celebrated his second ever senior goal with understandable joy.

Four minutes later and it briefly appeared that we’d finally really broken the back of the home side’s resistance when Morelos sent a beautiful ball from right to left that Majer helped on with a deliciously cushioned touch into the path of Ryan Kent. The winger took his effort right-footed and Santurro had no chance as the ball swished past him in a flash, into the bottom corner of the net.

It had been a beautiful thing to watch yet rendered pointless by the appearance of the assistant’s flag raised on the far side. Replays showed any offside to be marginal at best, but the decision was what it was, we’d had plenty of marginal ones go in our favour so there would be no complaints from me.

All the same, the zip had departed the home side’s play and we suddenly looked rather more comfortable. With ten minutes remaining Parrott beat the offside trap to get onto a long ball forward from Goldson. As Santurro came out to narrow the angle he simply skipped around the Italian goalkeeper and finished into an empty net to score his 10^th goal of the season. Three points in the bag and he became the 4^th man into double figures for the campaign as well.

Parrott forced a fine save from Santurro after exchanging a neat 1-2 with Kent in the closing stages when, had he netted a fourth goal, it would have added an unnecessarily harsh flourish to the scoreline. To be honest, 3-0 was probably a little bit tough but we’d gone through the gears as the game went on and in the final quarter of the match looked every bit the title contenders we were.

The knocks picked up by James and Joe, plus one late on collected by Lovro, who had ben outstanding, were the only concerns from what had looked like a tricky examination on paper beforehand. The rest of the week would be fully focused on the Old Firm at the weekend and getting that trio back to fitness if we possibly could.

FULL TIME: Kilmarnock 0-3 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier (Flanagan), Goldson, Helander, Hickey, Aribo (Jack), Kamara, Majer, Kent, Morelos, Brewster (Parrott)

[he_2]

Table as at Wednesday 17^th February 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	27	24	3	0	75	14	75	61
Glasgow Celtic	27	22	5	0	69	10	71	59
Heart of Midlothian	28	13	7	8	40	38	46	2
Motherwell	28	12	6	10	38	32	42	6
Kilmarnock	26	11	6	9	32	32	39	0
Dundee United	27	8	8	11	27	38	32	-11
Livingston	28	6	10	12	34	48	28	-14
Aberdeen	28	8	3	17	30	45	27	-15
Hibernian	28	5	10	13	27	46	25	-19
St Mirren	28	4	12	12	22	47	24	-25
St Johnstone	28	6	5	17	21	41	23	-20
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	27	5	7	15	22	44	22	-22

 

Tuesday 16^th February

Dundee Utd

1

2

Hearts

 

Wednesday 17^th February

Kilmarnock

0

3

Rangers

[he_2]

Predictably, all of the press noise in the run-up to the game was around it being some sort of a title decider. If we won and went 7 points clear with just ten matches remaining then the championship was destined for Ibrox. Lose and although we would still be ahead, the gap would be a single point and with a visit to Parkhead still to come, perhaps the momentum would have shifted towards our opponents. A draw and well, little would have changed.

The fact that both of us were still unbeaten seemed to have been overlooked. Celtic had yet to lose in their 27 matches so far played yet they were being played down as overwhelming underdogs. I knew it was just an angle for their stories and suchlike, but it did p!ss me off a little. I felt, looking objectively, that another draw was most likely. Partly because that’s what 80% of the matches I’d taken charge of against Celtic had produced and partly because I felt the two sides were so closely matched.

The news on Joe Aribo and James Tavernier was good, both looked like they would be able to be available for selection. Both would undergo fitness tests on Sunday morning but after sitting out training and undergoing intense treatment the prognosis was promising. That was a big boost as we prepared for the game, but I made sure I kept my cards close to my chest during the many press junkets I had to go through in advance of the match. The one returnee after a couple of weeks out that I was happy to publicise was that of Reza Durmisi who was once again fully fit.

Lovro Majer, sadly, looked less likely to be fit to start but the medical team remained hopeful that he could take his place amongst the substitutes and maybe get through half an hour as a maximum if it was required. If I felt I needed a little spark of additional guile going into the closing stages if we were deadlocked would be a useful option to have.

At the Saturday pre-match press conference I had to make sure I kept a straight bat and didn’t fall into the trap of trying to hook the short ball over fine leg.

Leah Young: Jones, your team played very well on Wednesday against Kilmarnock. You must be hoping that the side carries that form into this clash tomorrow?

I was very pleased with how we improved as the game went on in midweek. We didn’t start so well and struggled with the early changes, but in the second half we were excellent. I’m hoping that gives us some momentum ahead of tomorrow. We know though that it’s hard work above anything else that’s going to help us build a good run of results.

Kyle Connell: Have you spent time on anything special tactically ahead of such a big match?

Our overall approach won’t shift from our usual intent which is to attack from a solid defensive base. There’s one or two things we’ve learned from our previous meetings with Celtic this term that we’ve been working on hard, but our approach remains the same.

LY: Leigh Griffiths has scored in each of his last four matches against you. Do you have a plan to stop him?

Yes.

LY (laughing): Care to share it?

No.

More laughter through the room.

Seriously though. Of course, we know all about Leigh’s qualities. He’s the outstanding centre-forward in the league this season. His goal record speaks for itself but he’s about far more than just goals. We know his game, we know how he can affect games and we think we have a plan to mitigate the impact he might have tomorrow.

LY: Leigh has arguably been Celtic’s best player this season. Do you think they’d be as close to you without him?

Look, you lose 30 plus goals from your team and that’s difficult to replace. But the one thing Celtic have in abundance is depth and quality. They’re far from a one-man team, if that’s what you’re trying to insinuate, Leah!

KC: There’s obviously a lot at stake tomorrow and the atmosphere between the fans will be electric. Are you concerned that such a keenly-anticipated fixture amongst the supporters might have a negative impact on oyur players?

If the players can’t thrive in an atmosphere like the one they’ll be part of tomorrow then they shouldn’t be at Rangers or Celtic. The fans are a huge part of these fixtures and make the Old Firm world famous. I love that and the players do too.

James Boyle: Jones, the last clash between the two sides saw one from each team dismissed. Are you worried that the players might lose their heads again in the heat of the atmosphere?

There’s always a danger that people might overstep the mark, especially for a side like ours that likes to play on the edge. Usually we are able to tread that line between aggression and over-aggression well, we have to make extra certain tomorrow to stay on the right side of that line and not get sucked into any nonsense.

JB: This match arguably carries more significance to it because of the relative position of the two sides. Is the additional pressure getting to you?

No, not at all. The only pressure I feel is the pressure I put myself under. Whatever happens tomorrow there’s a long way to go in the title race. Points will be won, points will be dropped. A win would be helpful, of course it will, but it isn’t going to decide anything or define our campaign.

KC: Everyone knows about the history of the Old Firm, this is one of the biggest derbies in world football. There’s a huge hunger from Rangers fans to get one over on Celtic. What sort of challenges do you face as a manager in preparing for a game of this magnitude?

It’s easy for people to get carried away, so I think the biggest challenge is to ignore all of the noise around the game and to focus on what lies ahead. Certainly in the run-up to the match, anyway. Tactically, not much changes. You focus on the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses in the same way you do ahead of any other fixture. If anything you don’t need to motivate the boys as much for these games, everything else takes care of that. The boys live for these fixtures against Celtic.

Petar Genchev: We’ve talked about how you cope with the pressure, but the fact remains that the added weight of expectation from supporters can cause managers to crack a bit. You seem to handle it pretty well, can Neil Lennon?

Neil’s been in enough of these fixtures as player and manager to know them inside out. He’d need to answer that question for you but I’m sure he’s as confident as I am that he can handle the atmosphere and occasion.

Kara Warwick: A win today could potentially secure European football for Ranges with the new Europa League 2. However, of course, Champions League football is still very much a possibility. Presumably you’ll be going all out to ensure you qualify for the latter competition?

Of course, that’s absolutely the aim. It’s nice to be so close to securing some degree of European football next season for the supporters but our sights are absolutely on the Champions League. It’s a long way off still, but we’ll do everything we can to make a reality.

And that was largely it. Press pack sated for a little longer.

[he_2]

Sunday 21^st February 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Glasgow Celtic (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 51,600

Managerial Record v Glasgow Celtic: P 6 W 0 D 5 L 1 F 6 A 10

‘Alright boys, listen up!’ I was stood in the dressing room, door shut and waiting for the players to pipe down. I just needed a few minutes before they started getting changed and then heading out for the warm-up, before the dressing room reverberated to the insipid sounds of whatever awfulness was going to be played on the stereo. ‘You’ll have heard me this week talking about how today is just another match amongst many, playing down the importance of the result.’ I looked around the room. ‘That’s utter horse crap.’

‘If you need me to tell you just what’s at stake today then you shouldn’t be sat here. Win today and the destination of the title is firmly in our hands. Lose and it’s wide open. We’ve worked hard over the last couple of days to prepare you boys for what lies ahead, Connor? Filip? If I see you two more than half a dozen yards away from eachother then you’ll be hooked. That’s where Griffiths thrives, stick to the f*er like glue. Joe, Jacko? Whenever their two lads in midfield get the ball get into them – you too Scotty,’ I look at Arfield, ‘get on their first touch. If Puig drops deep then that’s where you get involved, Scotty. Don’t let him settle otherwise he’ll simply pick us off.’

‘Get yourselves ready, lads, do your preparation and get your heads right. I don’t want any of that nonsense we saw last time,’ I fixed James Tavernier with a stare. ‘Keep your heads, keep your discipline. Niggle them all you want but don’t get involved if it boils over. Okay?!’ Murmurs of ascent.

‘Okay. Macca, anything to add?’ I asked Gary Mac who had been stood behind me, like my praetorian guard.

‘Not from me, gaffer.’ He replied.

I left them to get on with what they needed to do whilst I wandered off to find out when I was required for the pre-match tunnel interview.

Half an hour later, after taking in the early atmosphere and watching the early warm up, trying to gauge the headspace of the players on the two sides, I found myself in front of the Sky Sports cameras and ready to meet the first of my rivals of the day on head-first – the media. At least with Leah, it was a friendly face – for now anyway.

Leah Young: Jones, it’s derby day. How much do you look forward to taking on your local rivals?

Oh, immensely! It’s always a tremendous occasion to be part of an occasion like this and the atmosphere is something to behold. I’m hoping we can harness the energy and intensity of the day and we’re able to send the fans home smiling.

LY: Celtic have the best defensive record in the league so far, how will you set about breaching them?

We know how strong they are both at the back and going forward, but every team has a weakness. We think we have identified some in the Celtic side and it’s up to us this afternoon to try and exploit them.

LY: Riqui Puig has proven himself to be an incisive passer of the ball. Do you have a plan to stop him?

Ha, funny you should say that, we’ve just gone through that a little while ago in the dressing room. Riqui is a fine player, one of many that Celtic have and who we’re focused on. We have fine players as well and I’m confident in their ability to not only cope with Celtic’s threat but also to provide some ourselves as well.

LY: Three points today would see Rangers take a firm grip of the title race. Do you see today as an opportunity to stamp your authority on the race?

We’re not idiots, we know what a win would mean in terms of the course of the season.

LY: Is today an early title decider?

Haha, no. I’ve spent all week refuting that suggestion. Of course, three points today would put us firmly in the box seat, but there’s a heck of a lot of football to be played after today. Nothing gets decided until one side is unable to catch the other.

LY: Jones, thank you and good luck.

