New Glasgow Rangers boss Michael Beale got his tenure off to a bang with victory over Hibernian on Thursday evening, with the Old Firm giants twice coming from behind in what was a thrilling return to Scottish Premiership action at Ibrox.
The Light Blues had gone into the World Cup break on something of a sour note after being held to a 1-1 draw with St Mirren in their most recent league outing, with that stalemate proving the straw that broke the camel’s back for former boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst, as the Dutchman was subsequently relieved of his duties.
Despite the renewed belief sparked by the change in the dugout, it looked set to be more of the same last night for the Gers as the home side fell behind inside the opening eight minutes, with contract rebel Ryan Porteous – who has been tipped for a move to Glasgow – almost inevitably getting on the scoresheet with a bullet free header.
The hosts swiftly hit back, however, through a driven effort from Fashion Sakala, only for Lee Johnson’s side to re-establish their lead just seconds later as Scotland international Kevin Nisbet marked his return from a lengthy injury absence by getting himself on the scoresheet with a deft dink over the onrushing Allan McGregor.
With nerves no doubt building among both the home crowd and the home dugout, midfielder Ryan Jack then tapped home at the back post early in the second half to draw the Gers level, before Alfredo Morelos netted for just the fourth time this season following good work from Malik Tillman in the build-up.
The Colombian’s strike ultimately proved crucial as there was to be no response from the Edinburgh outfit, with the new era at Ibrox getting underway with what was a hard-fought victory for Beale’s men.
That result seemingly came in spite of the dour performance of one Rangers man, however, with former Sheffield United midfielder John Lundstram having looked distinctly uncomfortable after being deployed as a makeshift centre-back alongside James Sands.
With Connor Goldson still not yet back to full fitness and with teenage star Leon King out of the matchday squad, the Englishman was forced to take on an unsuited role in the backline, albeit with that having almost backfired as far as Beale is concerned.
In truth, Lundstram simply had a “shocker” – in the words of journalist Josh Bunting – having been “all over the place” on the night, notably proving culpable for the visitors’ second goal after failing to deal with a rather innocuous through ball that fell kindly to the feet of the aforementioned Nisbet.
Not only a weak link in that second goal for the away side, the 28-year-old also looked shaky throughout the 90-minute affair, having lost possession on 11 occasions from his 105 touches, while also failing to win any of his four aerial duels.
While perhaps not used to taking on the centre-back berth, that can be no excuse for what was a truly limp performance from the Liverpool-born dud, with his match rating of 6.8, as per SofaScore, unsurprisingly the third worst of any starting player for his side.
The hope will be for both the player and his manager that such an experiment is not one that has to be tested out again any time soon, with Lundstram’s outing having laid bare the need to get that man Goldson back amongst the action.