THE VITAL SPARK
Morelos’ arrival from bench provides surge of electricity needed to jolt Rangers into life
WITH half an hour to play, Steven Gerrard had seen enough. The nerves of the home support growing, Rangers needed an urgent injection of strength and inspiration from somewhere.
Not for the first time this season, El Bufalo came up with the goods. With Alfredo Morelos on the pitch, this Rangers team come alive. For almost an hour here Ibrox felt like an anxious place. Huffing and puffing to break the resistance of a dogged Kilmarnock team, news of two first-half goals for Celtic in Paisley did nothing to improve festive spirits.
Make no mistake, anything less than three points here would have felt a disastrous business.
Five points adrift of their bitter rivals before kick-off, the selection of Morelos as a substitute offered a clear hint that the top scorer will be granted yet another chance to break his scoring duck at Parkhead on Sunday.
The law of averages suggests he will score eventually and, when he is on this kind of form, Gerrard is entitled to think his time will come soon.
We’ve said that before, of course, yet the top scorer’s arrival after 58 minutes felt like a bolt of electricity, his 28th goal of the season firing 20,000 volts through a flagging crowd.
‘We have incredible support and, with all due respect, sometimes they come here and just expect you to blow teams away,’ said Gerrard.
‘Liverpool supporters were the same when I played there. So it’s important to tell the players before the game and at half-time to be patient, continue to believe in what we are doing, not panic or get frustrated.
‘I thought we got a little better in the second half. We were shooting more and getting more crosses in. We had more purpose.
‘Killie set us a challenge: “Come and beat us”. And they made it very difficult for us. We found a way, which is very pleasing.’
Nevertheless, an uninspiring display emphasised just how important the drive and physicality of Morelos is.
Examples of a visiting goalkeeper at Ibrox going an entire 45 minutes without a save to make are as rare as snow on Christmas Day. Yet Laurentiu Branescu’s first real save took 52 minutes, a sprawling stop on the line denying Ryan Jack.
With Morelos on the pitch, Rangers looked liable to score with every attack. That they failed to do so owed much to Kilmarnock looking more like their old selves.
Compact, disciplined and organised, despite interim manager Alex Dyer benching the likes of Eamonn Brophy, the record now reads seven games without a win. Yet, even without the injured Scotland international Stephen O’Donnell, this was more like it.
Gerrard accused the Ayrshire team of making no attempt to win the game.
Yet their best passing move of the match saw the impressive left-back Niko Hamalainen’s low, left-foot strike deflect off the boot of James Tavernier and spin inches wide of Allan McGregor’s left-hand post after nine minutes.
Had Alan Power put his laces through a fine chance minutes after the Rangers goal, they might even have taken something.
The Ibrox side pushed, probed and prodded the ball around, with space to penetrate kept to a minimum by Kilmarnock.
Rangers almost found a way in after 20 minutes, a terrific Connor Goldson cross-field ball to Ryan Kent giving the winger the time and space he needed to thump a low centre towards the mixer. Joe Aribo connected with the ball but Alex Bruce did brilliantly to deflect wide for a corner.
The home team were restricted to half-chances rather than gilt-edged opportunities, finding most joy on the left where the energy of Jack and the crossing of Borna Barisic posed most danger.
One of the Croatian’s efforts was headed to the edge of the area where Jack sent a first-time strike fizzing low past the right-hand post from 20 yards.
Rangers came closest to a breakthrough two minutes before the interval. Kent laid the ball back to Glen Kamara and the Finn’s looping shot from the edge of the 18-yard box dipped onto the top of the crossbar.
Yet for Dyer, the man Kilmarnock’s board of directors want to give the job to on a permanent basis, the first half reached a satisfying conclusion.
As they had to, Rangers began the second half with tempo and urgency. They needed a goal.
When Branescu was finally called to the fray he answered, Jack’s neat sidestep at the edge of the area resulting in the keeper clutching a strong, left-foot strike on the line at the second attempt.
As the hour-mark approached without a breakthrough, the introduction of Morelos became inevitable. Tavernier wasted some useful lead-up play by Jermain Defoe and Aribo by firing over. Kent’s curling, dipping strike from 20 yards was pushed wide of the post by Branescu.
Jack was next to force the Killie keeper into action with a low drive. Not before time, Rangers were warming the Romanian’s hands.
It had to be Morelos who made the difference. It usually is.
The striker had only been on the pitch for seven minutes when he struck a crucial goal for Rangers.
Ibrox was becoming increasingly fraught when Jack’s threaded ball for Aribo was played first time into the path of Morelos.
At first glance, the Colombian looked marginally offside when he poked the ball low past Branescu to scenes of intense relief.
Interim Killie boss Dyer admitted later that wasn’t the case, although that didn’t stop defender Bruce being so vociferous in his protests to the far side assistant that he earned a yellow card from referee Steven MacLean.
Morelos looked odds-on to make the game safe with 14 minutes to play, a deft through ball from Tavernier putting the striker one on one with Branescu, the keeper grabbing the ball from the Colombian’s toe as the home fans waited for the net to bulge.
‘We weren’t at our best today,’ acknowledged Rangers midfielder Kamara, ‘but we got the win. It was the type of game you just take the win and be happy.
‘It’s natural the fans got frustrated and, if I was in the crowd, I probably would too. But the important thing was we got the win.’
RANGERS (4-3-3): McGregor 6; Tavernier 7, Goldson 7, Katic 6, Barisic 7; Jack 7, Kamara 6, Arfield 5 (Stewart 65); Aribo 6, Kent 7 (Davis 77); Defoe 5 (Morelos 58).
Subs not used: Foderingham, Edmundson, Flanagan, Jones. Booked: None. KILMARNOCK (4-3-3): Branescu 7; Bruce 7, Millen 5 (Burke 68), Del Fabro 7, Hamalainen 7; Power 7, Dicker 7, Wilson 5; McKenzie 5, El Makrini 5 (Thomas 84), Millar 5 (Brophy 63). Subs not used: Koprivec, Johnson, Sow, Brindley.
Booked: Wilson, Millar, Bruce. Man of the match: Ryan Jack. Referee: Steven MacLean. Attendance: 49,885.