Thank you.

She flashed me a smile which I returned and mouthed ‘good luck’ at me. I nodded my thanks before heading back towards the dressing room to finish getting myself ready for what lay ahead.

Each time I experienced an Old Firm atmosphere they just seemed to get more and more intense. I’d never heard noise like it as I entered the arena and when Alfie Morelos started the game the volume somehow increased tenfold.

Less than a minute was on the clock when Scott Arfield was found by a good ball forward from Tavernier and after reaching the edge of the box served notice by whipping a powerful shot narrowly wide of the goalkeeper’s right-hand upright.

A couple of minutes later and a superb move involving Goldson, Tavernier, Arfield, Morelos and Aribo ended with the latter playing Tavernier in. The full-back was able to run in on goal unchallenged but perhaps took one touch too many which allowed Marko Malenica to narrow the angle and as Tavernier tried to beat him, stretch out a paw-like hand to claw the ball away from danger.

We had come out of the traps like a greyhound on heat. Robby McCrorie claimed a corner on ten minutes and was immediately on his feet to fire a low flat drop kick into Morelos just inside our own half. He took the ball down, turned and set off over halfway into Celtic territory. As he approached the edge of the penalty area he found Parrott with a lofted pass and the Irishman played the ball into the path of the supporting Durmisi who touched it back for Jack to run onto, take a touch and fire an effort left-footed that beat Malenica all ends up and clipped the top of the crossbar on its way behind.

The fans were loving what we were giving them in that first ten minutes and so was I. It was thrilling stuff.

On the quarter hour mark a corner from Durmisi was met by a Celtic head. Joe Aribo picked up the loose ball and turned it back into the path of Durmisi. The full-back shaped to cross but instead, spotting Aribo in space just inside the penalty area played it back into the midfielder who first time unleashed a vicious low angled drive that flew through a forest of legs, beyond Malenica and into the bottom corner to break the deadlock. The stadium erupted as they saw the blue netting ripple and we had the lead that we deserved.

Up until that point Celtic had been guilty of trying to force things too much and being sloppy in possession. Less than a minute after going ahead it looked as though an attack had broken down when Aribo’s cross was overhit. For some inexplicable reason Karamoko Dembele looked to cushion a back-pass to his goalkeeper instead playing it straight to Troy Parrott. The Irishman should have made it 2-0 but was denied by a brilliant, and absolutely vital save by Malenica. We absolutely had them on the ropes.

What’s the one thing you don’t do when you have your opponent on the ropes? Let them counter punch. Just two minutes after going ahead and from their first meaningful attack, a throw-in down the right saw the ball worked to Naim Silti. He had all the time in the world to pick out Leigh Griffiths with his low cross and the league’s leading marksmen was able to expertly fire the ball into the bottom corner of the net from 10-yards out to level things up. As if a switch had been clicked the entire ground found itself stunned into silence save for the pocket of visiting fans away to our right. It wasn’t the first time we’d conceded within minutes of scoring and was something that was going to need a bit of work on.

I was off the bench urging the boys to settle themselves down and refocus, patrolling and cajoling as a cheap free kick some 25-yards out gave Griffiths the opportunity to whip an effort narrowly wide of the post with McCrorie rooted. It felt like the pendulum was swinging away from us.

A little spell of possession did seem to take the sting out of things momentarily, Helander keeping the ball and then going back to the goalkeeper. From there the ball was worked forward for Arfield inside the centre circle. Looking up he identified the run of Morelos peeling off and found the Colombian with a perfectly judged all over the top. Morelos took the ball down on his instep and then fired a low shot across Malenica and into the far bottom corner of the net! Suddenly, as quickly and unexpectedly as we’d seen ourselves pegged back, we were ahead once again!

I was delighted that we’d managed to get back ahead so soon after being levelled up and we were able to begin to set the tempo and dictate proceedings on our own terms a little more as the visitors sought a way back into the contest.

Joe Aribo, who was giving a shampoo performance – head and shoulders above anyone else – went close again when he picked up a free kick from Tavernier and then drove at the heart of the Celtic defence. No-one came to meet him so he took the opportunity to strike from distance and send one narrowly over the angle of post and bar, Malenica was no more than a spectator like the rest of us.

The entertaining opening half an hour then gave way to a really scrappy period in the 15-minutes leading up to half-time. The visitors became desperately niggly and cynical as they looked to upset our rhythm and in that period picked up no fewer than 5 cautions. I could sense some frustration beginning to build amongst my lads and counselled them as best I could from the sideline to not get involved and let the officials sort it out. It was a good sign that Celtic were resorting to the dark arts, they couldn’t live with us and didn’t like it. It was a point I reinforced at the break.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 2-1 Glasgow Celtic

‘Don’t get involved, boys. If they want to kick and niggle, let them. They know the title’s slipping away from them unless they win. They’re pissed off because you’re so much better than them today and they don’t like it. Keep it up, keep passing the ball, keep frustrating them and don’t give away anything silly. There’s more goals here for us, we can really put a stamp on this this afternoon.’

The first ten minutes continued in the same vein as the last 15 before the break. Us in control, Celtic growing evermore spiteful. Another two cautions took them to seven in total. Then they let the football begin to take over again, perhaps realising that if they were to get back into the game they needed their full complement of players on the pitch to do so.

Callum McGregor received possession on the left and looked up, a ball in behind found Griffiths, for once temporarily free of the shackles Goldson and Helander had managed to have him under and he burst into the penalty area. Goldson recovered brilliantly, though and as Griffiths shaped to shoot stepped in to take the ball off the striker’s toe and clear his lines.

That perked the visitors up and they went on a spell of forcing us onto the backfoot and having much the better of things. We defended well, even though we were forced to take Helander off with a knock and bring on Connor Goldson – once again Goldson made a quite magnificent challenge to keep us ahead, this time smothering Ryan Christie’s effort after he’d been found by a clever Griffiths pass.

Moments later we countered quickly to relieve the pressure when McCrorie again made an excellent claim, this time from a corner. Another swift piece of distribution found Morelos and he played in Brewster, who had come on to run at and stretch the tiring visiting defence. Latching onto the ball, he carefully drew Malenica and looked to slot the ball beyond him, the goalkeeper though produced a superb block to repel the shot and keep the visitors alive in the game.

As the game reached its final quarter of an hour and with both sides now creating regular openings, there was a feeling of a grandstand finish. Christie delivered a free kick in towards the far post, the delivery absolutely perfect for Silti to steal in un-noticed and cushion a side-footed volley beyond McCrorie to once again level the game up. Grandstand finish confirmed, we needed to find something from somewhere to get us back in front and then across the line. A draw at this point felt disappointing, defeat simply unthinkable.

Now it was our turn to try and over play, to overdo things and trying to force them. All too often rather than keeping things simple we looked for a killer ball. We did manage to force a corner five minutes after being pegged back. Durmisi swung it in to the heart of the penalty area where, appearing out of nowhere came Ryan Jack who rose unchallenged, met the cross perfectly and thumped a header beyond Malenica and into the back of the net to restore our advantage for a third time and, once again, completely out of nothing.

That seemed to have rocked Celtic back on their heels and again, we firmly regained control of the contest. Given how things had progressed up until that point, it felt slightly dangerous. Five minutes later however, Durmisi found Brewster inside the penalty area. He took a touch and turned, smashing the ball towards goal. Malenica was beaten but the effort crashed down off the underside of the crossbar and into the path of Morelos who coolly tucked the rebound into the empty net to surely secure the points.

It was the Colombian’s 18^th goal of the campaign, taking him clear of Brewster and Kent and 7^th in his previous seven outings – arguably the most important of the lot. There was a party atmosphere around the stadium throughout the final 7 or 8 minutes as Celtic realised the game was up. They’d been well beaten over the 90 minutes and everyone knew, even if it remained unsaid, that the title race was very much in our favour now.

I shook hands with a grim-faced Neil Lennon who was magnanimous enough to congratulate us and after a brief word with Leah Young in front of the cameras in which I managed to keep my elation very much under the surface it was back into the dressing room.

Calling for the boys’ attention over the hubbub and delightfully celebratory atmosphere they slowly settled themselves down and listened. ‘Hey, that was outstanding, lads. We’ve won nothing yet but we’ve given ourselves a damned good chance to make history. It’s firmly in our hands, bugger it up from here and we’ll all be looking for new clubs in the summer. Take it a match at a time and we’ll be fine. Well done, each and everyone of you. Enjoy tonight, enjoy tomorrow and see you all Tuesday when we go again!’

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 4-2 Glasgow Celtic

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander (Edmundson), Durmisi, Aribo, Jack, Arfield, Kent (Jones), Morelos, Parrott (Brewster)

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by he_2

[he_2]

Table as at Sunday 21^st February 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	28	25	3	0	79	16	78	63
Glasgow Celtic	28	22	5	1	71	14	71	57
Heart of Midlothian	29	13	7	9	41	39	46	2
Motherwell	29	13	6	10	39	32	45	7
Kilmarnock	27	11	6	10	34	35	39	-1
Dundee United	28	9	8	11	29	38	35	-9
Aberdeen	29	9	3	17	33	47	30	-14
Livingston	29	6	10	13	34	49	28	-15
Hibernian	29	6	10	13	28	46	28	-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	28	6	7	15	24	45	25	-21
St Mirren	29	4	12	13	22	48	24	-26
St Johnstone	29	6	5	18	21	43	23	-22

 

Friday 19^th February

St Johnstone

0

2

Dundee Utd

 

Saturday 20^th February

Aberdeen	3	2	Kilmarnock
Hearts	1	2	Inverness
Livingston	0	1	Hibs
St Mirren	0	1	Motherwell

 

Sunday 21^st February

Rangers

4

2

Celtic

[he_2]

Table as at Wednesday 24^th February 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	28	25	3	0	79	16	78	63
Glasgow Celtic	28	22	5	1	71	14	71	57
Heart of Midlothian	29	13	7	9	41	39	46	2
Motherwell	29	13	6	10	39	32	45	7
Kilmarnock	28	11	7	10	34	35	40	-1
Dundee United	28	9	8	11	29	38	35	-9
Aberdeen	29	9	3	17	33	47	30	-14
Livingston	29	6	10	13	34	49	28	-15
Hibernian	29	6	10	13	28	46	28	-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	29	6	8	15	24	45	26	-21
St Mirren	29	4	12	13	22	48	24	-26
St Johnstone	29	6	5	18	21	43	23	-22

 

Wednesday 24^th February

Kilmarnock

0

0

Inverness

[he_2]

Saturday 27^th February 2021: Dundee United v Glasgow Rangers (Scottish Cup Quarter-Final)

Venue: Tannadice

Att: 14,223

Managerial Record v Dundee Utd: P 3 W 3 D 0 L 0 F 8 A 0

From big match into another big match, this time a Scottish Cup last 8 tie up in Dundee against the Tangerines of Dundee United at Tannadice. During the week I celebrated my 22^nd birthday and did so in the only way I know how. Although we’d not long played Kilmarnock, we had them again in midweek and so I chose to spend the evening at Rugby Park taking in probably the most tedious of goal-less draws against Inverness Caley Thistle, a result that inched Thistle slightly further away from the bottom two and did little for Killie’s European hopes.

The Tangerines were coming into the game on the back of a 2-0 win over St Johnstone whilst we were forced into one potentially crucial change, Connor Goldson missing out through a ban. That created an opportunity for George Edmundson to come in for a rare start alongside Filip Helander. Meanwhile James Tavernier was feeling a slight niggle and I chose not to risk him so with Aaron Hickey champing at the bit, so he dropped to the bench whilst Rhian Brewster was rewarded for his spritely cameo against Celtic with a recall into the starting XI.

