Caretaker gaffer Graeme Murty has praised the Rangers squad for showing true grit, character and class as we took victory over Hearts at the weekend.
Travelling to Tynecastle for the game, the hosts took the early lead but Kenny Miller had us back on level terms as we went into the half time break. Completing his brace and being joined on the scoresheet by Josh Windass gave us the three one victory and Murty couldn’t have been more delighted at the full time whistle.
Speaking to the Official Site in his post game press conference, he explained.
‘I thought the boys approached it in the right manner, and despite going behind to a fantastic free-kick, we showed real character and grit, and no little class in the way we played and regained control of the game. I`m pleased for the players and proud of them as well. I thought we were the better team in the first half apart from the goal, although 15 minutes after that we lost a little bit of control. But, the goal came from our best passage of play and we kept on encouraging them all the way though the time just to keep playing, keep passing and the spaces would open up, and you are hoping that the chances fall to someone who can put the ball in the back of the net, and if we had a little more clarity and more of a clinical nature, we could have got a couple more.’
With Miller taking the plaudits, Murty was quick to praise others such as Alfredo Morelos, Jason Holt and Ryan Jack for their efforts on the day.
‘I said to the players at half-time, we need to trust him (Morelos). The way he backs in and holds the ball up, he gives us a platform to go and build attacks, and once we sorted our first pass in transition when we got the ball back, we started to find him more regularly, and he let us build. Ryan Jack and Jason Holt then started to dictate the tempo, and when you do that and you have players in skilled positions which can go and hurt teams, then you always have a chance.’
Adding.
‘I thought Jason and Ryan gave us a real platform to go and play. I thought when they got their foot on the ball and passed the ball around, we started to pull them out of their shape and although lots of people will get the headlines, maybe their work doesn`t go seen by a lot of people and it really see the basis for us to go and gain control and regain control of the game, and I thought they were part of the basis for what we did today.’
As for Windass he went on to say.
‘It was great, and we have been encouraging Josh to go and run in behind. He is a powerful guy, he is quick and he is very strong and he needs to go and use that asset to go and hurt teams, and I thought the pass was one of real good vision and quality, but Josh then had to go and back himself. When things aren`t going for you it is really easy to pass responsibility and pass the ball to someone else, and maybe not take that shot on from fear. But Josh showed real good character and I am really pleased for him and I thought he did a good shift for the team. As I said to them all – we have high standards, we need to raise it again, and we will be working on that this week.’
Ross McCrorie and Danny Wilson also came in for praise.
‘Ross and Danny stood up to everything they threw at them. Goncalves and Lafferty are very physical and are a massive presence, but both of them stood up to it and considering Danny hasn`t played a lot of football, for him to put in the performance he did and show the composure he did when he had the opportunity to play, I thought he was a real benefit to the team. For Ross` development too, playing with someone of that composure and that quality is just going to bring his game on leaps and bounds as well.’
