If Giovanni van Bronckhorst has any sense, he will spend this morning going through the fine print in Antonio Colak’s contract.
Just to make sure there are all the necessary clauses that prevent his clinical Croat dabbling in unnecessarily risky extracurriculars. After all, the Ibrox manager wouldn’t want something as hazardous as, say, a stray squash ball to knock his summer signing off his hot streak.
Colak has certainly batted aside those critics who questioned if he was cut out for life as Rangers ’ No.9. Seven goals in the first month of the season constitute freak numbers, only bettered by Marco Negri’s haul of 10 in 1997. He carried that red-hot run of goals on all the way to Christmas, by which point he’d netted 33 times before his brush with Sergio Porrini’s 100mph forehand almost cost him an eye. It proved far more critical for Walter Smith’s bid for 10 in a row and the bleary squad saw their big chance of Ibrox immortality slip through their fingers as Negri’s goals dried up.
This squad have already secured their chapter in the history books with last Wednesday’s exhilarating Eindhoven win. There must have been many among the Ibrox legions who wondered if they’d ever hear the Champions League music swirling around the old ground again.
But that is now a reality after the gritty win over PSV secured a set of glamour ties against Liverpool, Ajax and Napoli. Colak deserves all the praise coming his way for his part in that £40million qualification bonanza.
His tap-in against the Dutch was the fruit of his relentless labour. It was the 28-year-old’s eager pressing which forced keeper Walter Benitez into the rushed pass that caught Andre Ramalho in Malik Tillman’s trap.
But on Saturday against Ross County, the other side to the striker’s game came to the fore. The cold, cool, merciless instincts of man who routinely dispatches any chance that finds its way to his feet.
He was even able to keep his eye on the target while falling backwards as Scott Wright’s cross came in. Off balance yet he was still able to hook home his side’s second after John Lundstram’s deflected strike had opened the scoring against the Staggies.
It was yet another instalment of the Alfredo Morelos soap opera last week, with the striker watching this win from the stand following his Easter Road red card. But the controversial Colombian was out of sight, out of mind for the fans as Colak swept home his second 13 minutes into the second half to finish off a scintillating one-touch move.
It was that same killer touch that made Negri such a phenomenal scorer before the infamous squash ball incident. Colak, though displays none of the sullen expressions that earned Negri his Moody Blue sobriquet.
The former PAOK ace grinned and said: “I’m enjoying it so much.
“I just try to keep it going by working hard again and again, to ride this wave. For me as a striker, it means so much. And, of course, to score so many goals in this short period, it couldn’t be better for me as a new player starting out here.
“I just want to continue like that and keep pushing. It’s the best feeling to score here at Ibrox in front of our fans. I enjoy every moment, every goal, every win. I just want to keep it like that.”
Colak is bathing in the sunshine of his goalscoring exploits but Don Robertson is the latest Scottish official to find himself trudging about under a cloud after another weekend of dubious decisions. A week on from Willie Collum making himself centre of attention with his ludicrous Leith display, dopey Don got it wrong at Ibrox.
He’d already booked James Sands for dragging down Jordy Hiwula, so Malky Mackay had good reason for going tonto on the sidelines when the ref allowed the American to get off scot-free after an almost identical incident with the game goalless while last man up against the Staggies striker.
Mackay’s planning for Glasgow was hit in midweek when Jack Baldwin joined an already banned Ross Callachan in being rule out, the pair of them hit with retrospective bans for tackles made in their win over Kilmarnock. Perhaps he can console himself with the fact it’s an incident VAR would certainly have corrected.
With the tech still two months away, it’s more likely to be of cold comfort to the County boss. From that let-off, Rangers steamrolled off into the distance as they produced their slickest display of the season, playing with a tempo the Staggies simply could not live with.
It took a nick off the head of Ben Purrington to give Lundstram the opener in 24 minutes. But No.2 six minutes before the break was all about Colak’s ability to work out his angles as he volleyed Wright’s cross home despite losing his balance.
James Tavernier headed against the woodwork after a superb Ryan Kent cross to the back post. But Kent – who had teed up Lundstram – would have another assist as he combined brilliantly with Tom Lawrence to put Colak in front of Ross Laidlaw’s goal. As before, the finish was emphatic. The late fourth goal for sub Steven Davis was just as slick as Gers moved from back to front in a flash before the Northern Ireland skipper slotted home.
Colak added: “We’re really happy we won 4-0 at home. It was important, especially after the European night we had. We wanted to solve it as fast as possible and show our dominance. We created a lot of chances, scored a lot of goals, kept a clean sheet – it couldn’t have been better.
“Is this our best attacking display so far this season? Yeah, I think so. We had each other’s back, even if we lost the ball. We could have had an (even bigger win) but we’re just focused on trying to improve in every match and every training session.”
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