We knew, having recently played United, how good they were and how much trouble they could cause us so we’d prepared ourselves for a real battle.

And that’s how the opening stages played out, once again the home side were well organised and whilst we had more of the ball, we failed to create anything worthwhile in the opening 20 minutes. Moves either broke down of the final ball was lacking. We weren’t helped by the early loss of Ryan Jack to injury after he fell awkwardly on his shoulder so Glen Kamara entered the fray to replace him.

Indeed, the first chance fell to the home side when a long clearance by Benjamin Siegrist saw Jonathan Afolabi ease George Edmundson off the ball in the aerial challenge – the centre-half should really have been stronger – and managed to get himself through on goal. Robby McCrorie came out to meet him and managed to make a sharp and smart stop to deny the striker the opening goal.

Our best opening of the first 25-minutes or so came through a terrific piece of play from Alfie Morelos. Receiving a throw-in from Hickey, he held off and turned his marker before surging towards the edge of the penalty area. From the edge of the D he unleashed a powerful effort that had Siegrist concerned enough to throw himself full length to his left and relieved to see it flash narrowly over the crossbar. Had it been 6 inches lower Morelos would have been celebrating a brilliant goal.

Seconds later Scott Arfield picked up a cushioned ball from Morelos and sent a beautiful ball in behind the United right-back for Ryan Kent to gallop onto. Outpacing his marker and getting into the penalty area a lovely shift of the ball onto his right foot took Siegrist out of the game yet inexplicably, somehow, he succeeded in sliding the ball wide of the gaping target rather than into its welcoming embrace and the home side escaped unscathed. It was an astonishing miss and one that had the former Liverpool man looking somewhat abashed at.

Four minutes before the break, what had been a fairly insipid affair finally ignited. Smart and neat build-up saw the ball worked to Durmisi down the left. A change up of pace saw the full-back get beyond his man and send a low cross into the penalty area. Brewster received the ball with his back to goal and unable to turn, laid it off for the early sub Kamara. Picking his spot, the Finn calmly slotted the ball first time left-footed into the bottom corner of the net from 15-yards out, giving Siegrist no chance at all to make a save.

Deadlock broken and in some style, the contents of my half-time team-talk had to be changed at very short notice.

HALF TIME: Dundee United 0-1 Glasgow Rangers

At the break once again I kept things fairly calm. There was significant room for improvement, I knew that and so did they. ‘Make sure you keep your shape,’ I implored them. ‘Stay compact without the ball and make it difficult for them to play through us. Make them go long and then Filip, George,’ I looked at the two centre-halves, ‘be strong. Don’t let their front two outmuscle you, stand your ground.’

I felt confident that we’d be okay, the game had all the hallmarks of one of those that would be a bit of a slog but where those moments of quality that I keep banging on about would make the difference.

In the first minute of the second half I was very nearly made to eat my words as Laurence Shankland latched onto a pass in behind Helander and with Edmundson battling vainly to come across and cover, nipped into the penalty area and looked to have skipped around McCrorie. Somehow, as Shankland turned the ball goal-wards towards the empty net the goalkeeper produced a remarkable recovery stop at the striker’s feet and managed to get a superb block on the ball, denying United an early equaliser.

A couple of minutes later somewhat pedestrian build-up saw the ball worked out to Durmisi and as he sent another of his driven low crosses into the box, neither of the three men waiting in or around the 6-yard box gambled and tried to get a touch and so the ball drifted wide of the post harmlessly. That was severely disappointing, it felt like we’d begun the half expecting something to happen rather than trying to make it happen. I sent out the substitutes to start warming up and began plotting my next move to shake things up if things didn’t improve.

They didn’t and so I made a double change on 54 minutes with Nat Young-Coombes replacing the still blushing Ryan Kent and James Tavernier coming on to provide a little more balance from right-back for Aaron Hickey.

Things soon began to unravel when 8 minutes after coming on, Young-Coombes limped off after receiving an ankle knock in a hard, but fair challenge. Scott Banks came off equally badly and was replaced by the hosts. I didn’t have that luxury having already used my three changes. The final half-an-hour or so would see the home side enjoying the advantage of an extra man.

With a quarter of an hour remaining they made that extra man count. Jonny Hayes did superbly to dispossess Tavernier down the right-hand side and looking up saw Shankland making a run in between Helander and Edmundson. His raking through-ball was perfectly judged, Shankland didn’t have to break stride as he collected it on his instep, then with his second touch fired an unstoppable strike beyond the advancing McCrorie and into the back of the net.

That levelled things up and as Shankland ran off towards the corner in celebration I turned to Gary Mac to get his thoughts on shutting up shop and taking the replay.

‘No, Jones, don’t do it. That’ll invite them to put us under pressure. We don’t need that. We’ll be right if we keep the ball, Tavernier should have done a lot better there.’

‘That’s what I was erring towards as well,’ I remarked. Swiftly calling Rhian Brewster across as the celebrations continued I imparted a message for him to pass through the side. ‘Keep the ball, remain patient, move them about and if a chance comes, bloody well take it!’

Things got even worse with 8 minutes remaining when Scott Arfield came off with a calf strain that was significantly hampering his ability to move, I couldn’t really leave him on even as a passenger. Down to 9 men for the closing stages and playing a 4-2-2 formation, still looking to try and keep the ball and work an opening whilst stopping United from getting hold of the ball and creating anything. The boys managed to do so manfully to be fair to them but I was fully resigned to a replay as the best case scenario.

Then, out of absolutely nowhere a loose backpass saw Brewster anticipate and collect the ball. Clear on goal he looked to place the ball just inside the post. Siegrist had read his mind though and made a brilliant save. Thankfully though, the ball rebounded for the striker to lunge in and bundle it unceremoniously over the line! It was his first goal in almost 2 months and the relief was clear to see. The clock literally just turned to 90:00 as the net rippled and it seemed that we’d managed to somehow get ourselves over the line.

Then it was a case of pulling everyone back to preserve what we’d managed to grapple out of the game, only Morelos was left forward. Yet as Dundee United poured forward in pursuit of an equaliser Aribo had the class and vision to pick him out and send him clear. As he drew Siegrist he slipped the ball past the goalkeeper and watched on, initially poised with delight and then with horror as the ball dribbled agonisingly the wrong side of the post.

That miss was very nearly punished in the final 20 seconds when a lapse in concentration saw Shankland fire a ball through for Louis Appere to get onto behind Helander. Our offside trap had completely failed with Edmundson playing the home substitute onside. A fierce low drive beat McCrorie and hit the inside of the far post. As it spun up into the air and looked to be dropping into the net, Edmundson redeemed himself with a brilliant scrambled goal-line clearance. The ball hadn’t gone over the line but we had, and by the absolute thinnest of margins. Robbie Neilson was absolutely crestfallen at the end of the game, understandably so. His side had been well worth a replay. Yet, in spite of that, I couldn’t have been prouder of my boys. To have overcome the loss of three players injured, not play especially well and playing the final dozen or so minutes 2-men light was a quite brilliant effort.

It felt like we’d overcome a massive hurdle and now any talk of a domestic treble which had, for us, been very much in the background, felt rather more real. It’d be Aberdeen in the last 4 and then either Heart or Dunfermline in the final if we were to get through the test against the Dons.

That was a very exciting prospect indeed. We just had to see it through.

FULL TIME: Dundee United 1-2 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Hickey (Tavernier), Edmundson, Helander, Durmisi, Aribo, Jack (Kamara), Arfield, Kent (Young-Coombes), Morelos, Brewster

[he_2]

Tuesday 2^nd March 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Kilmarnock (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 49,588

Managerial Record v Kilmarnock: P 6 W 4 D 1 L 1 F 15 A 4

Thick and fast, that’s how the games were coming, although all things being equal this would be our final midweek one of the campaign and we’d be able to properly plan for the run-in. To get us back onto the right number of matches we hosted Kilmarnock only a fortnight after we’d visited them in the league and with Celtic not in action we knew that a win would see our advantage move into double figures with just 9 matches remaining. The Bhoys would have a game in hand but knowing that all we’d have to do was to keep churning out the victories to secure the title was a really pleasing position in which to find ourselves.

Since that 3-0 win at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock had lost to Aberdeen and had that monotonous 0-0 draw that I’d taken in against Inverness Caley Thistle on my birthday. Their spot in the top-6 shoot-out was more or less safe since they were 10 points ahead of 7^th placed Aberdeen but finding themselves without a win in their previous four matches going into this one wasn’t what they’d been hoping for.

Predictably, the injuries picked up at the weekend saw changes to the side as did suspension. James Tavernier returned and Riza Durmisi dropped to the bench, Aaron Hickey reverting to left-back. Meanwhile George Edmundson continued at centre-half, this time alongside Connor Goldson – Filip Helander was serving a ban for bookings accumulated. Further forward, Glen Kamara returned for the crocked Ryan Jack and Lovro Majer came in for the equally injured Scott Arfield. On the bench there was a return for Ross McCrorie and a first call-up for 18-year old midfielder and youth-team graduate Cole McKinnon, who had impressed in the Under-19s and Under-23s and was highly thought of by those in the know.

He’d trained with the first team on a couple of occasions and hadn’t looked out of place. A good first touch and decent vision combined with an eye for a pass marked him out above most of his peers whilst he would probably be described by a lazy pundit as ‘having a good engine’. He was quick and tigerish but also perhaps a touch over-enthusiastic and raw. That’s not a bad trait to have at 18 by any means, it just needed a little harnessing and those rough edges smoothing out. The hope was that the game would be in such a position that I’d be able to give him his debut and see how he did in a match situation. His face when I’d called him in the day before to tell him that he’d be part of the squad had been quite something.

In spite of the changes we looked leggy in the opening stages. A heavy pitch and the fact that Killie had not had a game during the weekend certainly didn’t help, but we couldn’t use that as an excuse. 20 minutes had almost elapsed when Greg Kiltie found himself played in behind Edmundson and he fired a left-footed shot as the ball dropped on the bounce towards the bottom corner. Rob McCrorie reacted superbly and made a fine save to his left pushing the ball firmly behind for a corner.

We needed a little spark from somewhere and it arrived just before the half-hour mark and from a fairly predictable source. Joe Aribo played a lovely ball inside the Kilmarnock right-back for Majer to get onto. His ball into the box picked out Ryan Kent who shuffled the ball onto Brewster with his back to goal. As he played it back to Aribo once again, it felt as if the impetus of the attack had been lost. Perhaps feeling the same thing, Aribo took a couple of strides towards the edge of the penalty area and then unleashed a quite brilliant strike that left Antonio Santurro flailing helplessly in mid-air as the ball found the top corner. It was a magnificent goal from a player who had been universally outstanding all season. Quite honestly he was too good for Scotland, I was expecting a real battle to keep hold of him in the summer.

Five minutes later he should have added a second goal as, now playing with the liberation of a broken deadlock, Majer dropping deep and Kamara moving forward, switching the ball wide for Kent. Durmisi on the overlap available for a 1-2 with Kent and the winger standing the ball up the far post where Aribo arrived to meet with a header. The only thing wrong with the entire move was the finish, which he headed over the top when it looked rather easier to hit the net than not.

