Ally McCoist raves about ‘sensational’ Rangers player live on Viaplay, says he was Man of the Match v Aberdeen
Rangers great Ally McCoist raved about the performance of Leon Balogun in the tense Viaplay Cup final victory over Aberdeen, describing him as Man of the Match.
It was far from a classic as captain James Tavernier settled a scrappy encounter at Hampden Park on Sunday (17 December) with both defences largely on top.
McCoist, speaking as a pundit on Viaplay, reserved special praise for centre-back Balogun, though.
“I think it’s a statement about the game where I feel that the best players on the pitch were defensive all of them,” he said.
“I thought (Slobodan) Rubezic had a good game, I thought (Dujon) Sterling had a good game, me personally I thought Balogun was sensational, I thought Balogun was man of the match, I thought he was superb.”
Under the radar
It really was not a game for the neutral at Hampden and it is not a match that live long in the memory but, ultimately, Rangers got the job done and earned the first trophy of the Philippe Clement era.
Having also made the knockout stages of the Europa League and seen Celtic lose to Hearts to blow the Scottish Premiership title race wide open, it really has been a superb weekend for Rangers.
Balogun was a sort of quiet embodiment of an excellent defensive performance from Rangers, even if their attack never got firing against a game Aberbeen side who really only threatened at the death.
For Rangers, this is a triumph that needs to act as a catalyst for further glory this season. In these types of games it does not matter how you get over the line just that you do get over the line. This is a huge box ticked today.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart says the board will have to find funds to replace one player for Clement.