The Sands of time have run out on Rangers as far as this wretched Champions League campaign is concerned. But the Sands who time and again did his best to stop Napoli wreaking further damage to the fragile confidence of Gio van Bronckhorst's side on Wednesday is convinced that, at the final time of asking, Rangers will get it right next week.
American James Sands isn't daft enough to suggest that his team is going to beat Ajax by the five clear goals needed to make the Europa League. But the midfielder, who has spent most of the season in defence, firmly believes that Rangers have enough about them to beat the Dutch to register their first win in this season's competition.
Van Bronckhorst has had to mend and make do as Rangers’ return to the Champions League came apart at the seems. But Sands is convinced the Dutchman’s patchwork line up can still sew up a big result that will salvage some pride from a disastrous stint at UEFA’s top table.
To be able to compete with the European monsters they found themselves trapped in with in Group A, the Ibrox men were always going to have to be at full strength and on top form. Unfortunately for Van Bronckhorst, he’s had the luxury of neither.
Injuries to Connor Goldson, Ryan Jack, John Souttar, Filip Helander, Kemar Roofe and Ianis Hagi have further reduced a squad that was already short on the firepower required to compete against the best of the best. Now the manager’s scant options in midfield have been scaled back even further after John Lundstram picked up a booking against Napoli that now rules him out of Tuesday’s final section showdown with Ajax.
Van Bronckhorst is going to have to find a way to re-stitch a team now showing its frayed edges when Alfred Schreuder’s Dutch cracks come to town. But Sands is clinging to a thread of hope that Rangers can at last find some Champions League cheer.
“That has kind of been the story of the season so far – guys stepping up and filling in for guys who have gone off injured,” said the American utility man. "Losing a character like Lunny will be difficult for us. But we can manage, we’ve got the talent to fill in for him.
“It’s a home game and we expect a positive result. Giving the fans something to cheer, that’s going to be the main goal for us. The fans have waited a long time to see us in the Champions League so to get a home win would be special and something the fans definitely deserve.
“We have to learn what worked and what didn’t work. With the home fans behind us we can create even more against Ajax and should make for a positive result.”
It’s been a campaign of misery for Rangers, who have learned the hard way just how vast the step up from the Europa League to Europe’s top tournament is. The numbers make for bleak reading. Five games, one goal scored, 19 conceded and a big fat zero points.
Lose next week and they face equalling or even breaking the record for the worst ever group stage campaign set by Dinamo Zagreb back in 2011. Positives are in short supply but Sands is taking heart from the chances they carved out against a team currently topping Serie A and who he believes are destined to go far in this year’s Champions League.
The New York City loanee added: “They’ve certainly proved so far they’re one of the strongest teams in the competition. But the best team doesn’t always win the Champions League and we’ve seen that year after year.
“They will be up there but I can’t say they’ll win it for sure. It is frustrating for us as a team. You never want to lose 3-0. Having said that, there were more positives from Wednesday night than in the previous fixtures.
“It is all about taking what we can learn from these experiences and using them in the league. These are the best players in the world so the fact that we are stringing together passes and creating good chances shows that if we can do it against them we can do it against anyone.
"It is definitely something that we can learn from. These are the top teams and any chance you give them they will score from it. We had a little trouble closing out the wide areas, maybe gave them a little too much time to serve the crosses.
“But we adjusted well in the second-half and limited the chances they had. I am sure it still can be a positive season. We are a locker room full of winners. When we lose a game like that 3-0 you are never happy.
“But there are two ways you can look at it. You can sit there and sulk or you can try and take something away from it. That has kind of been the message from the boss. It is something we will try to implement going forward.”
Faint hopes remain that Rangers can snatch the unlikeliest of Europa League safety ropes but frankly you’d need a telescope to find them. To snatch third place, the Light Blues would need to beat Ajax by five clear goals and wipe out the 4-0 Amsterdam annihilation they suffered in their section opener.
Little wonder then that Sands is making no bold predictions. He said: “It was our objective from the start to be playing European football after the World Cup break. I’m not sure exactly how many goals we’ll need but first and foremost it’s about getting a win. After that we can look at how many goals we need.”
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