We had at least gotten the fans on our side now and even when Kiltie found space in behind once again three minutes before the break to force another fine save from McCrorie, they remained with us. By the time Mohamed El Makrini had headed against the post a couple of minutes after that I could feel things beginning to wobble amongst the faithful. The half-time break came at a good time as I could sense the boys needed a little breather and an opportunity to find themselves again.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 1-0 Kilmarnock

We spent the quarter of an hour break trying to recharge those tired minds and rub some life into those tired legs whilst trying to encourage them. Nothing too stressful, just remind them of what’s brought them this far and the last time we played Killie, the way that chances came our way the longer the game went on. We were still ahead, we just needed to get through the wall.

9 minutes after the restart, Lovro Majer arced a beautiful ball into the penalty area from a deep free kick maybe 15-yards inside the Killie half level with the right edge of the area. Connor Goldson had tracked the flight of the ball and rose to meet it with a perfect header that looped over the slightly out of position Santurro, who had started to come and then hesitated. and into the back of the net. 2-0, a 5^th of the season for the defender and a level of comfort.

Changes came over the next few minutes with Ross McCrorie coming on for Tavernier, Jordan Jones for Kent and I took the opportunity to introduce Cole McKinnon with half-an-hour remaining. The youngster got a really good reception from the home fans as he took to the field in place of the once again excellent Aribo.

Shortly after that last change Majer sent a corner in which was met at the far post by Brewster but he was only able to plant his header straight at Santurro. The goalkeeper’s clearance only found Aaron Hickey just inside our half. The full-back took the ball down, looked up and picked out the run of Morelos with a fine ball that was delivered into the Colombian’s path. Two touches later it had been despatched into the far corner of the net with superbly taken goal that had beaten Santurro all ends up.

3-0 and that really had sealed the deal with more than 25-minutes remaining. We’d be ten points ahead of Celtic, albeit having played a game extra.

Kilmarnock did respond positively to their credit, Kiltie and then Dom Thomas were denied firstly by a headed clearance by Ross McCrorie and then a well-judged catch from the other McCrorie.

Then Cole McKinnon had his first notable impact on the game with a sumptuous and well-measured ball through to pick out the run of Brewster. The striker did everything right, looking to go around Santurro yet as he slipped the ball goal-wards the goalkeeper made a recovery save every bit as good, if not better than Ross McCrorie’s had been at 0-0 against Dundee United at the weekend. Brewster couldn’t believe it but had the good grace to give the goalkeeper a pat of acknowledgement after he’d removed his head from his hands. From the corner Brewster then headed over under pressure and from a tricky acute angle.

With 20 minutes remaining Eamonn Brophy should have reduced the arrears when Santurro claimed a Majer corner well and then smashed a long kick downfield that saw the striker in between the two covering defenders. As he entered the penalty area, clear on goal, he got his effort horribly wrong and pulled his shot three or four yards wide of the post when, as an absolutely minimum, Rob McCrorie should have been forced into a save of some sort.

We continued to push on in search of more goals, a Ross McCrorie cross was partially headed clear. Kamara found Jones with a lovely touch off and the substitute crashed a strike that beat the dive of Santurro but thundered back off the upright and away to safety.

With a dozen minutes remaining, Jones went desperately close again. Majer, who had produced his finest performance to date in a Rangers shirt, came deep to collect possession from Goldson and then in a quarterback-like role he caressed a wonderful ball into the path of the winger. He held off the challenge of his marker, worked the ball onto his right foot and drove a low effort across the face of the goal, no more than 6-inches the wrong side of the post.

Two minutes after that a Majer free kick found Edmundson at the far post rising above his marker. He did superbly to head the ball back across goal where it fell nicely for Jones. The strike as the ball fell beat Santurro but rebounded off the same upright as he’d hit ten minutes before. The sub, with a touch more fortune, could easily have collected a hat-trick in the 25-odd minutes he’d been on the field, his head was shaking with absolute disbelief once again as the frame of the goal had denied him.

The second half performance had been excellent and we’d managed to collect another very important 3 points in our pursuit of the title. We’d exceeded the 80 point mark and at the same time the 80 goal mark and had proven a thoroughly efficient and productive evening’s work.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 3-0 Kilmarnock

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavenier (Ross.McCrorie), Edmundson, Goldson, Hickey, Aribo (McKinnon), Kamara, Majer, Kent (Jones), Morelos, Brewster

[he_2]

Table as at Tuesday 2^nd March 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	29	26	3	0	82	16	81	66
Glasgow Celtic	28	22	5	1	71	14	71	57
Heart of Midlothian	29	13	7	9	41	39	46	2
Motherwell	29	13	6	10	39	32	45	7
Kilmarnock	29	11	7	11	34	38	40	-4
Dundee United	28	9	8	11	29	38	35	-9
Aberdeen	29	9	3	17	33	47	30	-14
Livingston	29	6	10	13	34	49	28	-15
Hibernian	29	6	10	13	28	46	28	-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	29	6	8	15	24	45	26	-21
St Mirren	29	4	12	13	22	48	24	-26
St Johnstone	29	6	5	18	21	43	23	-22

 

Tuesday 2^nd March 2021

Rangers

3

0

Kilmarnock

 

[he_2]

Sunday 7^th March 2021: Hibernian v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)

Venue: Easter Road

Att: 20,421

Managerial Record v Hibernian: P 8 W 5 D 2 L 1 F 20 A 8

This, for me, marked the start of the run-in. Nine fixtures remaining and there was something over the horizon that you knew was there but not quiet visible yet. Like when you were a kid and going to a favourite seaside haunt and you knew you weren’t far away but no matter how much you strained, you couldn’t get that first glimpse of the sea in the distance.

A win at steadily improving Hibs would take us a little closer to that eventual dream of a first SPL title since 2011. With Celtic not playing until the following day when they were to visit Dundee United, we had the opportunity to extend our lead to 13 points. Even with a couple of games in hand on us, that was an imposing lead we’d managed to build since the resumption after the new year.

Filip Helander was still missing through suspension so George Edmundson made his 3^rd consecutive start. Reza Durmisi returned at left-back whilst further forward Troy Parrott returned for the rested Rhian Brewster. Otherwise the side was the same as that which had begun in midweek against Kilmarnock.

The home side had an early chance to take the lead, Stevie Mallan swung a corner over from the left wing and it was met at the far post by the head of Edgar Barreto. Under pressure from a defender the effort didn’t trouble Robby McCrorie and went over the top.

A couple of minutes later a promising move broke down amidst a packed Hibs defence and they broke well. The ball was sent forward for Bendtner who took it down, turned and then played a super ball into the path of Daryl Horgan who had gotten in behind Durmisi and was able to work himself space for an effort at goal. This time Robby McCrorie was called into action and he did well to make a decent save and hold onto the ball, even though there was no striker sniffing around for any rebound.

Finally, after 13 minutes we managed to fashion something ourselves. Lovro Majer received the ball and ran at the penalty area, shooting from the edge of the box. It rebounded off a green shirt into the path of Morelos who struck one first-time from just inside the box. It flew narrowly over the top and into the 1000 or so away fans packed behind the goal. A little wayward but at least it served notice that we had, in fact, bothered to turn up and weren’t just making up the numbers.

Still something wasn’t quite right, Joe Aribo uncharacteristically got caught in possession and Hibs were quick to launch another counter attack. Lucas Boye exchanged a lovely 1-2 with Rafal Wolski and found himself able to get a shot away at goal, albeit from quite a tight angle and again McCrorie was forced to his knees to gather.

Then, within a minute Ryan Kent went on one of his surging runs, cutting in-field from the left flank towards the penalty area. Where usually he would shift the ball onto his right foot, this time he went with his left and the ball screwed horribly off the outside of his boot as he lost his balance and it went harmlessly wide of the target.

Kent went closer with his next effort, albeit once again perhaps not selecting the wisest of options when he again went on a run down the left, cut infield but with the angle so acute that he should have cut the ball back for Parrott or Morelos instead of trying to beat Ofir Marciano from an impossible angle. He hit the post and the ball rebounded to safety but the chances of him scoring were at best, minimal.

As the match approached the half-hour mark, neat build-up saw Horgan released down the right flank. Durmisi came across to meet him and as Horgan shifted the ball past him on the outside the Dane clipped the winger’s ankles and brought him down. Free kick and the official didn’t hesitate to bring out a second yellow card for Durmisi. The red followed and we were down to 10-men.

As soon as Durmisi had clipped Horgan I told Aaron Hickey to get himself stripped off, I knew the second yellow was coming. As Durmisi trudged off disconsolately and Gary Mac was summoning the attention of the 4^th official to make the change I had a quick word with the substitute. ‘Usual thing, Aaron, continue to attack from deep, get yourself forward as much as you can. You won’t have Kent ahead of you, he’s coming off so there should be plenty of space for you to attack. Same role as normal, okay?’

‘Aye, got it boss.’

The board went up and I could tell from his body language that Ryan Kent was absolutely furious at being the man sacrificed. As he went past me I took his hand and put my hand on his shoulder. ‘Listen, Ryan,’ I said in his ear quietly. ‘This is purely tactical, pal, no reflection on your performance. I know it’s disappointing but I made the change for the good of the team.' He said nothing but took the proffered track-suit top and sat down in the dugout with an audible thump.

I wasn’t overly concerned at being a man short, we’d shown over the course of the season again and again that we could cope with that and three minutes after going a man down that was shown again. Hickey picked up a loose ball on the edge of our penalty area and played it forward for Glen Kamara, he looked up and played a long ball in behind the Hibs centre-halves that Morelos sprang onto like a whippet. The Colombian was unchallenged as he raced into the penalty area and then hammered a low shot into the bottom corner of the net beyond the exposed Marciano to give us the advantage with his 20^th goal of the campaign.

Now, after such a confident start it was Hibs who were error strewn as they looked to force their way back into the contest. Less than two minutes before the interval in almost carbon copy style, the only difference being that the ball came from Hickey instead of Kamara, Morelos once again galloped clear and from almost the same spot rifled a strike this time into the top corner of the net beyond Marciano to double our lead and really leave Hibs up against it going into the second half.

HALF TIME: Hibernian 0-2 Glasgow Rangers

Both goals had been relatively route one in creation but anything but in execution, Alfie Morelos was continuing his hot streak and proving the difference between the sides at the break. I was a lot happier than I’d thought I’d have been half-an-hour in when Durmisi was dismissed and urged the boys to stay compact out of possession and to try and stretch Hibs when we got the ball.

Almost immediately from the restart a ball forward by Edmundson saw Morelos help it on and Parrott outmuscle his marker before surging through on goal. I’d have put my house on Morelos scoring had it been him but Parrott hesitated for a split second before shooting, as if trying to make up his mind. Marciano read his intentions and made a fine save to keep it at 2-0 and Hibs’ smouldering hopes alive.

A couple of minutes later, Majer sent a free kick in from the left that was met at the far post by Edmundson. The ball cannoned away off the upright before being cleared. The game them settled down and little happened in the next 25 minutes or so. Cole McKinnon came on again whilst James Tavernier received a final warning whilst on a caution so he came off for Jon Flanagan.

The ball over the top that had provided us with so much success in the closing stages of the first period continued to do so after the break. In the 72^nd minute it was Edmundson that sent Morelos scampering in behind once again. This time, as he pulled the trigger, Ryan Porteous appeared from nowhere to produce a quite unbelievable sliding block to deflect the ball behind for a corner and save a likely goal.

