Steven Gerrard was a happy man after his side’s 5-1 demolition of Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday, especially after making a couple of surprise inclusions in his starting XI, as reported by BBC Sport.
Here at Vital Rangers, we have our finger on the pulse and predicted a return to the first-team for Jordan Jones, he looked sharp on Thursday night and his impact was rewarded with a chance to make an impact from the first whistle.
Making his first professional start was Calvin Bassey in place of Borna Barisic – who has been carrying a minor knock – and the gaffer will probably be most pleased about the 20-year old’s performance against a team that has caused problems in the past.
The summer signing from Leicester City was resolute in defence and seeing his man subbed midway through the second-half is testament to the job he did on him, that his replacement didn’t get much more joy out of him either is further sign that he is an upgrade on the previous stand-ins.
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As for Jones, it’s safe to say he took his chance with both hands, or feet as the case may be, after showing Ricki Lamie a clean pair of heels to race onto a Scott Arfield through ball, a perfectly weighted first touch with his right foot allowed him to curl a beautifully angled shot past the helpless Trevor Carson with his left, that it went in off the post made it look even better.
Jordan Jones make it two for Rangers as he races away down the right-hand side and slots it home.
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New boy, Cedric Itten, also drew praise from the gaffer after scoring his first goals from the club, the first a stunning volley from 20 yards after starting the move on the half-way line:
“I thought we were strong throughout. I’m pleased for Cedric [Itten] to get a couple of goals, it’ll do his confidence the world of good, Calvin’s [Bassey] debut. There’s a lot of positives to take away from the game.
“I was pleased with my leaders today because they kept the standards up throughout the 90 minutes. I’m a bit disappointed with the set-piece goal, we’ll have a look at that, but in the main it was a very strong performance.”
A textbook Sunday afternoon enjoyed by those of a Light Blue persuasion with Gerrard able to rest a few players and getting an emphatic result, whilst still having several missing from his squad, despite dropped points against Hibs and Livingston away from home it remains a solid start to the season and one that augers well for the rest of the campaign – just think how we’ll play when the squad is finally fully fit.