Rangers have been left to ruminate on their Easter Road regrets. Now after taking their first stumble in the race for the Premiership flag, Gio van Bronckhorst has made it clear to his team they cannot afford to be so rueful in Eindhoven.
Rangers had done the hard bit on Saturday by twice getting themselves in front against Hibs. But much of that graft was thrown away as the Light Blues let themselves down on the discipline and imagination fronts.
Van Bronckhorst may fancy his chances of appealing John Lundstram ’s controversial sending-off in Leith after his trip on Martin Boyle drew a major over-reaction from Willie Collum but the referee’s decision to dismiss Alfredo Morelos for a flailing arm on Marijan Cabraya seems certain to stick. It was a return to nasty habits from the Colombian. It’s two and a half years since his last dismissal at Celtic Park in December 2019 and aside from a couple of retrospective bans he’s largely kept his nose clean.
But he left his team up against it for the final 15 minutes. Two men light, the mismatch finally worked in Hibs’ favour as Josh Campbell snatched a stoppage-time equaliser. But van Bronckhorst has every right to feel his team could have avoided all this unnecessary stress had they been more effective when the numbers were level.
Tom Lawrence’s firm header finished off a slick team move to put Rangers back in front and was a demonstration of what this side is capable of once it gets in full flow. But there are too many times when they are mis-firing.
If that is repeated against Ruud van Nistelrooy’s PSV outfit on Wednesday then there’s a real risk the Ibrox men can forget about laying on a Champions League spread this season. The Dutchman said: “There were transition moments when we could have got in behind them but in those moments we should have done much better.
“The second goal was a good goal and it shows the way we can play. But on Saturday the two red cards cost us two points. Of course the disappointment is here. But we have to switch back to Europe and the big chance to go qualify for the group stage. There’s everything to play for. We’ll look forward to Wednesday and look to put in a good performance.”
Van Bronckhorst has indicated Rangers will closely examine the red cards they received in the capital as they ponder the merits of an appeal. He said: “It was a very physical game. In the first half we had to avoid some really tough challenges. In the second half, with the red card for John it was a foul but he had no intention of hurting the player.
“The speed of the tackle wasn’t with a lot of force. The ref could have given yellow as well if you compare it with the challenge we conceded in the first half. Then we had to react with 10 men but the red card for Morelos made it worse and we had to play with nine. The players fought hard to get the best result possible. We’re going to analyse the game and see what’s the smartest thing to do but we will sure look into the red cards.”
Skipper James Tavernier was just as frustrated as his gaffer at the two points dropped which have allowed Celtic to steal an early lead in the title race as he berated Morelos for his rush of blood.
“Disappointed, angry,” were the two words he used to sum up his emotions after Gers failed to build on his penalty awarded on the stroke of half-time after another questionable Collum call, then Tav added: “But happy to see the character of the boys to the situation that happened.
“Some of the decision-making in the game maybe cost us. We take the lead in the first half and created some chances. Second half we conceded a sloppy goal then put ourselves ahead only to see a decision to be made on us which we thought was a challenge in the first half.
“It’s a simple trip and he gets a red card which turns it in their favour. Alfredo’s one is stupid. He’s going to ask questions. We put ourselves on the back foot and I thought the character we have shown [was good].
“It’s obviously disappointing to lose a goal near the end. Especially when he [Campbell] slices the ball. If he’d got a good connection it probably goes straight to Jon McLaughlin.
“But we come away with a point. We defended the best we could but we have to put this behind us and focus on Wednesday. It’s obviously a massive game for us, for the club and for the fans. We want to bring Champions League football back to Ibrox. We will do everything possible to try to achieve that.”