All belief had long since drained out of the home side and we were able to see out the remained of the match in comfort. There was a nice nugget in the post-match interviews from Paul Lambert. ‘You think you’ve got them on the ropes down to 10-men,’ he said, ‘but then they’re able to switch to a Plan B or Plan C and kill you that way instead. They’re an absolute nightmare to play against.’

That was a nice touch and something I was quite proud of. We’d done a lot of work on tactics with a man down – there’d been times where we’ve had to! So, to hear that we’ve been doing things okay was pleasing to hear.

Even more pleasing was that situation in the league, 13 points clear of Celtic. That improved even further the following evening when The Bhoys were held to a 2-2 draw at Tannadice, dropping yet more points and ensuring that once they’d played their remaining game in hand, assuming we kept winning then we would find ourselves at least 9 points better off.

The sea was a mile or two closer than it had been.

FULL TIME: Hibernian 0-2 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier (Flanagan), Edmundson, Goldson, Durmisi, Aribo, Kamara (McKinnon), Majer, Kent (Hickey), Morelos, Parrott

[he_2]

Table as at Monday 8^th March 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	30	27	3	0	84	16	84	68
Glasgow Celtic	29	22	6	1	73	16	72	57
Heart of Midlothian	29	13	7	9	41	49	46	-8
Motherwell	30	13	6	11	39	33	45	6
Kilmarnock	30	11	7	12	34	41	40	-7
Dundee United	30	10	9	11	32	40	39	-8
Aberdeen	30	10	3	17	34	47	33	-13
Livingston	30	6	10	14	34	50	28	-16
Hibernian	30	6	10	14	28	48	28	-20
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	30	6	9	15	26	47	27	-21
St Johnstone	30	7	5	18	24	43	26	-19
St Mirren	30	4	13	13	24	50	25	-26

 

Friday 5^th March

Motherwell

0

1

Aberdeen

 

Saturday 6^th March

Dundee Utd	1	0	Livingston
Inverness	2	2	St Mirren
Kilmarnock	0	3	St Johnstone

 

Sunday 7^th March

Hibs

0

2

Rangers

 

Monday 8^th March

Dundee Utd

2

2

Celtic

[he_2]

Sunday 14^th March 2021: Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)

Venue: Caledonian Stadium

Att: 6,575

Managerial Record v Inverness Caledonian Thistle: P 2 W 2 D 0 L 0 F 6 A 0

Our travels continued with a visit to strugglers Inverness Caledonian Thistle in a game that kicked-off 2-hours before Celtic visited Livingston. Another opportunity then to heap the pressure on our city-rivals by picking up three points and extending that lead to a nigh-on unassailable 15 points. Again, even taking into account their two games in hand, that was an extremely tall order.

Despite the fact that they were just two points off the bottom of the table, Caley Thiste came into the game in good shape. They’d lost just twice in their previous 10 league matches and with 8 points coming from their previous five games, confidence amongst the highlanders was, well, sky high. They’d begun Celtic’s comparative nose-dive in form with a 1-1 draw at the Caledonian Stadium at the end of January and that had served as a useful cautionary note for me to use to keep the boys grounded as we prepared for the journey north. It was a match that held a lot of significance for both sides.

There was a return to action for Filip Helander following his ban, George Edmundson dropped to the bench whilst alongside the Swede Aaron Hickey came in for the suspended Reza Durmisi. The only other change came in midfield where I handed Cole McKinnon a first start, allowing Joe Aribo a rest having been ever-present in the previous 14 matches. The youngster had impressed in his two substitute appearances to date and I wanted to give him an opportunity from the start to see how he got on.

The first opening after a cagey opening fell to Troy Parrott who latched onto a long ball forward, took the ball down and then horribly skewed his attempted left-footed shot across goal. So bad was it that the Caley left-back picked up possession and was able to clear.

On 25 minutes the deadlock was broken. Lovro Majer found James Tavernier who, from the by-line, stood the ball up to the edge of the 6-yard box. Jamie McCart won the header but the ball fell for Glen Kamara. The Finn headed it on for Morelos who swivelled and shot first time, left-footed, it was blocked by a defender and then Majer threw himself at the loose ball to try and turn it towards goal. Harper tried to hack it clear but barely connected with the ball and Morelos, tired of the nonsense took it upon himself to finally hammer the ball home from four-yards out beyond the helpless Mark Ridgers and give us the lead.

Five minutes later and Kamara once again picked up a loose ball from a headed clearance. This time he fed Majer who from just outside the penalty area looked to curl one into the top corner and narrowly missed, only by a matter of a yard or so as Ridgers flew through mid-air in vain.

Looking to turn the screw, Ryan Kent – who had been racing around like a man determined not to be removed again – produced a fine challenge on David Carson, picked himself up and came away with the ball. Cutting infield and over halfway, he then lifted a lovely ball over the top where as it fell inside the penalty area, Parrott took the ball down on his left instep and then before Ridgers could set himself, coolly guided the ball with his right foot inside the far post with a beautifully taken caressed finish.

2-0 up in half-an-hour and those watching from afar could have been forgiven for thinking that might be game over. It very much wasn’t.

Ten minutes later, superb build-up involving Cameron Harper, Tom Walsh, Olly Lee and Ethan Ross saw the latter slip the ball into the path of James Keatings who, first time, swept the ball beyond Robby McCrorie and into the back of the net to reduce the arrears.

Just before the break, in stoppage time, Kamara made an interception and found Aaron Hickey on the left. The full-back found Cole McKinnon at the second attempt with a low cross and the young midfielder saw his shot blocked by some brave defending. McKinnon regained possession and laid the ball into the path of the onrushing Tavernier. Taking the ball in his stride the former Bristol City man fired a powerful strike a fraction too high and the ball fizzed just over the top of the target, Ridgers once again at full stretch.

HALF TIME: Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1-2 Glasgow Rangers

We needed a third goal and even then, probably a fourth to kill off the hosts. Their approach play had been measured, full of enterprise and confidence and had been rewarded by that fine goal to reduce the arrears. It was clear that they would continue to play football and try to build with a passing game so I urged the boys to try and bite a little more, to press a touch higher once again, especially in the middle of the park.

Within three minutes of the restart Goldson had won a header inside our penalty area and McKinnon completed the clearance with a long ball over halfway. It found Morelos who produced a magical first touch to beat his marker and with Parrott streaking up in support, we found ourselves in a 2-on-1 situation. The Colombian ran in on goal and feinted to try and go himself, instead squaring the ball to his left leaving Parrott with the simplest of tap-ins from 8-yards out to clinch that all important third goal and restore our 2-goal cushion.

The hosts continued to pass the ball undeterred, Tom Walsh was played in by Charlie Trafford’s adroit ball but was only able to shoot straight at McCrorie and then Brewster found himself in on goal after beating off the challenge of a defender, seizing onto Kamara’s pass. Once again, the striker’s effort lacked conviction and his strike was too close to Ridgers and the goalkeeper saved at his near post.

Kamara then did well to get the ball across into the penalty area. Brewster showed excellent strength to hold off his marker and lay the ball into the path of Parrott. I really thought he was going to complete his hat-trick but rushed his shot and rather than planting the ball to one side or the other of the goalkeeper, instead fired straight at Ridgers who clung on well.

The game moved deep into stoppage time and as it did so, I felt much more relaxed than I had previously. Although all of the stats suggested we’d been comfortable, the reality on the field was different. McKinnon sent a lovely cross into the box which Parrott glanced towards goal. His effort lacked power and Ridgers made a good save down to his right. The goalkeeper’s clearance saw the ball worked to the left-hand side. Cameron Harper knocked it back for Roddy MacGregor to send a floated cross into the box. As it fell, Ethan Ross watched it all the way onto his foot and whipped a quite magnificent volley into the bottom corner of the net with McCrorie nothing more than a startled spectator.

The whistle went as we restarted and I breathed a significant sigh of relief. We’d managed to secure the three points and take another giant step towards the title. We didn’t speak of it but we all knew it was there, looming ever larger and within our reach.

A couple of hours after we’d finished, Celtic were only able to draw 0-0 at home to Livingston. I’ll be perfectly honest, that didn’t harm our prospects one single bit.

FULL TIME: Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-3 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier (Ross.McCrorie), Goldson, Helander, Hickey, McKinnon, Kamara, Majer (Jones), Kent, Morelos (Brewster), Parrott

[he_2]

Table as at Sunday 14^th March 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	31	28	3	0	87	18	87	69
Glasgow Celtic	30	22	7	1	73	16	73	57
Heart of Midlothian	30	14	7	9	43	39	49	4
Motherwell	31	13	6	12	39	35	45	4
Kilmarnock	31	12	7	12	35	41	43	-6
Dundee United	31	10	9	12	32	41	39	-9
Aberdeen	31	11	3	17	36	48	36	-12
Hibernian	31	7	10	14	31	49	31	-18
Livingston	31	6	11	14	34	50	29	-16
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	31	6	9	16	28	50	27	-22
St Johnstone	31	7	5	19	25	46	26	-21
St Mirren	31	4	13	14	25	52	25	-27

 

Friday 12^th March

Dundee Utd

0

1

Kilmarnock

 

Saturday 13^th March

Hibs	3	1	St Johnstone
Motherwell	0	2	Hearts
St Mirren	1	2	Aberdeen

 

Sunday 14^th March

Inverness	2	3	Rangers
Celtic	0	0	Livingston

[he_2]

Saturday 20^th March 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Motherwell (SPL)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 50,309

Managerial Record v Motherwell: P 8 W 6 D 1 L 1 F 22 A 8

We’d managed to reach the penultimate match of the regular season and, thankfully, the final international break of the campaign as well. Following our match with Motherwell, those of an international class would disappear to all far-flung corners of Europe and, in Alfie Morelos’ case, South America, before we reconvened in April for the final game of the regular season at St Mirren, the Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen and the final league run-in.

Although I found the international break nothing short of a nuisance, there was a degree of anxiety there around players picking up knocks and suchlike. If there were any positives to take out of the break though, it was that I could get those lads not involved in any international squads rested and fully focused on the task ahead, not only in the league but the cup too.

Motherwell were still right in the fight for a European spot, even though their form had been less than inspiring. Since we’d beaten them in the Cup back in January, they’d picked up just 7 points from nine matches. Where it looked as though they’d turned the corner with wins over Caley Thistle and St Mirren at the end of February, defeats against Aberdeen and Hearts had rather punctured their hopes. Not only that, but they’d scored just 5 times in their previous dozen league matches. Although there was no question of them missing out on the top-6 shoot-out, Stephen Robinson was beginning to feel a little bit of heat for his side’s rotten form.

So, an easy three points lay ahead then? Of course, I didn’t expect that and I made sure the boys didn’t either. Reza Dumisi and Joe Aribo returned to action, Aaron Hickey missing out through a little knock and Cole McKinnon returning to the bench in the two changes from the side that had overcome the dogged efforts of Caley Thistle.

Understandably, Robbo had set his side up to contain and disrupt, there was a complete lack of confidence amongst his men that wasn’t really conducive to flowing, open, attacking football. They did their jobs well with a succession of well-timed challenges, robust tackles and niggly fouls disrupting our rhythm and beginning to frustrate us both on the pitch and in the stands.

Eight minutes before the break, Tavernier found some space down the right flank after retrieving a slightly mis-placed pass from Kamara and swung a lovely cross in to the far post. It was met on the run by Parrott who got more than enough power on his header, unfortunately it was a shade too high and rippled the roof of the net on its way behind.

