Former Ranger Alan Hutton has stated that his heart was in his mouth as he watched Ryan Kent hobble off the Dens Park pitch on Sunday.
The early reaction from Gio van Bronckhorst suggested he wasn’t too worried but it is a risk that probably should have been avoided.
In games as comfortable as Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final victory over Dundee, there is the chance to take key players out of the firing line and this is something that the manager took advantage of as noted by Hutton but should he have went further to protect Kent?
Hutton gave Football Insider his verdict on the scare:
“The Kent one, it was a nasty one. I really feared for him. I think it was Sweeney who came in at the back post and caught him quite high.”
“He looked uncomfortable right after it. No chances, get him off. Same with Jack, they’re pivotal to what Rangers do.”
“You could even see that after Rangers got the early goals. Morelos came off, Kamara came off. Giovanni van Bronckhorst knows that there are bigger games up ahead in the coming month.”
Close
The replays showed that Kent was caught with Sweeney’s studs above the ankle and it clearly hurt. Thankfully it appears to be only an impact injury with bruising given as the intial prognosis by Gio after the game.
It was a close escape that could possibly have been avoided but the decision had already been made to replace the Englishman with Fashion Sakala who went on to score. As the ball went out of play as well as Kent limping off, the change was made by the Rangers bench with ice being applied immediately to the injury.
A further update will be given tomorrow at the press conference ahead of the Scottish champions journey to the Balkans for the Europa League round of 16 decider.