Manager Stuart McCall has said he was pleased to see Rangers gain themselves a four point gap in second place over Hibernian in the game against Dumbarton at the weekend.
The three one victory courtesy of a brace from Hardie and another goal from on loan Newcastle forward Vuckic gave us all three points on the day, and speaking to the Official Site following the game, he explained.
‘Prior to the game we said that the most important thing was to come away with three points and we did that. We made it difficult for ourselves by going down to an early goal but we scored three and could have got a lot more. It`s job done in that we came away with the points but we could have made it far more comfortable for ourselves, but I don`t think it`s any coincidence that the man of the match for Dumbarton was their goalkeeper.’
McCall went on to say that their keeper clearly pulled off two or three ‘great saves’ across the course of 90 minutes and we also missed some very good chances where we should’ve tested him more with.
‘We know there are things we could have done better but if we`d been clinical we`d have been looking at a handsome victory.’
With Hibernian playing tonight – and at the time of writing the points gap has been cut to one – McCall said he would be at the game doing his homework.
‘I`ll be there at Livingston on Wednesday night and we know how tough it will be because they gave us a hard game and they are fighting for their lives. Hibs have been knocked out of the cup and now have their sole focus on getting promoted so Alan Stubbs will be drumming that in to the team. We`re pleased that we did what we wanted to do today which was to go four points clear and we`ll see what Wednesday brings.’
With Ryan Hardie getting a brace in the game on his full debut for the club, McCall also challenged him to continue to improve if he wanted to make a starting spot his own in the future.
Two goals though were a good start for him.
‘I`m delighted for Ryan of course and for the team generally. We`ll have a lot of options next week. It`s horses for courses for certain games but if someone is on form and their confidence is high then it give us food for thought. He did what I thought he would today, and got in behind them a couple of times, but every game is different.’
McCall went on to say that although he didn’t name the team until lunchtime on the day of the game Hardie had been in his thinking since the previous Wednesday because he felt his qualities and surges into the box would be an asset for us in unlocking Dumbarton so again the areas he scored from in the game were where he hoped the player would pop up when he was planning out the game.
‘Ryan was playing on my mind from Wednesday. I was always going to play him in this game and I thought he could get in to certain areas of the park which he did. The area he scored from was exactly what we wanted from him. His second could probably have gone anywhere but he`s a goal scorer and he`s got the energy and the pace to cause problems.’
As for the other goalscorer, Vuckic, McCall added.
‘We had to move him on to the left today so we could get a bit more from Walsh on the right. I know Haris prefers being on the other side so he can cut in and do what he did, but we gave him a bit of freedom to go and get involved in the game. He ended up being on the right hand side, and once he cut inside it was a fantastic finish. It`s pleasing for him to be playing a key part because he brings goals to the team.’
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