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Sunday 16th May 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Heart of Midlothian (SPL Championship Group)
Venue: Ibrox
Att: 50,817
Managerial Record v Heart of Midlothian: P 3 W 3 D 0 L 0 F 7 A 1
I was delighted to host my old club as the league season drew to its conclusion and celebrate with some familiar old favourites. There was a real carnival atmosphere about the place both in the week leading up to the game and on the day itself too. A number of old faces of the past who had previously won titles with the club were in attendance for a bit of a title-day reminiscence and a parade. In addition, Hearts kindly offered a guard of honour as we came out onto the pitch. That was a classy touch from David Moyes.
‘Don’t be expecting us to do that on Saturday, Jones.’ He joked.
‘Not until after the final whistle, anyway.’ I retorted before offering my heartfelt thanks. When doing the team-sheets, we made sure the officials were aware and that they were happy with what we’d planned.
When we walked out onto the pitch, myself behind the players who deserved all of the acclaim, it was really nice to shake hands with guys like Johnny Souttar, Craig Halkett, Glenn Whelan, Peter Haring, Sean Clare, Conor Washington & Jamie Walker. Players who had been such a key part in my inaugural year in management and done so much to get me to a point where Rangers thought I was worth a punt. Obviously, as soon as the game began sentiment would go firmly out of the window, I wanted to win the game and give this party atmosphere the glorious ending it deserved.
I’d told the boys to enjoy the occasion, to keep the shackles that they’d lost against Dundee United firmly off and to put on a bit of a show for the full house that had turned out to enjoy the celebration. There wouldn’t be an anti-climax quite like coming away with a 2-0 home defeat and then having to try and lift ourselves for the presentation of the trophy and medals afterwards.
Connor Goldson joined Joe Aribo on the physio’s couch whilst Ryan Jack was injured. That opened up spaces for George Edmundson and Cole McKinnon to come into the side. Aaron Hickey returned to the bench as well ahead of the meeting with his ex-team mates as well.
The opening stages were a little disjointed, both sides trying to play at 100mph and no-one putting their foot on the ball until Cole McKinnon took the sting out of things and knocked the ball back to Robby McCrorie. That allowed us to build patiently from the back, from left-to-right and Kamara, receiving the ball from Durmisi, knocked it out to Tavernier on the right-hand side approaching the midway point of the Hearts half. He kept going until he was a couple of yards from the by-line and sent in a cross behind the Hearts back four which was met at the far post by Kent. His cushioned volley was superbly blocked by Daniel in the visiting goal but as the ball rebounded back off his body there was the winger lunging in to turn the ball over the line and give us the early advantage, just as he’d done the week before.
It was his 20th goal of the season and saw him become the third player to break that barrier, quite an effort from wide on the left.
Two minutes later and Tavernier once again hit the target with a free kick from distance. I think the kids describe them as knuckle-balls, either way he made the ball move this way and then that leaving Daniel only able to pat the ball down in front of him. Before he could claim it at the second attempt, Rhian Brewster had pounced and turned the loose ball home. As he went off to celebrate the sight right in front of him of the assistant raising his flag for offside cut him short. Offside, just, but enough, and we didn’t find ourselves two goals to the good but just the one still.
Never mind, 8 minutes further on and Helander found Tavernier, who swung an early ball across towards the edge of the box where Ryan Kent got up well to head the ball on for Brewster. Still feeling sore, the striker lashed the ball towards goal but against the feet of Matt Connolly, it rebounded for Kamara who picked it up on the edge of the box, advanced into space and from near the penalty spot confidently tucked the ball away, low beyond Daniel and into the back of the net tot legitimately put us two goals ahead.
That swagger and impudence was very much once again in evidence as we continued to wear the mantle of champions with confidence and aplomb. Majer and Kent combined to dispossess Glenn Whelan just inside our half and the latter emerged with the ball galloping over halfway. Tariq Lamptey stopped his progress and set off on a surging run of his own only to be halted by Reza Durmisi. This time it was Brewster who set off and stretched his legs, only to give the ball away. The nonsense was ended by Sean Clare who picked out Washington with a lovely ball and as the 20-goal striker moved in on goal his driven effort beat McCrorie, but fizzed narrowly wide of the post, rippling the side netting on its way behind.
We soon regained the initiative when Kamara picked up a throw-in from Durmisi, turned and cut inside, into the penalty area. As for his goal, the black-shirted visitors were slow to close him down and he looked to measure one right footed to curl just inside the far post, like Thierry Henry used to do time and time again. His idea was superb, the execution not quite there as he didn’t manage to get enough bend on the ball and it went wide of the upright.
A couple of minutes later and McKinnon did well to come out of a challenge with Peter Haring with the ball and find Majer. The Croatian returned the favour and McKinnon sent a sumptuous pass out to the left edge of the penalty area where Kent, again managed to get up really well and head the ball on for Brewster who, in turn, did superbly to crane his neck and direct his header looping goal-ward. Daniel was at full stretch but the ball passed over him and, agonisingly just over the top of the cross bar bouncing off the roof of the net on its way behind.
With ten minutes of the first half remaining, Durmisi picked up a pass from Kent quite deep and set off on a run. Cutting infield and then going around the outside at pace he surged into the penalty area, realised no defender dare touch him and shifting the ball onto his left-foot looked to fire one across Daniel. This time the goalkeeper did very well to his left to grab the ball and hold on.
The inevitable was delayed for just five or six minutes. A clearance found only McKinnon midway inside the Hearts half. He sent a lovely ball left where Kent produced a lovely first touch. Coming inside onto his right foot he feinted to shoot and instead sent it behind him to Durmisi. The Dane got beyond Sean Clare and found Kent once again in space inside the penalty area. One touch to stop the ball and then a second to fire with his laces an absolute tracer bullet that beat Daniel all ends up and ended up in the corner of the net. Quite a way to take us into half-time.
HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 3-0 Heart of Midlothian
I was absolutely thrilled with our first half performance and had absolutely nothing to say apart from urging the lads to keep it up. To maintain the tempo and keep on entertaining those in the stands. Hearts were unable to live with us, we were putting them to the sword and in some style.
Half a dozen minutes after the resumption, Durmisi sent a free kick in from the left flank where it was met by the head of Helander. He directed it down and beyond the desperate dive of Daniel. 4-0, or so we thought! Once again, and for the fourth time in our previous two home league matches the assistant had his flag raised and the goal was chalked off for offside. This one was a little galling as Helander wasn’t offside, but Morelos was and he was deemed to be active, or interfering, or whatever the terminology was that week and so, no goal.
