“Rattle A Few Cages” - Gerrard’s Words Do The Trick As Rangers Look Forward Again

With a wobble in Premiership form of late for manager Steven Gerrard’s Rangers side, Saturday saw the Scottish Cup become a distraction for us and as fans will know, we sailed through from the fifth round of the competition with a comfortable victory over Hamilton Academical.

Having taken the lead early on as Scott Arfield opened the scoring in the 25th minute from a penalty rebound, the hosts were soon back on level terms as Lewis Smith netted, but a strong second half ensured our progression with goals from Joe Aribo and Alfredo Morelos, before Arfield put the cherry on top as he completed his brace in stoppage time.

Having dominated the game it was nothing we didn’t deserve, but having conceded advantage in the league race to Celtic, fans will be hoping back to back victories across all competitions prove to be the end of our recent wobbles.

Speaking to the BBC following the full time whistle, Gerrard didn’t hide his first half disappointment and admitted the talk at the break wasn’t that pretty.

“I was very disappointed in us defensively in the first half. I had to address that at half-time and rattle a few cages to get them switched on and focused and in the right place defensively. Once we did that we played some nice stuff, created a lot of chances and scored some really impressive goals.”

Adding.

“The second-half showing was fantastic. We approached it with the right attitude and mentality from a defensive point of view. The Joe Aribo goal was fantastic, excellent assist from Ryan Kent. It was nice to see Alfredo back scoring. Hopefully that goal does him the world of good. And we save the best until last – Arfield’s strike was a contender for goal of the month, if not goal of the season.”