Michael Beale was pleased as his Rangers side avoided a potential banana skin in West Lothian as they secured a 3-0 win over Livingston.
James Tavernier opened the scoring from the penalty spot early in the first half and the Ibrox captain made it 2-0 with 12 minutes to go when he curled in a sublime free-kick, rubbing salt into the wounds after Stephane Omeonga had been sent off for David Martindale’s side.
Substitute Kemar Roofe provided the cherry on top with a third with five minutes to go – the striker’s first league goal of the season – and his manager was left satisfied as his team stretched his unbeaten run as Rangers manager to 14 games.
“I was delighted throughout because they didn’t really get up our end and create any dramas for us,” Beale told BBC Scotland. “I was expecting a tough day and that’s probably as well as it could have gone for us, 3-0 and a clean sheet.
“We have come through it with no more injuries, which is a positive, and it was nice to see Kemar Roofe come off the bench and score as well.
“These are difficult surfaces to play on and I felt that we dealt well with everything Livingston threw at us. We defended strongly and I think we always looked a threat up the other end.
“We might have scored one or two more but I was really happy with the performance. I have got a lot of respect for David and his team and what they have been doing this season, and so I don’t want to overlook coming here and getting a result – because I know it’s a tough place to come.
“It [Tavernier’s free-kick] was fantastic and it was really at a timely moment in the game. Unfortunately their boy gets a second yellow card and then we score in the same attack.
“It was a really big moment in the game and it took the sting out of the game. You know what Livingston are like, David keeps his team pushing.
“We spoke about that at half-time, they weren’t going to go anywhere. But I thought that second goal gave us that cushion and then we could relax a little bit. And then obviously the third goal is nice as well.”
Beale has been without the services of centre-forwards Roofe and Antonio Colak for the majority of his tenure thus far but both came off the bench at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
The Englishman was particularly with the former’s impact as he recalled his compatriot’s influence during the title-winning campaign of 2020/21.
“It was his first league goal of the season and it is important,” Beale said of Roofe’s goal. “In the season when we won the league he was our top goal scorer in the league and he has been lost to us for a number of months.
“It was nice that Antonio came on with him. That shows we have got firepower that has been missing most of the season. We have got a nice momentum at the moment. I think that is six away wins in the league on the bounce, which is not an easy thing to do. We just keep marching on.”