We continued to press, McKinnon proving influential. And as the game approached the hour mark he picked up his first assist. Tavernier had seen his progress baulked by Harry Cochrane and so turned the ball back for McKinnon on the edge of the penalty area. A simple pass into the path of Scott Arfield saw the substitute, on for Majer, fire a stunning daisy cutter into the bottom corner of the net past Daniel to make it 4-0.
Off the gas came the feet, content to pass the ball around and try and score some exhibition goals. In the final minute it all got too much for Peter Haring and as Brewster received the ball, a vicious rake of his studs down Brewster’s calf saw him pick up his second yellow card and the inevitable red that followed. It was a sad end to the day for the Austrian, I gave him a handshake on his way off by way of sympathy.
Moments later the final whistle went and once again, the party began. I shook hands with David Moyes and wished him well. ‘Aye, thanks Jones. We’ll see you next week and hope for rather a different outcome.’ He replied drily.
‘Different game, different competition, different venue. Today counts for nothing.’ I said.
‘I hope you’re right!’
The visiting side traipsed off as family members and those members of the squad not involved in the game came down, Dave King and the board as well, all to join in the celebrations. A hastily built stage was created with a banner for the league’s sponsors behind us. A plinth containing the trophy stood on the stage and finally, one by one the players were all invited forward to be given their medals by the head of the SPL. I went just before Connor Goldson and James Tavernier. Once Tav had received his, he looked over at the trophy, received a nod from the blazers and cautiously, looking over his shoulder approached the plinth. It felt like an absolute age before he picked it up, looked lovingly at it, kissed it and then, looking over his shoulder, raised it to the sky.
That provoked absolute bedlam upon the stage as the players began to leap around like Zebedee on angel dust, the crowd – the overwhelming majority of which had stayed – couldn’t have been happier. We are the Champions rang out over the PA, the players sang it as champagne flew across the stage and onto the pitch, static sparklers fizzed away and blue and white ticker tape appeared to shroud the scene.
I don’t think I’d felt happier. Winning the League Cup had been a wonderful feeling. This, though, was something else entirely. We’d proven ourselves the best side in the country over 38 matches and, in doing so, had dropped just 9 points, falling just a single point shy of Celtic’s total in 2016/7. As we walked around the pitch, taking in the acclaim of the fans, returning their love and admiration with as much of our own, I just remember thinking that I could easily get used to this feeling. It was infectious, I knew it wasn’t going to last forever yet I wanted to prolong it as long as I could and then, once it was over, to have more of it. My appetite for success was being prickled.
Hopefully, I reflected as I finally followed everyone else and drifted down the tunnel, I could experience more of the same just six days later when we met Hearts once again in the Scottish Cup Final.
‘Magnificent stuff today, boys.’ I said when we’d gotten back into the dressing room, the trophy resting next to Tavernier for the time being. ‘A performance worthy of league champions. Well done!’ The door opened and in came a couple of bottles of champagne carried by the chairman and two crates of bottled beers.
‘Well done, lads. Boy, well done. You’ve made me a proud man today,’ King said, tears in his eyes. ‘Enjoy tonight lads, free bar upstairs tonight so make yourselves merry and then let’s complete the set next week, eh?!’
Before he knew what was happening, Connor Goldson had shaken up a bottle of the bubbly, popped the cork and sprayed the champers around the room, giving everyone within a certain radius a thorough drenching – including said chairman as he was embracing me. ‘Brilliant, Jones. Absolutely brilliant. Well done, son.’
That meant an awful lot to me. ‘Listen, Mr Chairman, I should be thanking you for taking a gamble on me back in the summer. I really appreciate it. This,’ I motioned around the room, ‘is better than I’d ever hoped for from this season.’
‘We had faith in you from the outset,’ he replied before being interrupted by the feeling of sparkling wine dripping down his face, something which provoked him into beginning a rendition of Follow Follow which everyone soon joined in with. Quite a scene on which to close the league campaign.
FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 4-0 Heart of Midlothian
Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Helander, Edmundson, Durmisi (Hickey), McKinnon, Kamara, Majer (Arfield), Kent, Brewster, Morelos (Young-Coombes)
0 -
Table as at Saturday 8th May 2021:
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
GD
Glasgow Rangers
37
33
3
1
101
22
102
79
C
Glasgow Celtic
37
29
7
1
92
18
94
74
Heart of Midlothian
37
17
9
11
52
47
60
5
Kilmarnock
37
14
8
15
40
48
50
-8
Motherwell
37
13
6
18
41
50
45
-9
Dundee United
37
11
9
17
35
53
42
-18
Aberdeen
37
15
4
18
44
52
49
-8
Hibernian
37
9
12
16
38
55
39
-17
St Johnstone
37
11
5
21
33
51
38
-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
37
9
9
19
35
58
36
-23
Livingston
37
7
12
18
39
58
33
-19
St Mirren
37
5
14
18
30
65
29
-35
R
Saturday 8th May
Celtic
4
0
Motherwell
Dundee Utd
1
5
Rangers
Kilmarnock
1
2
Hearts
Inverness
0
2
Aberdeen
St Johnstone
0
1
Hibs
St Mirren
1
0
Livingston
0 -
Saturday 8th May 2021: Dundee United v Glasgow Rangers (SPL Championship Group)
Venue: Tannadice
Att: 9,701
Managerial Record v Dundee Utd: P 4 W 4 D 0 L 0 F 10 A 1
It had been a long time since I’d woken up on a Sunday morning smarting from a defeat. Even though we’d sewn the title up it hurt. Not so much the defeat or even the scoreline so much as the abject manner of our thrashing. We’d been made to look like rank amateurs and that’s what hurt. The boys looked tired, which was understandable, and disinterested, which absolutely wasn’t.
We had the opportunity to bounce back against Dundee United who, having done brilliantly to reach the top-6 shoot-out were struggling a little. One win in their previous seven matches and three straight defeats had seen them get overtaken in terms of points, if not the actual standings, by a resurgent Aberdeen side. Whatever lay ahead in their final couple of matches, it had been a thoroughly decent first campaign back at this level for Robbie Neilson’s side and something for them to build upon for the following year if they could keep hold of key men.
As much as I was tempted to make 11 changes after the debacle at Parkhead I largely gave the same side the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves in my eyes. One blow was the loss for the rest of the season of Joe Aribo who had broken a metatarsal in training. So Glen Kamara continued in midfield with Jacko whilst up front Rhian Brewster, back to full fitness, returned up front for Troy Parrott who dropped to the bench.
The boys firmly knew what my expectations were, a repeat of the silliness against Celtic would not be tolerated in any way, shape or form.
