MICHAEL BEALE’S reign as Rangers manager has thus far proven to be thrilling, if a little nervy. A debut victory was sealed last week courtesy of a 3-2 win over Hibernian where the momentum lurched this way and that as the Ibrox side came from behind to claim three morale-boosting points in the Englishman’s first outing in charge.
His second, somehow, was even more enthralling. Tuesday night’s encounter at Pittodrie was one that seemingly spelled disaster for the Glasgow giants’ title tilt. It started positively enough as Fashion Sakala gave the visitors the lead before their hosts came roaring back in emphatic… well, fashion.
An excellently-struck set-piece from Luis “Duk” Lopes restored parity on the brink of half-time before a Leighton Clarkson shot from distance beat Allan McGregor and handed Aberdeen the lead shortly after the restart. As time wore on, it looked for all the world like the Dons would hold out and claim a precious victory.
Enter Scott Arfield. The midfielder clambered off the bench with half an hour to go in the North East and the 34-year-old made a tremendous impact, scoring twice in two second-half stoppage-time minutes to turn the game on its head and earn Beale’s side a thrilling win.
The result is ultimately what matters and the new Rangers manager will have been thrilled to preside over back-to-back successes in his two games in charge. Their dramatic nature – and the fact that both were achieved with the men from Ibrox trailing for lengthy spells – will have led to some sweaty palms amongst Tuesday night’s travelling support but Arfield is adamant that getting points on the board is what matters most at this stage of the title race.
“Momentum is massive at a club like that,” he said. “We need to get momentum and we need to get it fast. There are no if, buts or maybes about that.
“We know the position we are in. The manager has installed his message from the very first training session.
“If you fall beneath those standards you are not going to be playing. So it’s about doing well and keeping the mentality strong.”
“The whole game was eventful to be fair,” Arfield continued. “It was a typical Scottish game in many ways, the fans were right after it.
“We got off to a good start, we scored a good goal and we could have had a couple. But a great free-kick for their boy takes us into half-time level. We had enough chances to win that first half, so that was disappointing.
“We just didn’t start in the second half and they had a couple of chances. From there it was all about us trying to get the right result and starting a busy week off as best we could.”
Arfield can certainly be pleased with his own performance. Both of his goals were the result of clever penalty-box play, of being in the right place at the right time, and the victory underlined the never-say-die attitude that Beale is trying to instil in his players.
It is a welcome change of pace for Arfield. He admits that all too often this term, late interventions have cost Rangers dearly and the former Canada internationalist enjoyed playing his part in dishing out some late heartbreak of his for once. The fact that his arrived during a heated contest where there is no love lost made it all the sweeter, he says, and acts as further evidence of the change in attitude since Beale replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
“The character is there, I think we’re showing that,” he said. “A lot of the times this season we feel we have been done by last-minute goals. Or on other occasions we have drawn games where we felt we’d done enough to win and dominated.
“It’s better when you win and it’s even better when you get a couple of last-minute goals. We’re hoping that continues and that we don’t make it as nervous moving forward.
“The manager’s message has always been clear, even going back to his first stint here. I think from a players’ point of view we have tried to pick it up as quickly as possible.
“The Leverkusen game [Rangers recorded a 3-0 win in a friendly against the German side earlier this month] was a good indicator of that. We played some terrific stuff in the game and we built on that, or at least we’ve tried to build on that.
“You saw a different side against Aberdeen and that’s now three wins the manager has under his belt. That’s only going to breed confidence and help get his message across.”
Arfield added: “To score in any game is brilliant, especially in this fixture when you know how feisty it is. You can win the game in the first ten minutes or in the last two as we did the other night, it doesn’t matter as long as you get the three points.
“As much as it feels big at the minute, the manner in which it happened, we are still trailing behind and we know that.
“That has to be the mentality at the moment. We need to keep putting pressure on and keep doing the right thing. Hopefully if we do that it will change for us.”
Arfield’s advancing years, coupled with the form of Bayern Munich loanee Malik Tillman, have meant that the 34-year-old’s place as a regular starter are most likely in the past. However, the man himself – who is out of contract at the end of the season – accepts his place in the pecking order at Ibrox. A few more minutes wouldn’t go amiss, sure, but he understands that competition for places is rife at Rangers.
“It’s always a challenge to play first-team football,” he explained. “You get to an age where you start to see football differently.
“You obviously want to play every game but you also appreciate the talent and the ability the other guy has, particularly in that midfield area. It’s only really myself and Malik that fill that role so it’s only going to be one of us.
“It’s important I keep putting pressure on him because that will help take his game to the next level.”
