Soccer
Derek McInnes hails Rangers matchwinner Lawrence Shankland
Derek McInnes believes Lawrence Shankland turned in a “proper captain’s performance” with his double in Rangers’ 2-1 win at Falkirk.
The Scotland striker has had a difficult time at his boyhood heroes since signing from Hearts in the summer.
However, after scoring from the spot in the 1-0 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday, he fired the visitors ahead with a fine strike in the seventh minute.
And although Gers full-back Kosta Nedeljkovic turned an Ethan Ross cross into his own net just before the break, Shankland curled in a winner in the 79th minute with a trademark finish.
McInnes said: “I’m very pleased for Lawrence Shankland. I thought his second goal was particularly good, considering he missed the chance that he would be kicking himself with.
“But, like all good strikers, the experience of Lawrence, the calmness of Lawrence, the quality comes up with a big moment.
“His first goal was a fantastic strike. I was screaming to leave it for Gass (Djeidi Gassama), but he sticks it in the back of the net.
“I’m delighted for him because it’s not been, like for all of us, the easiest of starts.
“Obviously Lawrence would feel the weight of that a lot more than some others, I think, just because of his background and how eager he is. A proper captain’s performance out there tonight.
“I’m pleased that we’ve won the game, and I was pleased with certain aspects of our attacking play, but disappointed that we’ve not been able to enjoy the game a bit more in terms of giving Falkirk a lot of encouragement at times.”
Before the game midfielder Thelo Aasgaard left the team hotel to complete a loan move to Belgium side Anderlecht while Rangers rejected a loan bid from Turkish side Besiktas for Nicolas Raskin and McInnes is confident that the Belgium midfielder will remain at Ibrox.
He said: “Yeah, I think he will. I can’t say when it’s certain; they’re not in control of that.
“Obviously Nico’s had an opportunity to go today, and it wasn’t something he wanted or the club, I believe, entertained. It was hardly the ideal preparation.
“I’ve been keen to utilise Nico, but there’s been a lot going on for him.
“He’s been training with us every day, and I do think at times the team needs a bit more experience.
“Even coming through from Ibrox at lunchtime today, at the hotel, I had Thelo behind me and Nico three rows behind me and I didn’t know who was coming and who was going. It’s far from ideal.
“This is the difficulty when you’re playing games while the window’s still open.”
Falkirk boss John McGlynn was left ruing some missed chances after the break.
He said: “I think we’ve got two great opportunities in the second half that we could have put ourselves 2 or 3-1 up.
“If you give Lawrence any kind of space in the box, he’s going to punish you. And he’s got a wee habit of doing it against us.
“I thought for 30 minutes of the second half, we were the better team.
“We probably deserved something, but we don’t want to be this team that can play nice football and be attractive and play good games.
“We need to start turning that into wins.”