There were less than three minutes on the clock when Durmisi’s corner towards Brewster at the far post was headed clear to the edge of the box and picked up by Jacko. He returned the ball out to the right-hand side for Durmisi. The Dane, with plenty of time to size up his ball into the box, swung it in again to the far post where arriving on cue was Ryan Kent to thump his header, unmarked, beyond Benjamin Siegrist and into the back of the net.
An early goal to blow away the cobwebs and we were up and running!
Durmisi was already enjoying himself and shortly after supplying the first goal he very nearly supplied a second when he once again found space, this time from a Brewster pass infield, drifted into the penalty area and sent a cross to the far post where Morelos rose above his marker to meet it with a powerful header but one that he was just unable to keep underneath the crossbar. It went over the top and the home side survived.
They grew into the game as time went on and began to compete rather more than they had in the opening ten minutes or so. In the 25th minute, Tavernier cut out a ball forward and found Majer with a good ball. Looking up the Croatian virtuoso split the Dundee United defence allowing Brewster to break clear. A desperate attempt at an interception at full stretch by Josh Grant merely succeeded in pushing the ball into the striker’s path. He took it on, knocked it past Siegrist, hurdled the goalkeeper and then slammed the ball home from about 3-yards out to double the lead.
We were beginning to look a little bit irresistible again, like we had in the second half against Kilmarnock, only with an end product this time.
Two minutes after the goal a lovely move that saw Majer drop a little deeper than usual to collect possession saw him play the ball out to the left flank where it was collected by Kent. Instead of cutting inside this time he went around the outside and sent a low cross into the near post where it was met first time on the run by Brewster. The confidence in the youngster’s finish was quite something as he struck a superb left footed strike that flew into the top corner at the near post leaving Siegrist with absolutely no chance at all.
3-0 up inside half an hour and some of the football had been mesmerising. The boys were back on it and it was a joy to watch.
Ten minutes later and Ryan Kent nipped in to win the ball off Kamil Drygas inside the centre circle and set off through a gaping chasm in the home back-four at pace. Siegrist came out to narrow the angle and as Kent tried to beat him made a fine save, firmly pushing the ball over the crossbar for a corner kick and to prevent us turning a handsome lead into a beautiful one prior to the break.
HALF TIME: Dundee United 0-3 Glasgow Rangers
The strange thing at the break was that by looking at the statistics, the game was even. In actual fact, in that first period the hosts had registered more shots on target and shaded possession. The problem was that those efforts had come from distance and required extremely comfortable saves from Robby McCrorie whilst we had sliced Dundee United open time and time again, scoring three times and forcing a fine save from Siegrist.
There was little for me to say except express my pleasure at what I’d witnessed so far and to urge the lads to keep it going after the break.
So, they did. To begin with, at least. Only five minutes of the second half had elapsed when Durmisi sent over another teasing cross towards the far post where it was met by the head of one of the most unlikely far post headerers of the ball, Lovro Majer. His header was perfectly guided into the top corner of the net beyond the hopelessly exposed Siegrist and three had become four. The Croatian was cock-a-hoop not only at scoring an unlikely header but also netting his first league goal for the club to go with his Scottish Cup strike against Aberdeen. That was also our 100th league goal of the campaign.
Only two minutes later and after McCrorie had safely gathered a header from Jonathan Afolabi the ball was worked patiently forward to Kamara who went on a surging run over halfway. He exchanged passes with Tavernier and the full-back did well to cut it back to Mayer. Into the penalty area, teasing his marker he went before nudging the ball into the path of Morelos who kind of stabbed a toe-poked effort towards goal. Siegrist was slow getting down to it and rather than making a fairly regulation save could only help the ball just inside his left-hand post. Morelos had his goal, we had a nap hand and were having all sorts of fun.
I felt that we’d marked out that Celtic match as a blip and reinforced our position as deserving champions. Perhaps understandably our foot came off the gas a little and excellent build-up saw Shankland exchange a 1-2 with Afolabi and was denied only by a fine save from McCrorie, who was continuing his own personal excellent form from the previous week.
A couple of minutes after that little reminder the ball was worked forward for substitute Young-Coombes and he swung the ball neatly out wide for Ryan Kent. Selling his marker a dummy and neatly sending the ball into Parrott, who had replaced Brewster at half-time, at the near post, the Irishman squared it for Young-Coombes who was denied only by a magnificent block from Jonny Hayes.
Jeremie Frimpong went close with a free kick that almost caught out McCrorie and had the goalkeeper scampering across to smother off the goal-line before from another free kick, he delivered to the far post where Josh Grant was left unmarked to head home and reduced the arrears. There was still half-an-hour to go so there was plenty of scope for more goals to appear.
Chances continued to flow at either end, James Tavernier from fully 35-yards produced a superb save from Siegrist as he fired a free kick arrowing towards the top corner, the Swiss keeper doing brilliantly to push the ball away and behind. Then, Durmisi picked up the ball deep and ran unchallenged 20 or so yards towards goal before shooting and finding the midriff of Siegrist who dropped to his knees and held on well.
Pay switched to the other end and our increasingly ragged back-four were split once again when Shankland got in behind. His low strike was directed just inside the post and so McCrorie was once again required to get down at full stretch and with a firm hand paw the ball away from the bottom corner, Durmisi then completing the clearance.
Into the final 15 minutes we went and a Tavernier free kick found Parrott who headed the ball down to the edge of the box where, after bouncing up was met by a magnificent left footed strike from Filip Helander who unleashed just as he swivelled. This time Siegrist was clutching at thin-air as the strike beat him all ends up and hit the top of the bar as it went narrowly over the top.
Dundee United, considering they had conceded five, continued to play football and break dangerously. With just half a dozen minutes remaining Chris Mochrie played another 1-2 with Shankland and found himself outpacing Helander. Inside the penalty area and as Shankland had done previously sent an effort towards the bottom corner of the net. Once again McCrorie showed why he was firmly Scotland’s number 1, diving to his left and with that strong left hand, pushing the ball around the post.
A breathless contest was brought to an end with both sides receiving a fully deserved ovation as they left the pitch. 5-1 had been tough on the hosts but at times we had been simply different class, particularly in front of goal and it was that which had given the scoresheet such a glossy finish. Normal service resumed, the boys were able to look forward to a richly deserved couple of days off before we returned to Ibrox for the denouement of the league season and the coronation of Glasgow Rangers Football Club as Scottish Premier League Champions 2020/1.