A couple of minutes later a really good move from Motherwell saw Andy Halliday play the ball into Chris Long who, in turn, found Jack Byrne bursting through from midfield beyond the last defender. Rob McCrorie came out to meet him and as the midfielder looked to dink the ball over him, McCrorie popped up a strong arm to paw the ball away and behind for a corner kick. That was a moment of real concern that we’d been fortunate to survive.

Two minutes before the break we forced a corner kick down the left flank. Lovro Majer floated it into the heart of the penalty area. Morelos had peeled off his defender to meet it on the edge of the 6-yard box and his thunderous header beat Trevor Carson all ends up as it flew into the back of the net. Finally! We’d found the breakthrough and the Colombian striker had continued his outstanding 2021 with his 5^th goal in four matches, his 12^th since the new year break and 23^rd in total for the season.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 1-0 Motherwell

It had been a real slog but we’d matched Motherwell’s work-rate and effort meaning that the moment of quality that had been produced by M&M, Majer and Morelos, was the difference between the two sides. ‘Keep a clean sheet at all costs now, boys.’ I implored at the break. ‘We don’t want to give them any kind of encouragement or confidence. The longer they go without scoring the easier it’ll become for us. Keep battling, keep fighting fire with fire and get those points on the board.’

Six minutes after the restart, Goldson met a ball forward with a firm header and Kent picked up the ball deep. Embarking on a mazy 40-yard run over halfway and towards the Motherwell penalty area he passed out to Durmisi who was getting forward well. The Dane’s cross eluded both Parrott and Morelos and was headed clear at the far post. There was Tavernier lurking on the edge of the box and as it dropped he struck a viciously dipping volley which fizzed fractionally over the top to a chorus of oohs and ahhs from the crowd. Had it been a touch lower it would have given Carson no chance at all and there’d likely have been no way back for the visitors.

Whilst there was just a single goal in it though, we were vulnerable. A ball over the top from Liam Polworth saw Halliday get in behind a ball-watching Tavernier. McCrorie made some sort of save from the winger’s effort but didn’t get it clear. Goldson should have cleared but Halliday at full stretch blocked him off and also managed to turn the ball towards the empty net. Desperately McCrorie flung himself at the ball and managed to get a fist to it at full stretch to get it away from Halliday before Goldson finally completed the clearance. That was close and set the nerves a-jangling once again.

A couple of minutes after that escape Aribo found Majer on the right edge of the penalty area. The midfielder worked the ball onto his left foot and with a yard and a half of space, looked to curl one just inside the far post. He’d attempted this on a couple of occasions in recent weeks and gone close, there was no difference this time as the ball went a yard wide of the far upright. As and when he got one of those right, it would be something to savour.

The game went into the final fifteen minutes and there was plenty of tension in the air. McKinnon, who had replaced Kamara, swung a lovely ball left for Durmisi to collect. He attacked his full-back, jinking this way and that before going around the outside and getting the ball in towards the far post where it was met by a bullet header from Morelos. It looked to be heading in until Carson made a magnificent save, diving to his right and managing to hold on as well.

From Carson’s clearance neither centre-half attacked the ball and Long took the ball down before playing an impudent back-heel in behind for James Scott to run onto. One touch to settle and then a second to shoot low towards goal. This time McCrorie’s save had rather more conviction behind it and a firm right hand pushed it away.

Things were still very much in the balance with two minutes to go when two balls in from the left caused a little bit of angst in the visitor’s penalty area. The first was met first time by Majer who drilled a shot against a defender’s body and then the second found Rhian Brewster at the near post, he glanced his header towards the far corner, but Carson once again was alert and made a fine save.

Finally, after four anxious minutes of stoppage time the game came to an end. I was straight over to Robbo, offered by hand and a generous word. ‘I know this counts for nothing, but you deserved a point there, Robbo.’ I said. ‘Hard luck, mate.’

‘Ah, thanks there, Jones. That sums us up recently. Chances created but sweet bugger all composure in front of goal.’

‘Stick at it, pal, it’ll turn.’ I patted him on the back as he wondered off down the tunnel and I waited to applaud the boys off. We’d ridden our luck a little and not been anywhere near our fluent best, but we’d come away with three more absolutely crucial points that took us into the 90s.

A fortnight now to rest, recover, reset and plan for the final six weeks or so of the campaign. Could we make it the most memorable in a decade for the Gers faithful?

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 1-0 Motherwell

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Helander, Goldson, Durmisi, Aribo, Kamara (McKinnon), Majer, Kent (Jones), Morelos, Parrott (Brewster)

[he_2]

Table as at Sunday 21^st March 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	32	29	3	0	88	18	90	70
Glasgow Celtic	32	24	7	1	76	17	79	59
Heart of Midlothian	32	14	8	10	44	41	50	3
Motherwell	32	13	6	13	39	36	45	3
Kilmarnock	32	12	8	12	37	43	44	-6
Dundee United	32	10	9	13	32	42	39	-10
Aberdeen	32	12	3	17	37	48	39	-11
Hibernian	32	7	11	14	33	51	32	-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	32	7	9	16	29	50	30	-21
Livingston	32	6	11	15	34	51	29	-17
St Johnstone	32	7	5	20	26	48	26	-22
St Mirren	32	4	14	14	26	53	26	-27

 

Wednesday 17^th March

Celtic

1

0

Hearts

 

Friday 19^th March

Aberdeen

1

0

Dundee Utd

 

Saturday 19^th March

Hearts	1	1	St Mirren
Kilmarnock	2	2	Hibernian
Livingston	0	1	Inverness
Rangers	1	0	Motherwell

 

Sunday 21^st March

St Johnstone

1

2

Celtic

 

[he_2]

Saturday 3^rd April 2021: St Mirren v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)

Venue: Simple Digital Arena

Att: 8,023

Managerial Record v St Mirren: P 5 W 4 D 1 L 0 F 12 A 1

The international break passed without significant incident or fresh injuries picked up. We were able to welcome back Ryan Jack into the fold ahead of the visit to St Mirren who were in desperate trouble at the bottom of the table. Our previous meeting had seen the end of Jim Goodwin’s tenure in charge in the final match of 2020. Gus MacPherson guided them to 7 points out of a possible 9 in January and looked a shoo-in to take the job permanently.

He declined, however, and they appointed the former Spurs defender and Hibs manager Colin Calderwood at the beginning of February after he’d impressed at Cambridge United south of the border. In 7 league matches since his appointment the Saints had failed to win and picked up just two draws. That had seen them drop to the foot of the table, albeit on goal difference going into this match in Paisley.

With James Tavernier missing due to bookings accumulated Ryan Jack came in at right back, Joe Aribo took another little breather, allowing Cole McKinnon to continue his development in midfield and Rhian Brewster returned up front, hungry to get himself back amongst the goals after a fairly paltry return of just the one goal since the new year.

No more than 12 minutes were on the clock when we should have taken the lead. A lovely move from back to front that saw Goldson sweep a lovely ball wide for Durmisi to run onto and attack. He sent a terrific low ball in for Brewster whose first touch pushed him a little wider than he’d have liked. Turning back onto his right foot he cut the ball back for either Majer or Morelos to look to finish. Something rather got lost in Colombo-Croat relations and they ended up getting in each-other’s way as they both tried to apply the finishing touch. That confusion allowed the Saints to clear their lines.

As the first half approached its halfway point, a free kick forward saw Ilkay Dumus glide a lovely header into the path of Jermaine Hylton who had spun in between Jack and Helander. The forward took a touch and then fired a powerful strike beating McCrorie at his near post and giving the home side a lead. I stood there dumbstruck as the ground, formerly known as Love Street, erupted. As I stood there, silent, deep in thought Gary Mac nudged my elbow and pointed at the far side. The assistant was stood with his flag raised and after consultation, the referee ruled the goal out for offside. Replays later that evening showed the decision to be at best marginal and at worst, incorrect. I’d have been particularly peeved if I’d been the ones to have such a goal ruled out, we’d gotten away with one there since neither the defending nor the goalkeeping had been particularly clever.

A couple of minutes later and I had to take Jacko off, he’d turned his ankle and was struggling. On went Ross McCrorie at right-back meaning that any reshuffle was limited.

The Saints were pretty well organised and made things very difficult for us in the first half an hour. Then Ryan Kent got down the left-hand side and sent a cross into the 6-yard box. It was met by the head of Brewster who forced a decent block from Cameron Mackay in the Saints goal. Majer then tried to follow up and found his effort blocked, Kamara then throwing himself at the loose ball trying to turn it in, three defenders got in the way and after a scramble, Mackay returned everyone to calm by pouncing on the loose ball.

We’d made something of a habit of scoring late in the first half and this time was no different. A corner kick from Majer was swung into the ‘mixer’ deliciously. Brewster ghosted in off the far post to meet the cross with a bullet header that he sent soaring beyond Mackay high into the net from about 5-yards out. The Liverpool loanee was absolutely delighted to have gotten himself back onto the scoresheet and ran off to celebrate with the goal’s creator. Deadlock broken and a half-time advantage.

HALF TIME: St Mirren 0-1 Glasgow Rangers

There was little to say at the break, the boys knew they’d gotten away with one in a big while. I urged them to make sure in the second half that we rendered any complaints moot by taking the game fully away from the Saints. I felt that opening goal would have an impact on the hosts psychologically, they’d have taken a lot of confidence from going into the break level so to concede five minutes beforehand would play on their minds.

Ross McCrorie picked up a return from Morelos after a throw-in shortly after the resumption and he lifted a delicate ball into the box. Brewster met it but wasn’t able to get anything towards goal, instead he cleverly headed it back for Kamara who was waiting on the edge of the penalty area and as it dropped the midfielder fire a volley which dipped late and flew narrowly wide of Mackay’s left-hand post with the goalkeeper clutching at thin air as he dived.

That set the tone for much of the half as we continued on the front foot. Just as the hour mark approached another corner kick from Majer, this time from the opposite flank, found recently introduced Troy Parrott leaping highest. He met the cross with a thunderous header which hit the underside of the crossbar, then Mackay’s back and rolled back into the back of the net. The goalkeeper probably had valid complaints that he had been interfered with by Brewster as he tried to get near Parrott’s effort, the Irishman’s strike partner perhaps backing into Mackay, but the referee was happy and although Troy did his level best to claim the strike, it went down as an own goal against the hapless Saints custodian.

If there was any question about our second goal there was absolutely none about our third just over a minute later. Goldson headed an Ilkay cross away and found Majer who turned and sent a lovely ball down the right flank for Parrott who had peeled out wide. Making progress deep into St Mirren territory he played an equally good ball infield for Brewster whose run hadn’t been tracked. Taking one touch to control he then sent his second across the exposed Mackay into the bottom corner to double his tally in the afternoon and take him to 20 for the season. He looked back to his clinical best in front of goal after a relatively lean patch.

3-0 with half-an-hour to play and there was absolutely no way back for the home side now. Meanwhile we began to display the sort of swagger one associates with potential league champions and with the visiting support in fine voice I won’t lie, there were goose bumps.

With 15 minutes remaining, Majer was at the forefront of things once again as he dropped deep to pick up a Ross McCrorie clearance and sent a superb through ball over the top for Parrott to run onto. The striker got into the penalty area and probably took one touch too many, forcing himself a touch wider than perhaps he’d have liked. As a result Mackay was able to get his angles right and make a very good stop at his near post to deny the on-loan Spurs man. From the corner Majer picked out Brewster again, this time at the far post, and although the striker got a good connection on his header, he was leaning back a little meaning that the ball went over the top to deny him his hat-trick.

