Michael Beale insists the battle is now on for places in his Rangers starting line-up after as he sees the strength of his squad pay off, admitting Alfredo Morelos wasn’t happy to continue on the bench as Antonio Colak and Fashion Sakala earned their gaffer’s praise.
Beale stuck with the XI that started the weekend Scottish Premiership win over Kilmarnock for the trip to Easter Road and was rewarded with an impressive 4-1 victory against Hibs. Gers could have won by more than their three-goal margin as they recovered from Connor Goldson’s early own goal. James Tavernier netted from the spot before Antonio Colak scored before the break.
Fashion Sakala netted after the restart and Colak completed his brace as the Light Blues continued their positive response from losing the Viaplay Cup final going into Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter final clash against Raith Rovers at Ibrox - and Beale says he could stick with that line up again.
He said: “I could go with the same team for a third game in a row. It’s a quarter final of the cup and a really important game. We’ll assess it in the next couple of days. The gauntlet is set down and if the boys keep performing as they did in the first half then it’s only fair and right they continue and that will see the training level go up.
“The squad is looking quite strong. We made five subs in one go and good players came on and John Souttar and Ridvan Yilmaz played in the B team to get minutes so we’re in a good place squad-wise and the competition goes up.
“Fashion is still a young man and he’s getting used to the hustle and bustle of Scottish football, even now. We signed him as a striker and he’s been shifted out wide at different times. The system suits him at the moment, certainly away from home when teams come after us and it opens up space. He has a chance to score or assist in every game. He doesn’t always get them but is working away and he was unplayable at times.
“Antonio was really good as well. I’m seeing a fit Antonio Colak. He was brilliant the weekend and the competition is there. Alfredo isn’t happy to be out of the team but it’s fair and right when someone plays and play well they keep the shirt so I have an issue with a few players waiting on the sidelines and good squads have that.
“I thought Hibs would come and try and take the game to us which they did. We were really poor for one moment which was the set play but the response was fantastic. We scored four and could probably have scored double that on the night with a mix of good Hibs defending and some bad finishing from us.
“Some of our play was really good. It was the best we’ve been defensively since we were last in Edinburgh at Hearts. One or two moments have puzzled me that we haven’t shown the same belief in other games but it’s a work in progress. The two new signings are looking excellent and getting up to match speed. The results we’re getting aren’t easy to get - we’re coming away from home and scoring a lot of goals."