FULL TIME: Dundee United 1-5 Glasgow Rangers
Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Durmisi, Jack, Kamara, Majer (Young-Coombes), Kent, Morelos, Brewster (Parrott)
0 -
Table as at Saturday 1st May 2021:
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
GD
Glasgow Rangers
36
32
3
1
96
21
99
75
C
Glasgow Celtic
36
28
7
1
88
18
91
70
Heart of Midlothian
36
16
9
11
50
46
57
4
Kilmarnock
36
14
8
14
39
46
50
-7
Motherwell
36
13
6
17
41
46
45
-5
Dundee United
36
11
9
16
34
48
42
-14
Aberdeen
36
14
4
18
42
52
46
-10
St Johnstone
36
11
5
20
33
50
38
-17
Hibernian
36
8
12
16
37
55
36
-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
36
9
9
18
35
56
36
-21
Livingston
36
7
12
17
39
57
33
-18
St Mirren
36
4
14
18
29
65
26
-36
R
Saturday 1st May
Celtic
3
0
Rangers
Hearts
2
1
Dundee Utd
Motherwell
0
1
Kilmarnock
Aberdeen
3
1
St Mirren
Livingston
1
1
Hibs
St Johnstone
2
0
Inverness
0 -
Saturday 1st May 2021: Glasgow Celtic v Glasgow Rangers (SPL)
Venue: Parkhead
Att: 60,411
Managerial Record v Glasgow Celtic: P 7 W 1 D 5 L 1 F 10 A 12
Managerial Record at Parkhead: P 3 W 0 D 2 L 1 F 2 A 6
I’d challenged the boys to finish the season undefeated and ideally with 9 points out of 9 to really stamp our mark on the season. We were a point of 100 points and only four goals away from 100 goals, I felt that we’d hit both of those milestones. Although there was a temptation for this visit to Parkhead to been seen as a dead rubber, the knowledge that we were playing Celtic at Parkhead, the one remaining SPL ground that I’d yet to taste victory, was motivation enough for us to look to carry on our season in a blaze of glory.
I knew the home fans would be absolutely baying for our blood and I knew that Neil Lennon would be seeking his side to put in a performance, to show that they are better than the league table might be suggesting. We had to be up to the challenge and make sure we met their fire with at the very least, equal amounts of venom.
Whilst Connor Goldson returned to the side along with James Tavernier, there was a change in midfield where Joe Aribo missed out due to suspension, so Glen Kamara returned to partner Ryan Jack. Lovro Majer also returned in place of Scott Arfield whilst Alfie Morelos was fit enough to return to join Troy Parrott up front, Nathan Young-Coombes was the unfortunate one to miss out.
Boy oh boy were the home side fired up for the occasion.
We forced an early corner that came to nothing and within the blink of an eye the ball bad been switched for Callum McGregor. He teased his man before shuffling the ball onto his left foot and unleashing a strike that had Robby McCrorie diving to his right at full stretch to turn the ball around the post. A fine save.
That did little to dampen the home fans appetite.
In the 4th minute a Griffiths corner found the head of Jozo Simunovic at the far post and he was just unable to keep his header down. Every time we got the ball we were swarmed by green & white shirts meaning that we were having to rush in possession and all too often misplace passes. Even when we did get into the final third our final ball was woefully lacking and we totally failed to test the home side’s young debutant goalkeeper Ross Doohan.
It wasn’t a great surprise when Vlad Chiriches stepped in to intercept a Jacko ball forward looking for Morelos and find Riqui Puig in midfield for the hosts. A simple pass to McGregor and knowing that Griffiths would be on his bike the winger sent a raking ball over the head of Filip Helander which Griffiths was onto in a flash. Neatly nutmegging the backtracking Goldson, Griffiths worked the ball onto his ‘weaker’ right foot and fairly lashed the ball from 20-yards right into the top corner of the net. It was a magnificent strike from a magnificent player, McCrorie simply looked on in mild admiration. It was his 30th league goal of the season. By comparison, our leading league scorer, Morelos, had 18.
A couple of minutes after falling behind, the hosts ought to have made it 2-0. Once again McGregor was involved, carrying the ball forward and then playing it in for Greg Taylor on the underlap. The left-back cut the ball back for Leo Mazis to strike at goal but didn’t catch it as he’d have liked and McCrorie saved well.
We were so vulnerable to the counter-attack it was untrue, we simply didn’t have an answer to Celtic’s razor-sharp and incisive breaks. From one of our own corners, again, a green shirted head met the ball and cleared, Puig picked it up and spotting the run of Ivan Cavaleiro sent the ball forward for the Portuguese winger to latch onto and streak clear. In previous meetings he’d proven wasteful in front of goal, not on this occasion though as he carefully drew McCrorie and slipped the ball past him into the back of the net to double the home side’s lead with just a quarter of the match played.
We were chasing shadows, every single 50/50 challenge was being won by a green shirt, every single header was being won by a green shirt, we were way off the pace. And McGregor was completely dictating things. For his next trick he sent Mazis scampering through as once again our two centre-halves found themselves completely split by a ball over the top. McCrorie again stood up well and made a fine save – his third in the opening half-hour – as the home side continued to threaten to run riot.
From the corner, once again delivered by Griffiths, Simunovic met it once again and this time planted his header narrowly wide of the far post.
The first-half went into its final fifteen minutes and Tavernier finally found some space down the right flank. He delivered a low cross into the penalty area where it was met first time by Morelos, Doohan tested for the first time made a superb sharp stop low down to his left to turn the Colombian’s effort around the post. He’d have been enjoying his first taste of first-team football, never mind Old Firm football and with that stop had firmly justified Neil Lennon’s faith to select him over first-choice Marko Malenica in the net.
I had hoped that moment might see us gain in confidence and assert ourselves on proceedings and to be fair, we did manage to up our game a little to ensure we got into the break with no additional damage caused. As the boys traipsed in to gleeful jibes from the home crowd, heads were down and recriminations were flying around.
HALF TIME: Glasgow Celtic 2-0 Glasgow Rangers
‘I bigged you lot up last week, told the world how brilliant you’d been to work with. I laid down the gauntlet and challenged you to go the season unbeaten and to come here and put on a performance worthy of champions,’ I began raising my voice to an unusual roar. ‘What have you given me? What have you given those supporters? A load of embarrassing tosh! You’re chasing shadows, boys, and not getting close even to them, never mind to actual bodies. You’re letting McGregor completely dictate, you’re wide open defensively and woeful in possession! If it wasn’t for this bloke sat here,’ I pointed at Robby McCrorie, ‘they’d be 5-up and deservedly so! What have we had, five of you booked in that first half, simply because they’re in a different time-zone to you lot! Right now, I don’t give a toss what the score ends up as, I don’t give a toss if we lose because we thoroughly deserve to. What I do give a toss about is you lot showing a little bit of pride. Just because you’ve been crowned champions doesn’t give you the right to strut around arrogantly thinking you don’t have to put the effort in. You do, boys, you really do. If anything you have to top the effort you’ve put in so far this season and prove to everyone why you’re title winners. That first-half was unacceptable. If you’re not sat here feeling ashamed of your efforts in that forty-five then you shouldn’t be sat here at all.’