With 6 minutes remaining Ross McCrorie picked up possession in the centre circle and found Cole McKinnon, his pass reached Majer and once again, he showed excellent vision to play a reverse ball in for Parrott. This time the striker was more sure of his touch and as Mackay came out to narrow the angle tucked the ball beyond him and into the far corner to make it 4-0. It was his 13^th goal of the campaign and one that he fully deserved for his impact since coming on.

By now we were in cruise control, first to every 50/50 ball, the visitors absolutely beaten. Parrott should have added another with three minutes remaining when he was played through by a poor backpass. He almost had too much time to pick his spot and as he tried to curl one into the bottom corner Mackay made a superb save to keep things relatively respectable scoreline wise.

Parrott wasn’t quite done with that one, another Majer corner found Parrott at the far post. He rose highest and looped a header toward goal. This time Mackay was beaten but unfortunately for Troy, the ball ended up just over the top and behind for a goal kick.

Kyle McAllister had a very late opening for a consolation go begging as he drove his shot wide of the post but that didn’t take the sheen off of what had been a thoroughly impressive showing and win. A break again from league action lay ahead as we focused on our next assignment, the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park against Aberdeen.

FULL TIME: St Mirren 0-4 Glasgow Rangers

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Jack (Ross.McCrorie), Helander, Goldson, Durmisi, Kamara (Aribo), McKinnon), Majer, Kent, Morelos (Parrott), Brewster

[he_2]

Table as at Saturday 3^rd April 2021:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Glasgow Rangers	33	30	3	0	92	18	93	74
Glasgow Celtic	33	25	7	1	78	17	82	61
Heart of Midlothian	33	14	9	10	44	41	51	3
Motherwell	33	13	6	14	41	39	45	2
Kilmarnock	33	12	8	13	37	45	44	-8
Dundee United	33	11	9	13	33	42	42	-9
Aberdeen	33	12	4	17	37	48	40	-11
Livingston	33	7	11	15	37	53	32	-16
Hibernian	33	7	11	15	33	52	32	-19
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	33	7	9	17	30	52	30	-22
St Johnstone	33	8	5	20	28	49	29	-21
St Mirren	33	4	14	15	26	57	26	-31

 

Saturday 3^rd April

Aberdeen	0	0	Hearts
Celtic	2	0	Kilmarnock
Hibernian	0	1	Dundee Utd
Inverness	1	2	St Johnstone
Motherwell	2	3	Livingston
St Mirren	0	4	Rangers

[he_2]

Sunday 11^th April 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Aberdeen (Scottish Cup Semi-Final)

Venue: Hampden Park

Att: 51,866

Managerial Record v Aberdeen: P 8 W 5 D 1 L 2 F 20 A 10

Before we could get on with attempting to win the league title we had the small matter of the semi-final of the Scottish FA Cup. Aberdeen were our opponents as we returned to Hampden Park for a third time inside 6-months and although we were odds-on favourites, this was a meeting of the two in-form sides in the country.

Under the tutelage of Gordon Strachan the Dons had undergone something of a transformation. Since losing 3-2 at Inverness in mid-February they had won 6 and drawn 1 of their previous 7 matches and ended up just two points shy of a top-6 finish after this barnstorming run. There was much for us to do then if we were to overcome them and get through to another final and with it the chance to at the very least complete the domestic cup double.

One of the toughest parts of the game and management is having to break bad news to players. On this occasion I had to pull Cole McKinnon to into the office the afternoon beforehand after training. I sat down behind my desk, he took a seat on one of the sofas lining the walls.

‘Okay, Cole. You’ve been outstanding for us over the past few weeks. You’ve not looked out of place at all in the side, you’ve imposed yourself on matches in the games you’ve played and have a really bright future ahead of you. I’m delighted with how you’ve taken to being with the first team and become part of the squad. However,’ I paused to take a sip of coffee, ‘unfortunately tomorrow I just can’t find a place for you in the 18-man squad. With the return to fitness of Ryan Jack and Scott Arfield I need their experience in-case we’re struggling and need to something to break them down.’

‘I know you’re probably disappointed, I would be in your position, but what I don’t want you to do is tot take this as some sort of comment on your efforts so far, it’s not at all. It’s simply a case of not having enough spaces for you I’m afraid.’

The boy did look disappointed, which was expected, I’d have questioned his attitude if he’d been all smiles and laughs. ‘I understand, gaffer. I had a feeling that might be the case.’

‘As I say, you’ve really done well for us and if guys weren’t returning to fitness you’d absolutely be in contention. I would like you to travel with the squad, to take part in the warm-up and be around the dressing room so you can get a bit of a feel for what these occasions are like, that’ll stand you in really good stead for the future.’ I told him. ‘Prepare as if you’re playing, which I know will be difficult, but soak up the atmosphere. I’m told it’s going to be a full house so will be quite an experience.’

We shook hands and he left the office, head down slightly. I’d hoped that I’d managed to soften the blow slightly but ultimately there was no easy way of leaving anyone out of such a big day.

As for who did make the cut. Reza Durmisi missed out through suspension so there was a return to action for Aaron Hickey at left-back whilst in midfield I went for the industry of Ryan Jack over the more creative wits of Glen Kamara. Troy Parrott came in up front for Rhian Brewster, who had failed a late fitness test, whilst Scott Arfield was fit enough for a return to the subs bench.

After I’d named the side it was off to do my media commitments for Sky and there was Leah, greeting me with a warm smile. ‘How are you feeling, Jones?’ she asked as my soundcheck question.

‘Not so bad, Leah. Not so bad. You well?’ I asked.

‘I’m grand, thanks!’ she beamed a smile at me before turning away to her sound engineer. ‘Okay, Jones, we’re going on in 10.’

I nodded and waited for the signal.

LY: Jones, Aberdeen are all that stand between you and a place in the William Hill Scottish Cup final. Just how excited are you by the possibility of winning this competition

Listen, I’d be lying if I stood here and said the prospect of winning the tournament hadn’t crossed my mind. When you get to the last-four in any competition your thoughts inevitably turn to hopefully getting to the final and winning it. But we have a heck of a challenge this afternoon against Aberdeen and our focus has been on that this week.

LY: How are you going to overcome the Scottish Cup’s best defence?

We’ve played Aberdeen enough this season to know that there are going to be opportunities for us. They may not be as plentiful as previous meetings, Gordon has them brilliantly drilled, but we have plenty of spark and it’s going to come down to making sure we’re clinical in front of goal.

LY: Rangers are undefeated in four matches against Aberdeen; does this give you an edge as kick-off approaches and if so, how much?

Form means nothing in matches like these. Cup ties are different to league matches and what happened in February when we last met means nothing. Same with our last meeting here in December. It means nothing. I would say it does perhaps give you a little more confidence knowing that you’ve got a good record against them and that hopefully some level of familiarity will give our boys some sort of edge, but I’d say that any real advantage is fairly minimal.

LY: Alan Forrest comes into this match having provided some impressive displays in midfield recently. Do you have a plan to stop him?

He’s a good player, isn’t he? But then so are a number of their boys. James Wilson, Lewis Ferguson, Craig Bryson – the list goes on. We’ve worked a lot on having them watched and trying to nullify their threat as best we can.

LY: Jones, thank you and good luck.

Thank you.

I gave her a smile before heading off down the tunnel to watch how the warm-up was progressing and take in some of the atmosphere as it continued to build.

‘You have to remain patient today, boys,’ I said to them just before they were summonsed into the tunnel. ‘They’re in great shape, Gordon’s got them working well both going forward and at the back. Don’t worry if it takes you 60-odd minutes to break them down, don’t worry if it’s still goal-less at 70 minutes. Believe in what we do, don’t get frustrated, keep moving the ball and probing for that moment, that gap.’

I looked to my left to where the defenders were sat, each one looking at me. ‘Stay compact and keep your shape boys, be strong and stand your ground. They’ll probably pepper the area from deep positions, like we’ve seen in the week, so Robby, you’re in command. If it’s yours, demand the damn ball. If you want Conor or Filip to deal with it bully them into dealing with it.’

Taking a moment to scan around the room, observing who was psyching themselves up and who was showing some nervous energy, who was raring to go and who was showing admirable calm. I won’t lie, there were plenty of butterflies somersaulting around my insides.

‘Good luck, boys. We all know what’s just over the horizon. Go get it!’

I finished just as the buzzer went and the boys leapt up, roaring their motivational roars before filing out into the tunnel to take their place alongside the red shirted opposition.

I squeezed past, went and shook Gordon’s hand, wishing him well for what lay ahead and then took my place in the dugout waiting for the first whistle to settle those few nerves that were bubbling away.

A cagey opening in which both sides picked up early cautions gave way to Ryan Kent picking up possession deep in his own half and launching a fairly hopeful ball forward. He judged it well, though, and found Alfie Morelos skipping in behind the Aberdeen back-four. Firing an angled drive at goal, it was a little too close to Joe Lewis who made a good save and pushed the ball behind for a corner.

In the 17^th minute after an attack broke down, Ryan Jack’s cross being headed away, Luca de la Torre picked up possession and sent a raking ball over the top which fell perfectly for James Wilson. The former Manchester United man’s first touch was excellent and his second even better as he drove the ball left-footed across Robby McCrorie and just inside the far post. Off he went to celebrate yet a fraction of a second afterwards the shrill of the referee’s whistle went. The flag was up on the far side, Wilson had strayed half a yard offside and the goal was chalked off. For the second week in a row at 0-0 we’d benefitted from a tight offside call, this one though seemed just about right.

Just 8 minutes later and a low cross into the box from Majer found its way to the far post where Ryan Kent met it first-time with an effort towards goal. It rebounded off a defender into the path of Joe Aribo who tried to measure one first time into the bottom corner. Unfortunately, he got his radar slightly wrong and directed the ball inches wide of the post.

With 8 minutes remaining until the break, Alan Forrest sent in a free kick from the right-hand side, near the by-line. It was headed back by Max Kilman to the edge of the box where it was met by Scott Wright who struck an effort first time. It hit the body of Helander, falling nicely for Craig Bryson who turned it towards goal. Thankfully he wasn’t able to get a great deal of purchase on his effort and McCrorie was able to save fairly comfortably.

Play swiftly shifted to the other end and Joe Aribo played a lovely through ball that pierced the Aberdeen back-four allowing Troy Parrott in. Joe Lewis came out to narrow the angle and as Parrott looked to slide the ball beyond him did really well to get down and make a fine save, turning the ball behind for a corner kick.

That was it for chances in the first half and the boys came back in level.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 0-0 Aberdeen

‘You’re doing fine, boys, absolutely fine. We knew it was going to be a slog and a battle. They’ll be cock-a-hoop at coming in level,’ I said. ‘Keep passing the ball, keep moving off the ball, keep working them hard. Chances will come and they’ll get tired.’ I really believed that, I felt that we were still very much in the box seat, very much in control of the tie and favourites to get into the final. It wasn’t all motivational bluster by any stretch of the imagination.

We quickly hit our straps after the restart, James Tavernier winning a challenge and picking up possession, surging over halfway before pinging a lovely ball over the Aberdeen right-back for Ryan Kent to take down. The winger took the ball down, held off his marker and ran in on goal. Lewis once again got his angles absolutely right in a one-on-one situation and made an excellent block at his near post.

A couple of minutes later and Tavernier shaped to cross before slipping Morelos instead. The Colombian had the choice of shooting from an acute angle or going across the face of goal where there were two blue shirts waiting. He chose the latter and Parrott saw his effort well blocked before Majer, following up, suffered the same thing and Mikkel Kirkeskov gleefully hacked the loose ball clear for a throw-in.

