‘Massive’ – Andy Halliday rues key moment from Rangers player in ‘self-inflicted’ draw v Hibs
Former Rangers player Andy Halliday has rued the “massive” chance that Ryan Kent missed in the Gers’ 2-2 draw with Hibernian on Sunday.
The winger, who has been in fine form this season, failed to convert a one-on-one from inside the box with the scores at 2-1.
And Halliday has suggested that the effort contributed to a “self-inflicted” disappointment for Steven Gerrard’s men.
Speaking to BBC Sport, he said: “Steven Gerrard has mentioned numerous times that he wants his team to be ruthless. At 2-1 up, Ryan Kent had a massive chance to make it 3-1, and you’d think a third goal would kill the game.
“Not only that, but at 2-2, they have another huge chance with Scott Arfield. It was a superb double-save from Ofir Marciano, but those are big chances they need to convert.
“They’ve deserved all the plaudits they’ve got this year defensively. They have not conceded goals, nor even looked like conceding goals. Hibs created more chances than Rangers have faced in the previous seven games combined.
“Their goals in part were down to good Hibs play, but it was partly self-inflicted from Rangers too. They’ll feel they could have defended better, especially with both goals coming from cross-balls.”
How bad was Kent’s miss?
To be fair, this isn’t one that the Rangers man will want to see.
It’s not a sitter by any means, and he has to do a lot of work to carve out the opportunity in front of goal in the first place, but bearing in mind how lethal he has been at times during the early part of this season, it felt like a big chance for the wide man.
As per Wyscout, the xG on the short was only 0.14, but truthfully, that’s probably more a reflection of Kent’s decision to strike it early.
Given that he has left two defenders in his wake and the covering man is getting nowhere near him, we would have expected to have seen Kent take another touch or two before taking his shot.
Instead, he almost rushes his effort, and the result is a strike that is far too central to bother the keeper.
At 3-1, the game would probably have been dead and buried, and this is the kind of opportunity that Rangers need to be taking if they are to go all the way in the title race this season.
In other Rangers news, fans slammed this player for his first-half display against Hibs.