With that I opened the door, left the room and slammed it behind me, leaving Gary Mac and Nino to pick up the pieces. It was largely theatrical, I’d planned it with Gary before we’d headed down the tunnel. The sentiments were actually how I was feeling, the flouncing out was done for effect.
It didn’t work. Although we were better after the break, it wasn’t much better. Simunovic continued his one-man battering of us in the air from set-pieces when he got up to meet a free kick from Cavaleiro and look on in despair as his header clipped the top of the bar on its way over the top.
With an hour gone another Cavaleiro cross this time found McGregor at the far post. The winger looped a header over McCrorie and was desperately unfortunate to see it hit the top of the crossbar as well before dropping just behind for a goal kick.
From that goal kick our entire performance was summed up. As we always did McCrorie played it to one of his centre-halves to build from the back. On this occasion it was Helander. He took one touch and then a second without releasing the ball. Before he’d had a chance to take a third, Griffiths had nipped in, robbed him and fired the ball low into the unguarded net to make it 3-0 and completely kill of any lingering remaining hopes we might have had.
McCrorie denied Griffiths his hat-trick when Greg Taylor’s ball over the top found him once again in behind Helander and Goldson. The striker looked to place the ball beyond the goalkeeper who, once again, made himself big and managed the block the effort behind for a corner kick.
That was with 13 minutes remaining. Four minutes after that Doohan showed his inexperience when he came out of his penalty area to clear with a ball forward that Simunovic had totally under control. The two collided and the ball broke for Parrott. A deft first touch took him behind the two stricken Celtic men then, somehow, with the goal completely unguarded and open the striker managed to fire wide of the gaping target. All he needed to do was to tap it in and maybe, just maybe, there might have been something to play for the final ten minutes or so. It was a shocking miss and completely in keeping with the rest of our performance.
Clearly thinking they’d inflicted enough humiliation on us, Celtic toyed with us for the remainder of the game and after the final whistle sounded to bring an end to our punishment as well as an unbeaten run in all competitions that stretched back to our defeat at Hoffenheim 42 matches – and almost 9 months previously. All good things had to come to an end, of course, but not in that manner.
‘Well done, Lenno, you gave us a real lesson today, pal.’ I said to him after the whistle.
‘Thanks, Jones, I won’t lie, we wanted to put you back in your box today!’ He replied with a grin.
‘Mission accomplished, then. A chastening experience that was.’
Grim faced the players drifted off the pitch deep in their own thoughts awaiting the barrage that was to be unleashed in their direction back in the dressing room. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
FULL TIME: Glasgow Celtic 3-0 Glasgow Rangers
Team: Rob.McCrorie, Tavernier, Helander, Goldson, Durmisi, Jack, Kamara (Ross.McCrorie), Majer, Kent (Jones) (Young-Coombes), Morelos, Parrott
0 -
Table as at Saturday 24th April 2021:
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
GD
Glasgow Rangers
35
32
3
0
96
18
99
78
C
Glasgow Celtic
35
27
7
1
85
18
88
67
Heart of Midlothian
35
15
9
11
48
45
54
3
Kilmarnock
35
13
8
14
38
46
47
-8
Motherwell
35
13
6
16
41
45
45
-4
Dundee United
35
11
9
15
33
46
42
-13
Aberdeen
35
13
4
18
39
51
43
-12
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
35
9
9
17
35
54
36
-19
Hibernian
35
8
11
16
36
54
35
-18
St Johnstone
35
10
5
20
31
50
35
-19
Livingston
35
7
11
17
38
56
32
-18
St Mirren
35
4
14
17
28
62
26
-34
Saturday 24th April
Celtic
3
0
Dundee Utd
Hearts
3
0
Motherwell
Rangers
1
0
Kilmarnock
Hibs
1
2
Inverness
Livingston
1
2
Aberdeen
St Mirren
1
2
St Johnstone
0 -
Saturday 24th April 2021: Glasgow Rangers v Kilmarnock (SPL Championship Group)
Venue: Ibrox
Att: 49,550
Managerial Record v Kilmarnock: P 7 W 5 D 1 L 1 F 18 A 4
My little experimentation with one up front in the second half against Motherwell proved to be well-timed. On Friday morning Alfie Morelos had limped out of training with a slight niggle in his calf and although he could have played, I chose to keep him on the bench and only use him in extremis if we needed a goal. Also dropping to the bench was Lovro Majer, who I had replaced with Scott Arfield largely in part due to the Canadian’s industry which I felt was needed whilst Nathan Young-Coombes was rewarded for his goal the week before with a return to his role as a shadow striker behind Troy Parrott. He was the one who would get up to make a two alongside the Irishman whenever he was able to.
Elsewhere, James Tavernier returned from suspension but took his place on the bench, Ross McCrorie keeping his place at right-back after his goal against Motherwell. Connor Goldson was still out so George Edmundson continued and Aaron Hickey’s continuing absence saw Reza Durmisi continue at left-back.
Before the game I told the boys to make sure their focus was on the game, not on what might come afterwards but only on the 90 minutes ahead. We couldn’t allow ourselves to become distracted.
The start to the match was excellent, our passing was crisp and confidence seemed to be high. I thought there might be some tension amongst the boys, there was none to be seen. On four minutes Ross McCrorie found some space down the right-hand side, found by a neat pass from Ryan Jack. His cross into the far post was perfectly delivered, just out of the reach of Antonio Santurro and there was Ryan Kent to nod home from no more than 2-yards out. 1-0, an early lead and just what the doctor had ordered!
Except.
There on the far side was the assistant with flag raised and motioning that Kent had been offside when McCrorie had sent his cross in. He was right, Kent had strayed marginally and the goal was chalked off. As it happened, on the replays seen later on it showed that he had also slapped the ball in with his palm so in actual fact, the offside flag had denied him the silliest of yellow cards as well.
Ten minutes later and some lovely one-touch build up saw Arfield with the ball in centre-field, his ball in behind the Killie defence for Kent was magnificent and the winger really should have hit the target with his effort. There was nothing wrong with the power, but the accuracy was sorely lacking and the ball went wide of the far post for a goal kick.
Just as the clocked ticked past the 16th minute mark, Helander stepped across to make a robust but well-timed challenge on Kiltie inside our own penalty area and he thumped it forward. Stuart Findlay really should have dealt with the ball under no pressure but for some reason he dallied and was caught in possession by Parrott who then set off into the Killie penalty area. He found the angle against him a little and his low driven effort beat the far post by some distance in the end.