It felt as though the pressure was building and that if either side scored, it would be us.

We should have done in the 66^th minute. After Aribo had broken up an Aberdeen attack, once again the ball through the middle caught the Dons out and we found ourselves breaking with 3-on-3. Lovro Majer latched onto the ball and as Lewis came out to narrow the angle he selfishly slipped the ball to his right leaving Morelos with what looked like a simple tap-in. For some completely inexplicable reason the Colombian chose to go for power and leathered the ball wide of the empty, gaping, hungry net. The effort was rightly met by loud and echoing howls of derision from the Aberdeen faithful as Morelos fell to his knees in disbelief.

At that stage with a chance so gilt-edged it was blinding having gone begging I began to wonder. Would it in-fact be our day or not?

With 20 minutes remaining, Tavernier broke up an Aberdeen attack and surged forward on a 60-yard run forward. Rather than pumping an aimless ball into the penalty area he cut it back for Glen Kamara – on for the tiring Ryan Jack – who played a simple pass for Majer. On his left foot the Croatian unleashed a vicious strike with very little backlift that fizzed beyond Lewis and into the back of the net to finally break the deadlock. It capped another virtuoso performance by Majer, his first goal for the club and as expected, it was well worth the wait. On watching it back, Lewis will probably be a little disappointed not to have stopped at since it didn’t end up right in the corner, but no matter, we were ahead!

I immediately brought Majer off, I’m sure to plenty of raised eyebrows, replacing him with the more industrious Scott Arfield to try and help shore things up a little now we had the lead.

Three minutes after going ahead and his introduction, Arfield went desperately close to adding to the lead. Receiving a pass from Ryan Kent he sent a low angled drive towards goal that Lewis did brilliantly to get a hand to and deflect onto the post. It cannoned off towards the left edge of the penalty area where Troy Parrott retrieved it. Arcing a cross to the far post it was met by Kent who simply directed his header back across Lewis and just inside the far post to double our advantage. There was absolute pandemonium breaking out amongst the fans and Kent, who had just ended a goal drought lasting 9 matches ran off to celebrate in the corner.

Now I was able to breathe much more easily. We weren’t home and dry, but we were looking in decent shape as we headed into the final quarter of an hour.

We were comfortable, Aberdeen’s flush was busted, they had nothing left. In the 89^th minute Filip Helander met James Tavernier’s cross at the far post and thundered a header past Lewis to make it 3-0 and ensure a very smooth progress into the final. I was absolutely delighted.

After the game, I allowed the players off the leash to celebrate and I caught some of Gordon’s press conference.

‘I thought we were magnificent, I thought we played really well. But once they got that first goal they completely suffocated us, they’re a terrific side. No complaints from me, Jones has done so well with them. I wish them well for the final.’

That was a classy moment from the former Scotland boss and I felt compelled to thank him just before I took my place in front of the hacks.

‘Not at all, I meant every word.’ He replied.

I sat myself down, poured myself a glass of water and, as I always did, tapped each of the microphones in front of me. Don’t ask me why, I just enjoyed doing that.

Petar Genchev kicked things off.

PG: Congratulations on guiding Rangers to a second consecutive Scottish Cup final. Can you retain the trophy?

Thank you. Getting to the final was something we wanted to achieve as a group, something we identified before the season began so to achieve that is very pleasing. It’s a great moment for everyone concerned. From a personal point of view it’s going to be nice to be facing my old club here at Hampden as well.

Kara Warwick: That’s another clean sheet for you today and now more than 270 minutes Robby McCrorie last conceded. How much of that is down to your goalkeeper’s performances?

I’m lucky to have such a great back-four and they all play their part. All of the hard work we put in on the training ground is paying off and having someone like Robby in goal behind the back four is brilliant because if anything does get beyond them, invariably he does what’s required to keep his clean sheet in-tact.

Leah Young: It took a little longer for your side to get the breakthrough than you must have hoped. How relieved were you when Majer scored?

I was fairly relaxed until Alfie missed that chance. I’d urged the boys to remain patient and not to start forcing things as I knew Aberdeen would be a really tough nut to crack. I’ll admit to wondering when Alfie blazed wide just whether it would be our day or not but then five minutes later Lovro scored. Getting the second goal so soon after really helped settle the nerves too.

PG: Speaking of Lovro, he picked up the Man of the Match award today. How did you rate his performance?

He was outstanding. He has been since he joined the club so that was no surprise. He’s a quality player and he’s settled into Scottish football and the Scottish way of life a lot quicker than I expected him to. He deserves all the plaudits for his performance today.

That was it, there were no more questions and I was able to make my way upstairs to go and see some of the sponsors and a very happy chairman in Dave King. It was all back-slaps and bubbly as I mingled, took congratulations and talked about the game and season so far with some of those who backed the club with some of their much-needed financial muscle.

It had been another very memorable day at Hampden Park, yet I was so drained that not even a fuzzy head from the sparkling wine was enough to stop me falling fast asleep before 9pm.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 3-0 Aberdeen

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Helander, Goldson (Edmundson), Hickey, Jack (Kamara), Aribo, Majer (Arfield), Kent, Morelos, Parrott

[he_2]

Saturday 17^th April 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Motherwell (SPL Championship Group)

Venue: Ibrox

Att: 50,817

Managerial Record v Motherwell: P 9 W 7 D 1 L 1 F 23 A 8

The mathematics were quite simple. Five points from our final quintet of matches would see us crowned champions. Given that we had dropped just six points in our 33 matches to this point it felt quite unlikely that we would suddenly drop more then 10 points in our final five, but I was absolutely determined to make sure that there was going to be no slip-ups.

Rhian Brewster was still missing through injury and was joined by Connor Goldson, who had come off in the semi-final against Aberdeen with a knock that was likely to keep him out of the Kilmarnock game the following week as well. James Tavernier was still suspended for league matches so Ross McCrorie got the nod to come in at right-back whilst George Edmundson deputised for Goldson. On the bench there was a first time in the first-team squad for 17-year old Iain Todd. He’d joined the club the season before but had made some good progress. The coaching team were a little split on his potential, but I was happy to give him some experience of at least being around the first-team whilst Goldson was missing.

The other change saw Aaron Hickey drop out once again, he was struggling a bit with a groin issue and I didn’t want to risk him, so he sat this one out whilst Reza Durmisi was able to return at left-back.

Everyone knew what we needed, everyone was focused on achieving it before we visited Celtic on May 1^st. As appealing for the supporters as sealing the title on the turf of their arch rivals was, I wanted to clinch it in front of our own supporters. The SPL had told us that any trophy presentation would only take place on the final day of the season -  a game we were at home to Hearts in – which was fine by me. Anything else would have been nonsensical or, in the case of us sealing things against Kilmarnock and then being presented the trophy a week later at Celtic Park would have done nothing but incite civil war in the municipality of Glasgow.

A couple of minutes into the game Chris Long did really well to wriggle beyond Filip Helander on the left-hand side and found himself with a clear run in on goal. He really ought to have hit the target but, trying to bend the ball inside the far post, sent his effort a good yard or two wide of the upright and we were able to regroup without finding ourselves an early goal behind.

Regroup we didn’t and ten minutes later another shot was sent across our bows as David Turnbull curled a beautiful free kick around the wall and clattering off the post with Robby McCrorie beaten. Ross McCrorie reacted first to the rebound and hammered it clear.

I was up off the bench in abject fury at the way we’d begun the game, picking out those nearest me to direct my ire at, Gary Mac too was patrolling the technical area like a bad-tempered warthog.

It was 25 minutes before we created anything of any note and even then it was tame. Parrott worked the ball into Kent who showed some lovely footwork to skip away from his man but then with only Carson to beat only shot softly straight at the goalkeeper who gathered comfortably.

It provoked a little better from us, we did at least begin to find our range with our passing but there was a lack of tempo about it in spite of our urgings from the touchline. You can imagine our surprise then when Aribo picked out the run of McCrorie on the right edge of the penalty area and the makeshift right-back advanced half a dozen yards before firing an unstoppable strike beyond Carson at his near post into the back of the net to give us, once again, the lead just before half-time.

Somehow, as the referee blew for the break we were ahead.

HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 1-0 Motherwell

In spite of that goal just before the break I tore into the players. ‘You’ve been lazy, p!ss poor. You’re expecting things to happen for you again rather than making them happen. It’s only because Rossi has taken a bit of a gamble and taken his goal well that we’re ahead. I need better, much better, from every single one of you!’

Gary Mac was much more withering in his assessment and the boys were left in no doubt as to the collective disappointment of the managerial team.

And so the second half began with rather more vigour than we’d seen before the break, Morelos scampered onto a ball over the top and forced a brilliant save from Carson and then launched a counter attack with a surging solo run from inside his own half that took him streaking clear of the visiting defence only to be denied once again by Motherwell’s Northern Irish goalkeeper.

The supporters grew in voice and intensity which only served to push us on. A cross from Joe Aribo was headed away as far as the edge of the box where Ryan Jack unleashed a volley that finally beat Carson but clattered back off the crossbar before being hooked away from the danger zone by Barry Maguire as Morelos looked to pounce on the rebound as Motherwell barely hung on against the onslaught.

I made a couple of changes and a rare shift in shape when I made a straight swap in midfield with Kamara replacing Jack and then withdrew Morelos in favour of Nathan Young-Coombes and played the youngster in a more withdrawn role behind Troy Parrott and alongside Lovro Majer in a kind of support striker role.

Just past the hour mark and Troy Parrott seized upon a short pass, held off Liam Donnelly and got clear on goal. Again, Carson stood up well, made himself big and made a fine stop to keep his side in the game. I was sure the second goal would come sooner or later, we were so in control and as the time ticked round to the 70^th minute it arrived.

A super move that involved Ryan Kent breaking forward and then Kamara sweeping the ball wide to the left for Durmisi saw the left-back fizz a low cross into the heart of the 6-yard box. It was just behind Troy Parrott but perfect for Young-Coombes who lunged at the ball Lineker-esq and turned it beyond Carson into the back of the net. The teenage substitute was literally head over heels with delight as he celebrated his first ever league goal with a cartwheel and took the acclaim of the home fans. It had been an infinitely better second half and now it felt as though the 2-goal advantage matched our superiority.

Three minutes later fortune once again smiled upon us when Aribo’s cross into the 6-yard box was well beyond any blue shirt and Maguire went to clear first time. All he succeeded in doing was thumping it against the back of his own man, David Devine and could only watch on in horror as the bell rebounded beyond the startled Carson and into the back of the net to make it 3-0.

The disbelieving Devine was harshly replaced by Peter Hartley whilst I took the opportunity at 3-0 to give Filip Helander a little break and bring on Iain Todd for his senior debut alongside George Edmundson.

The game as a contest was over, Ryan Kent went close as he clipped the outside of the post after a mazy run inside the penalty area and then in stoppage time Kamara glanced a header perilously close to the post, the ball drifting just wide. Any more goals would have given the scoreline a bit of a sheen but that second half performance had been absolutely outstanding and totally befitting of champions elect.

The dressing room was a much happier place than it had been at half-time and we knew that a win in our next match against Kilmarnock would see us crowned champions. That was the task, that was the focus ahead.

FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 3-0 Motherwell

Team: Rob.McCrorie, Ross.McCrorie, Helander (Todd), Edmundson, Durmisi, Aribo, Jack (Kamara), Majer, Kent, Morelos (Young-Coombes), Parrott