From the goal kick good pressing by Jacko saw Ian Maatsen give the ball away sloppily to Young-Coombes who set off and then sent a ball forward which just eluded Parrott but which saw Kent nip in at full tilt in front of Bruno Pereirinha, who was caught ball watching, take the ball down and then fire it low beyond the exposed Santurro into the bottom corner of the net to break the deadlock. The place erupted, chants of ‘Championés’ rang out around the place and the hairs on my neck stood up. We were a step closer to that hallowed, holy grail.
10 minutes later Durmisi received the ball back from Aribo after a throw-in and returned it to the midfielder. As he surged into the penalty area a challenge from Fraser Preston missed the ball, caught Aribo and as he went down the referee, who was well placed, pointed to the spot. Absolutely no complaints from any of the visiting side, they couldn’t have. Indeed, the decision was almost met with resignation amongst their number.
With no Tavernier or Morelos in the side, Scott Arfield took responsibility. Composing himself, making sure his socks were just so, he stepped up. Santurro went the right way by no save was required as Arfield’s effort had badly missed the target, ending up maybe a yard wide of the goalkeeper’s right hand upright. We’d had one or two pretty poor penalties taken during the campaign and this was arguably the worst of the lot. A chance to take a stranglehold on the contest had gone begging.
The miss seemed to sap us of some of our confidence. Where, in that opening period, we’d been bright and busy, carrying danger and threat every time we attacked, where players had been taking risks and gambling, that stopped. The tempo dropped and although Kilmarnock offered little to no threat themselves, anything we were sending towards goal was coming from too far out to cause Santurro any undue concern.
HALF TIME: Glasgow Rangers 1-0 Kilmarnock
Once the boys were settled into their seats I kept what I had to say brief and to the point. ‘You’re not going to hear me say this very often, boys, so listen carefully. Today, and today only, bugger the performance. You’re halfway there so do whatever you need to do to see the damn thing out this afternoon and seal the title. First half an hour or so you were excellent, last quarter of an hour you weren’t. I don’t really care, you’re ahead, we need to get over the line and then we can enjoy the last three matches. So, let’s get it done, yes?’
I don’t think that was quite what they were expecting, but it seemed to go down pretty well, I could see them relax a little and the little hum of chatter was just what I’d been hoping to hear once I’d said my piece. They knew what was required, I had empowered them to find it. I trusted them to find it. They wouldn’t let me down, I was absolutely sure of it.
Early on after the break Kent, of all people, broke up a promising Killie move just inside our penalty area and Aribo looked up to play Parrott through. The young striker, relishing playing as a lone centre-forward, took the ball on into the penalty area and was only denied by Santurro, the Kilmarnock goalkeeper reading the striker’s intentions and making a fine save. From the corner kick by Kent, Parrott drifted off his marker to glance a header towards goal. It lacked a little in both power and direction, though, and Santurro caught it with comfort.
Although we only had the single goal lead, my half-time words seemed to have liberated the boys and they were enjoying themselves. Just past the hour mark Ryan Kent received the ball on the edge of the penalty area, turned and then went on a mazy dribble beyond three challenges inside the penalty area. Unfortunately he couldn’t quite open his body and shot into the side netting.
We were playing with the verve and swagger usually associated with a side that was three or four goals to the good, it was great to watch and the supporters were loving every second. Kilmarnock couldn’t lay a glove on us and although I knew in the back of my mind that all it would take was a single goal out of nowhere to peg us back, it really didn’t feel as though it was going to happen.
With 17 minutes remaining, Lovro Majer, on for Arfield, drifted in a corner kick which was headed back across goal by Aribo. There was Kent once again to knock the ball over the line from close range and score his second of the afternoon. At least, that’s what he thought. The assistant’s flag once again cut short his celebrations and the goal was chalked off.
Undeterred, we continued on our merry way passing the ball with impunity. Another Majer corner, with just over 5 minutes remaining, caused consternation in the Kilmarnock penalty area. It was met by Parrott but in stretching to get his head to the ball could only direct it over the top.
As the game drifted into time added on, the crowd were in complete party mode, The subs were all up on their feet when Majer sent a ball through that Parrott just managed to meet before Santurro did, he fired a shot beyond the goalkeeper and agonisingly the wrong side of the post. Had that gone in the place would have absolutely erupted and saluted the league title.
As it was they only had a minute or two longer to wait before the final whistle sounded and brought to an end what had been one of our most complete performances of the campaign, even though the scoreline had suggested that we’d been in a real battle and struggle. As the referee brought his whistle to his lips to signal full-time, Ibrox went absolutely mental. All of the players and coaching staff on the bench ran onto the field, there were wild embraces everywhere.
The first thing I did, aside from a clench of my fists was to go and find Angelo Alessio, my opposite number and shake his hand.
‘Many congratulations, Jones,’ he said in his heavily accented English, stretching my name across into a second syllable and enveloping me in a warm embrace. ‘Your team is magnificent and this title is fully deserved. Enjoy this time.’ This, coming from a guy who had known success as number 2 to Antonio Conte at Juventus, Italy and Chelsea before finding his own way as a number 1 with Kilmarnock, was really a lovely moment.
‘Thank you, Alessio, I really appreciate that. Good luck for your final few games.’ We shook hands and he departed off down the tunnel. Turning around to face the main stand I saw Dave King and the board of directors all up on their feet applauding. I raised my fists in triumph towards them, and King in particular, as they applauded. He’d gone through so much rebuilding the club after their insolvency. It had been a battle, initially, to get back into the SPL and then to knock Celtic off their perch. But we’d done it, he’d done it and was unable to hide his delight and emotions.
Walking onto the pitch, I shook hands with the match officials, each of whom congratulated me warmly, which was another nice touch. Then, I was almost bundled from all directions by jubilant players. Once I’d managed to emerge, I wanted to hunt each and every one of them down and give them a hug, those players who hadn’t been involved and sat in the stand came down to enjoy the atmosphere on the pitch – I don’t know if a single supporter had left the ground. One by one I congratulated the boys, each one in turn, before collecting them together for a mini huddle before we embarked on a lap of honour.
‘Listen boys, that’s outstanding. All season you’ve been brilliant, I couldn’t be prouder. One final challenge now, finish the season unbeaten. Let’s go to Celtic next week and show they why we’re champions and they’re not. Let’s beat Dundee United, let’s beat Hearts and let’s put ourselves in the record books as one of the finest sides ever seen in Scotland. Enjoy today, have a wander around the pitch, show the supporters your appreciation and let them show you theirs. Take this in, it may not happen again. Drink it in and let it whet your appetites for more.’
We gave the supporters our thanks, in full knowledge we’d be doing the same thing three weeks later when we would parade the trophy around the pitch following our game with Hearts. Just walking off down the tunnel didn’t feel like the right thing to do, though, on this occasion.
Before I knew it I was back in front of the gaze of the press to talk about our achievements.
Kyle Connell: You were one of the favourites for this competition, so you triumph perhaps isn’t that big a surprise. With the strength of your squad, was it a foregone conclusion that you’d win the title?
Haha, are you joking, Kyle? I think we were very much second favourites behind Celtic at the start of the season. Indeed, I seem to remember most of you folk and those you count as colleagues very much writing us off before we’d kicked a ball. We’ve managed to exceed your expectations and, if I’m honest, our own expectations. I thought this season, after the boys went so close last year, that we’d maybe need one more year to challenge and look to build in order to overtake Celtic next season. But, we’ve managed to do it this season and that’s a brilliant feeling.
James Boyle: Congratulation, Jones, on your title win. How does this moment feel?
I’m absolutely delighted. When I took my first steps in management less than two years ago, I really hoped that one day I’d experience this feeling. It’s taken rather less time than I expected and the feeling is even better than I’d ever dreamt. Everyone has worked immensely hard to bring home the title and we’ve done it.
Billy Young: Just how proud are you to add the SPL title to the Rangers trophy cabinet?
Proud, yes, I’m immensely proud of our achievement. There’s been a gaping hole in the trophy cabinet for the past decade and to have finally filled it again is just a brilliant feeling. This is a special day for the club, especially those that stuck with the club during those dark days a decade ago when the club went out of business.
BY: The title race became something of a foregone conclusion with you team leading the chasing pack by some distance. How difficult was it keeping your squad focused?
It wasn’t difficult at all. I’m lucky to have a group of players that are driven and motivated. They want to be successful, they drive each-other on and that only makes my life easier.
KC: After sealing the league title the board are likely to be demanding even more. Won’t this pile extra pressure on your shoulders as manager?
There’s always pressure at a club like Rangers where success is part of the fabric of the club. If you don’t win titles and trophies then you’re seen to have failed. I was aware of that when I joined the club and I’m just as aware of it now. Is it pressure? Only if you let it become so. I thrive under that expectation, so do the players as we’ve shown so far this season.
Kara Warwick: Today is obviously a great moment for Rangers. Looking forward can you build on this success and challenge for more trophies in the future?
I don’t see why not. We have the Scottish Cup final in a few weeks which gives us the opportunity of winning the domestic treble. After that focus switches to next season where you can rest assured that we will be looking to be as successful as we have been this term. I’m determined not to let this be a one season wonder.
JB: How much of an impact did your team talk at the break have on getting this result to secure the title?
To be honest, I thought this was one of our most complete performances of the season. I felt we began well but after the penalty we lost our way a little. All I said at half-time was to focus on getting the result, getting over the line and not to worry about the performance as much as we normally do. It seemed to work, the boys relaxed and were outstanding after the break.
BY: This was labelled as a huge match for Rangers and you certainly lived up to you pre-match billing. You must be delighted with the result?
I’m always delighted to win football matches. Today was no different. The fact that there was something else at the end of today’s match only served to heighten that pleasure.
JB: Finally, Jones, Kilmarnock failed to register a shot on goal today. Is that a reflection of your dominance today?
I noticed when I said that I thought this was one of our most complete performances some eyebrows raise in the room. But this is what I meant. Kilmarnock aren’t without considerable threat and the fact that we denied them a shot on target today was really pleasing. From back to front we were very good today and it was very pleasing to witness.
Thanks everyone for today.
And with that I picked up my phone, left the table and switched my phone on. It didn’t stop vibrating for about 10 minutes as messages kept on coming through. From David Moyes, from Ann Budge, from Pat Nevin, from Borna Barisic, from Nikola Katic, from Neil Lennon… they just kept on coming and it took me a good three hours and countless bottles of beer that evening to personally acknowledge each and every one of them.
I’d woken up a title hopeful and gone to bed a title winner.
Jones Patterson, league champion. That was the sweetest of thoughts to drift off to sleep to.
FULL TIME: Glasgow Rangers 1-0 Kilmarnock
Team: Rob.McCrorie, Ross.McCrorie (Tavernier), Helander, Edmundson, Durmisi, Jack (Kamara), Aribo, Young-Coombes, Arfield (Majer), Kent, Parrott
0 -
There was such a colossal buzz around the place. Everyone connected with the club knew that we were on the verge of something quite brilliant, something that would begin to exorcise that decade of pain since the club was dissolved and forced to begin again back in the 3rd division of the Scottish League. We were solvent, no money was owned to any third party, we’d done things within our means up to this point and had reached the final steps just below the summit through hard work.
Training was excellent. There was a zip, an enjoyment but also a razor-sharp focus amongst the players. They knew what was at stake and wanted to be those at the forefront of the new chapter of success at Ibrox Park. We never once mentioned actually winning the title throughout the week of preparation, choosing instead simply to focus as we always did on what it would take to beat our opponents. If we managed to do that then the title, this time around, was the sweetest of bonuses to come around with another three points.
Of course, the gentle folk of the press wouldn’t be sated by being given the brush-off. Players were interviewed and remained faithful to the party line, only in my pre-match press conference at Ibrox the day before the Kilmarnock match did I allude to what potentially lay ahead.
James Boyle: Jones, Rangers are just one win away from being crowned champions. Are you confident of seeing it through and getting the required result tomorrow?
Our only focus is, as it is before every match, on getting three points tomorrow against Kilmarnock. Of course, we’re all aware what that’ll bring with it but that’s not anywhere near our thinking right now. It’s simply on what we need to do to beat Kilmarnock. I am confident that the boys will deliver as they have so often this season so far.
Petar Genchev: You’ve turned Ibrox into a fortress, not losing here domestically all season so far. How important is a good home record?
The old maxim is to win your home matches, isn’t it? If you do that more often than not and then pick bits and pieces up on the road then you’ll have a decent campaign. I don’t think any side would relish a trip here and maybe that puts us in the box seat before the game has kicked off.
JB: How important is Joe Aribo going to be tomorrow when you consider his standout qualities?
Joe’s a big part of what we do and a big reason why we are where we are at this stage in the campaign. He comes up big in every game regardless of the opposition and I’m sure he’s going to come to the fore again tomorrow.
PG: Likewise, Ryan Kent has a number of outstanding attributes which many feel could make a difference tomorrow against Kilmarnock. Do you agree?
Again, Ryan – like so many of the boys – has been integral to our success so far. His goal threat, his ability to go on the outside or cut inside, the way he can beat a player – all of that mark him out as a threat every time he gets out onto the field. I’m sure tomorrow will be no different and he’ll have a say in the game.
Kyle Connell: Would you agree that this is your biggest and most important match of the season?
Given what’s at stake, probably, yes.
KC: Any nerves?
Haha, look, there’s always a few little butterflies before a game and it’s the same ahead of this one. There’s nothing too out of the ordinary, we need to remember that whatever happens tomorrow isn’t going to define our season. There’s still a lot of football to be played and a lot can happen.
That was all the press were going to get, other questions were thrown my way but I wasn’t prepared to give any more away. There was a tonne of nervous energy working away at me – actually, not so much nerves as, I don’t know, anticipation? I couldn’t sit still, I was always on the move and having to find something to occupy myself.
On the Friday afternoon before the boys went home I gathered them all together to firstly name the team in an attempt to try and keep them relatively calm for what lay ahead and not have anyone undergoing big doubts about whether or not they’d be selected, and also just for a quick word.
‘Listen boys, we haven’t explicitly touched on it but we all know what might lie ahead tomorrow.’ I began, scanning their faces, each one of which was looking at me. ‘You’ve been unbelievable so far this season and whatever happens tomorrow, that’s still going to be the case. I’m certain we’ll be fine, pick up the win and get ourselves over the line against Killie but, if for whatever reason we don’t, it’s not the end of the world. We’ve got into such a position that we’ve given ourselves four bites at this particular cherry. If not tomorrow, then we’ll go and do it in Celtic’s back yard. And if we don’t do it then, we’ll go and do it at Tannadice. Don’t feel under any pressure. Sure, they’ll be expectation floating about and the fans will want us to do it in front of them, but the most important thing is to enjoy it. Play with freedom like you usually do, if we win the savour the atmosphere, drink it all in. It doesn’t happen often and it may not happen again.’
A pause for a moment before resuming.
‘I’m so proud of what we’ve done so far and I’m sure come 5pm tomorrow I’m going to be even prouder. Go home, get some good rest tonight and get your heads right for what lies ahead tomorrow.’
Off they traipsed and I wasn’t too far behind them. An early finish and home, back to Edinburgh for a relaxed evening of a takeaway, a war film and a couple of beers before heading to bed at around 10pm and slipping into a deep, undisturbed nine-hour sleep.
0 -
Table as at Saturday 17th April 2021:
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
GD
Glasgow Rangers
34
31
3
0
95
18
96
77
Glasgow Celtic
34
26
7
1
82
18
85
64
Heart of Midlothian
34
14
9
11
45
45
51
0
Kilmarnock
34
13
8
13
38
45
47
-7
Motherwell
34
13
6
15
41
42
45
-1
Dundee United
34
11
9
14
33
43
42
-10
Aberdeen
34
12
4
18
37
50
40
-13
Hibernian
34
8
11
15
35
52
35
-17
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
34
8
9
17
33
53
33
-20
Livingston
34
7
11
16
37
54
32
-17
St Johnstone
34
9
5
20
29
49
32
-20
St Mirren
34
4
14
16
27
60
26
-33
Saturday 17th April
Dundee Utd
0
1
Kilmarnock
Hearts
1
4
Celtic
Rangers
3
0
Motherwell
Aberdeen
0
2
Hibernian
Livingston
0
1
St Johnstone
St Mirren
1
3
Inverness
0 -
Saturday 17th 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 1st. 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 70th 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
0 -
Sunday 11th 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 17th 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 66th 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 89th 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
0 -
Table as at Saturday 3rd 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 3rd 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
0 -
Saturday 3rd 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 13th 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
0 -
Table as at Sunday 21st 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 17th March
Celtic
1
0
Hearts
Friday 19th March
Aberdeen
1
0
Dundee Utd
Saturday 19th March
Hearts
1
1
St Mirren
Kilmarnock
2
2
Hibernian
Livingston
0
1
Inverness
Rangers
1
0
Motherwell
Sunday 21st March
St Johnstone
1
2
Celtic
0 -
Saturday 20th 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 5th goal in four matches, his 12th since the new year break and 23rd 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)
0 -
Table as at Sunday 14th 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 12th March
Dundee Utd
0
1
Kilmarnock
Saturday 13th March
Hibs
3
1
St Johnstone
Motherwell
0
2
Hearts
St Mirren
1
2
Aberdeen
Sunday 14th March
Inverness
2
3
Rangers
Celtic
0
0
Livingston
0 -
Sunday 14th 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
0 -
Table as at Monday 8th 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 5th March
Motherwell
0
1
Aberdeen
Saturday 6th March
Dundee Utd
1
0
Livingston
Inverness
2
2
St Mirren
Kilmarnock
0
3
St Johnstone
Sunday 7th March
Hibs
0
2
Rangers
Monday 8th March
Dundee Utd
2
2
Celtic
0 -
Sunday 7th 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 3rd 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 4th 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 20th 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 72nd 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
0 -
Table as at Tuesday 2nd 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 2nd March 2021
Rangers
3
0
Kilmarnock
0 -
Tuesday 2nd 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 7th 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 5th 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
0 -
Saturday 27th 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 22nd 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
0 -
Table as at Wednesday 24th 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 24th February
Kilmarnock
0
0
Inverness
0 -
Table as at Sunday 21st 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 19th February
St Johnstone
0
2
Dundee Utd
Saturday 20th February
Aberdeen
3
2
Kilmarnock
Hearts
1
2
Inverness
Livingston
0
1
Hibs
St Mirren
0
1
Motherwell
Sunday 21st February
Rangers
4
2
Celtic
0
Baby, You're a Lost Cause (Jones Patterson, Part 2)
in FM Stories
Posted
Final Table
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
GD
Glasgow Rangers
38
34
3
1
105
22
105
83
C
Glasgow Celtic
38
30
7
1
96
19
97
77
Heart of Midlothian
38
17
9
12
52
51
60
1
Kilmarnock
38
14
8
16
41
52
50
-11
Motherwell
38
14
6
18
43
51
48
-8
Dundee United
38
11
9
18
36
55
42
-19
Aberdeen
38
15
5
18
44
52
50
-8
Hibernian
38
10
12
16
40
56
42
-16
St Johnstone
38
11
6
21
33
51
39
-18
Livingston
38
8
12
18
42
60
36
-18
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
38
9
9
20
37
61
36
-24
RPO
St Mirren
38
5
14
19
31
67
29
-36
R
Saturday 15th May 2021
Hibs
2
1
St Mirren
Inverness
2
3
Livingston
St Johnstone
0
0
Aberdeen
Sunday 16th May 2021
Kilmarnock
1
4
Celtic
Motherwell
2
1
Dundee Utd
Rangers
4
0
Hearts